Background

A unique design challenge

About Pozzotive® Roman XL Brick

How it looks

This ground up boutique condominium building has a unique foothold on the edge of two Brooklyn neighborhoods.

“We were on this corner between Downtown Brooklyn and DUMBO,” says architect Steve Conte. “We really wanted to take advantage of that site as much as possible. The zoning dictated that the building is tall and skinny, so we really needed materials to create a contrast to stand out as much as possible.”

“We were trying to create a very striking facade with corner windows and very elongated brick,” says Conte. “We wanted some variation within the structure itself, because the building is very vertical. We wanted to balance it out with something really long and horizontal, to avoid a monolithic look.”

Conte found what he was looking for by specifying Kingston Block & Masonry’s stecco-patterned dark brick with very short, wide proportions.

“The proportions of the brick were kind of perfect for what we were looking for,” said Conte. “We were able to counterbalance the skinny nature of the building. We weren’t shooting for LEED certification, but we also took into account the fact that it is a green product.”

James Young, Kingston Block & Masonry’s Director of National Sales Development, said that the Roman XL Brick lends itself for projects that seek a “long, slender coursing appearance.”

Conte said working with Kingston Block & Masonry was a seamless process.

“They were able to quickly get different mockups done on site,” says Conte. “It was great to get the info to our client, and there were no issues with order lead time.”

Young said that like all projects, the selected product in this specification was approved after the review of a mock up, also known as a Field Panel.

“In this case, the field panel was approved immediately by the owner and architect, as both agreed that the Manhattan Midnight Roman XL brick was a perfect statement for the scale of this building.” Young said.“The order worked perfectly into our six to eight week manufacturing lead time.”

Young said that Pozzotive® Manhattan Midnight Ground Face brick in the Roman XL size of 1 5/8″ high x 15 5/8″ long was an attractive combination.

“Situated on an active corner, this building, with the dark black colored brick is enriched by the grinding of the face to a smooth surface that’s almost completely free of voids due to the Post-Consumer glass powder that is used in the design mix,” Young said. “No other brick product can say that 30% of its chemistry consists of Post-Consumer glass powder – this is Kingston Block’s “Hallmark of Tradition.”

We wanted to balance it out with something really long and horizontal, to avoid a monolithic look.