Construction World May 2018

Corobrik Montana face brick has contributed to the successful Westbury Clinic which has won first prize in the Health Completed Buildings at the Berlin World Architecture Festival in November 2017. Photo credit: Ntsika Architects, Michael Schmucker and Ryan Leukis.

showcase how Corobrik products could help improve health and wellbeing in South African communities. Noting US Green Building reports that demonstrate that indoor air quality can be 10 times worse than outdoor air on smoggy days in big cities, he said that the use of clay brick would mitigate this as it was a totally natural product that did not release toxic substances and resisted mould which was known to be one of the chief irritants for patients with lung diseases or allergies. Facebrick, in particular, is the ultimate healthy building material as it does not need interior finishing and does not give off the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are usually associated with paints and varnishes. “Clay brick is also associated with tem- perature and humidity control and can keep buildings cooler during hot Johannesburg summers and warmer during sometimes harsh Gauteng winters. This not only reduc-

es the need for air conditioning and heating but reduces the possible transmission of airborne diseases such as Legionnaires disease which can be associated with poorly maintained HVAC sys- tems,” he says. Tromp says that the Westbury Clinic also demonstrates that

social, economic and environmental value can be generated for local communities through a holistic ap- proach to development. “Local people were trained in the specific brick pattern employed and brick- work was done almost in its entirety by the

local community,” she concludes. 

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD MAY 2018