Design and Construction - Social Progress

Local influences

The European building context is more than historical, cultural and aesthetic. Construction methods vary greatly throughout Europe and are heavily influenced by factors such as climate, earthquakes and local traditions.

The different European’s requirements of indoor comfort also constitute an important factor. Whatever the climate, our industry develops clay building products that meet these requirements and lay the foundations for a quality indoor climate.

We can find a variety of examples throughout Europe:

Walls

• Cavity wall: vertically perforated unit / cavity / solid unit (facing brick)
• Monolithic wall: monolithic horizontally or vertically perforated unit
• Wall with external or internal insulation

from left to right: monolithic wall (vertically perforated) cavity wall cavity wall with facing bricks wall (horizontally perforated) with external insulation wall (vertically perforated) with external insulation

There have also been special masonry constructions devised to overcome seismic considerations.

Roofs
Roof design is dependent on both local tradition and climate and will therefore differ from one area to the next.

• Tiles: Southern Europe tends to use interlocking tiles while in Northern and Eastern Europe the preference is for plain tiles.
• Roof slope: This is determined by climate: generally speaking, the greater the snowfall, the steeper the slope.
• Use of flexible or rigid underlay: in Northern and Central Europe, where snow is common, underlays are used to assure the roof is watertight.
• Tile colour: Natural colours have always been used. The industry has responded to the demands of architects and designers and developed coloured products.

plain tiles	glazed interlocking tiles	roman tiles

In some areas, roof design is determined by seismic considerations.

The clay brick and tile industry exploits this diverse range of design influences to create innovative products and techniques that will be acclaimed by all parties in the design and construction process.

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