Architect Joseph Aliotta on Wienerberger ArGeTon Bricks

ArGeTon terra cotta bricks are part of Wienerberger’s Terca line of façade bricks. The bricks consist of two individual panels of fired clay with the top, bottom, and drip notches combined with connectors to create a single brick panel. The axis length of the panel width ranges from 300mm to 450mm, the axis length of the panel height ranges from 150mm to 250mm. Overall panel thickness is 30mm.

The nonflammable terra cotta brick panels can be combined with insulation; are designed to withstand extreme weather; and are resistant to deformation, blooming, and color fading. Color options include pastel red, Tuscan red, natural red, red-brown, light grey, platinum grey, metal grey, sand, and Sahara yellow.

Joseph Aliotta, principal, Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, New York, specified natural red ArGeTon terra cotta bricks for Atlantic Terminal, a 10-story, 400,000-sf office tower and four-story, 375,000-sf shopping center that sits atop the largest public transportation hub in Brooklyn. The building is the first terra cotta-clad high-rise in New York City.

Why Joseph Aliotta specified Wienerberger ArGeTon Bricks:

“The concept of using terra cotta brick was to find a modern material that was aesthetically compatible with Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Historic District, which is comprised of beautiful brownstones, some dating back to the 1820s. The color and scale of the tile beautifully complement the historic district while being part of a high-performance unitized rain screen curtain wall system.”

“The attraction of terra cotta is that it’s a traditional material that strongly complements an urban context and offers the level of performance required of a new building. Specifically for Atlantic Terminal, the performance of the terra cotta-clad curtain wall assembly during mock-up testing under stringent criteria greatly impressed us.”