Brickwork

Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks — called courses — are laid one on top of another to build up a structure such as a wall. Elsewhere, brickwork may have a non-load-bearing function, and may exist for a purpose such as that of finishing the corners of walls with brick quoins, or for finishing door or window openings on a building whose load-bearing structure is made of other materials such as timber or steel. In all cases, wherever the bricks are left fully visible — as opposed to being covered up by plaster or stucco — they are called facing bricks.

The construction industry frequently makes use of brick as a building medium, and examples of brickwork are found right back through history as far as the Bronze Age — the fired-brick faces of the ziggurat of ancient Dur-Kurigalzu in Iraq date from around 1400 BC, and the brick buildings of ancient Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan are from around 2600 BC. Much older examples of brickwork made with dried (but not fired) bricks may be found in such ancient locations as Jericho in the West Bank, Çatal Hüyük in Anatolia, and Mehrgarh in Pakistan; these structures have survived from the Stone age to the present day.