Bricks have been used for tens of thousands of years. They are all rather similar and are absolutely everywhere. Why are bricks still such an important building technology?
“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble”, Caesar Augustus apparently boasted. If so he wasn’t the only person to under-rate the humble brick. Bricks have been used for tens of thousands of years. They are all rather similar – small enough to fit into a human hand, and half as wide as they are long – and they are absolutely everywhere. Why, asks Tim Harford, are bricks still such an important building technology, how has brickmaking changed over the years, and will we ever see a robot bricklayer?
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon
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- Tue 28 May 2019 13:45±«Óătv Radio 4
- Fri 12 Jun 2020 23:30±«Óătv Radio 4
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