An outside corner of the university building in 2019, red brick with scattered darker units carrying evenly around the corner to a dark roof edge against the sky
Case File 194

Blending Corner Shapes and Radial Brick on an Ohio Campus

The corner shapes and the radial brick on this university building came in outside the range of the field brick, so the wall read as zippered. The brick manufacturer hired the correction in 1998. The building was photographed again in 2019 and certified Platinum.

Case No. 194
Structure University building
Location Ohio
Stained 1998
Re-photographed September 2019
Elapsed 21 years, Platinum level

1998

  1. Two floors of the elevation in 1998, the brick shifting from orange tan on the left to a pinker red on the right down a vertical line between the window bays Before, 1998 View this photo larger
  2. The blank end wall in 1998 with bare dirt and a pickup truck at its foot, patches of paler and greyer brick scattered through the red range Before, 1998 View this photo larger

What was wrong

The corner shapes and the radial brick did not match the range around them. The file calls the result zippered: blocks and bands of off color units running through a wall that was otherwise even. Nothing had failed. The brick manufacturer who supplied the units hired the correction rather than have the wall taken down.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, carrying the corner shapes and the radial brick into the range of the field brick beside them. Special shapes are the units a wall cannot hide, which is why they are the ones the correction had to reach.

2019, twenty-one years on

  1. An outside corner of the building in 2019, red brick with scattered darker units running evenly around the corner and past a tall glazed bay 2019 View this photo larger
  2. The curved brick stair tower in 2019 seen from below, radial brick winding around the drum in one red range beside cream panelled walls After, 2019 View this photo larger
  3. The same two floors of the elevation in 2019, the vertical colour break gone and one red range carrying across both window bands After, 2019 View this photo larger
  4. The same end wall in 2019 with lawn and an evergreen where the dirt was, the patchy units gone and the brick reading as one range to the roofline After, 2019 View this photo larger
  5. A service door set into the brick beside an outside corner in 2019, the corner units matching the field brick on both faces down to the sidewalk 2019 View this photo larger
  6. Close range on the corner shapes in 2019, the wrapped units carrying the same reds, browns and greys as the stretchers running away from the corner 21 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-one years prove

Same elevations, same corners, one range. On the certification scale twenty years and over is Platinum, and the file was signed at that level. As of 2026 the work is twenty-eight years old, and the 2019 revisit is the most recent record on it.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 194, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 194, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
University Building, Ohio (1998)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven to nine years, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Complaint or problem
Issue
"The shapes and radial brick did not match"
What was corrected
"We stained the corner shapes and radial brick to blend in the range."
Storyline
"A wonderful building zippered with off colored brick. We stained the shapes and radial bricks over 20 years ago, and it still looks great!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2020
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