Boundary and skin
Breeze block
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A concrete, clay or glass block with perforations that, stacked, forms a wall that lets air and light through.
What it solves
It ventilates and lights without opening windows, while also giving shade and privacy. In the tropics it makes walls that breathe possible in kitchens, stairs, laundries and corridors.
Today
Place the perforated wall where the breeze arrives and protect it with an eave, because wind-driven rain also passes through the openings. Build it with vertical and horizontal reinforcement like any wall in a seismic zone.
Common mistake
Using breeze blocks as unreinforced infill or on faces exposed to rain without planning floor drainage.
Tomorrow
Some cavities of the breeze block can be designed as shelters for solitary bees and small birds. Molds made in local workshops allow unique patterns at low cost.
Where it comes from
- 1Engineering of northeastern Brazil Recife, Brazil, 1929 and 1930
Three engineers created the hollow cement block, and its name comes from the initials of their surnames.
Masters
- Lúcio Costa Caledônia Building in Parque Guinle, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1954
He uses cobogós, hollow ceramic blocks, to enclose housing facades. The wall filters light and lets air through in the midst of the tropical climate.
See also
Also in Boundary and skin
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.