I just drove by and noticed that they’re painting the brick. I wonder if there’s a reason for it aside from aesthetic purposes — because I think it kind of looks like crap.
If work continues on that the way it did at a project near where I live…
…then that first application is just the base layer.
In this case, (like at the first residential phase at
Backyard Condos near me) they're using precast panels molded into a brick-and-mortar pattern, with no actual bricks involved. As opposed to paint, the first layer that you're seeing is a stain that sinks into the precast. Assuming they continue as per how it was done at Backyard, they'll next start another layer, this time of paint, in one, two, or three more tones that adds the variations one sees in real brick. At Backyard, no-one walking by can tell that the final product is not real brick; the paint job works great. (The second phase at Backyard, meanwhile, used brick veneered precast panels. You cannot see the difference.)
Assuming they complete the paint job here, faking the brick this way is not necessarily a bad thing. The precast panels are integrated units that will have long lifespans (low maintenance) and high thermal performance. It's a way to save money on the cladding that doesn't really detract from the aesthetics of real brick if done well. So… here's hoping they do do it well, and add more tones to make it all look like the real thing.
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