Toronto Oak House Student Residence | 75.55m | 23s | U of T | Diamond Schmitt

I've given some the matter some thought; and on behalf of the broader UT community, @DavidCapizzano I've nominated you as Chief Brick Quality Officer - new development.

It would be your moral, but not legal responsibility hence forth to ensure any development promising brick at least meets, if not exceeds the promise of their renders.

If they fail to deliver, you can sick @ProjectEnd on them so they can never again mount a successful rezoning application in the City! :D

PS. don't let PE tell you he can't live up to his end of this.....he's far more influential than he lets on..... LOL

(Ducks in anticipation)
 
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Eh - more endicott medium ironspot 46. Same as canary landing. Would have preferred something a bit more red but I think it’ll be fine here.

i appreciate the unique coursing pattern.

I think we need to persuade Management here at UT to give you a column. Maybe one in the Insider, a tutorial for industry pros on how to select brick. (no snark, I'm totally serious)
 
Eh - more endicott medium ironspot 46. Same as canary landing. Would have preferred something a bit more red but I think it’ll be fine here.

i appreciate the unique coursing pattern.
I don't disagree at all, but I think it's going to make the preserved facade pop and keep your eyes down when looking from the corner there. And the photos we're judging are also from days which are about as cool-toned as they get around here so I still have a sliver of hope.
 
The brick pattern is really interesting; all the bricks are vertical, which is pretty rare, and staggered, which you just never see for vertical bricks, as it wouldn't be a particularly strong bond.

Here you don't need a particularly strong bond though, because 1) these aren't full bricks, they are just brick veneers that are set into a precast panel, and 2) the precast panel is not a structural component here anyway, the poured concrete behind is "doing all the lifting" and the panels are essentially just insulation from the elements, all be it rather stylish and high-performing insulation.

Vertical bricks are normally run in only one or maybe two courses, which because they stand up straight are called soldier courses. They are used sparingly as ornamental features of brick walls because they do not form as strong a wall as various horizontal courses laid in Flemish Bond, Running Bond, Common Bond, or English Bond that you see everywhere. (Where the bricks on successive layers overlap with the layer below, they are stronger. Stack Bond is the exception where the bricks line up vertically as well as horizontally. You see very little of it because it's not as strong, and is therefore only used where the bricks are not bearing the loads, and there is other structure behind them to do that.)

Here, where the brick face on the precast panel is being used simply as a long-weathering surface and not as a structural element, you can play around a lot more without having to give consideration to the material's structural performance, and you can go for something that's purely more decorative. I'm not sure I've seen what amounts to on the surface as a Soldier Bond (as opposed to simple Soldier Courses) before, so good on Diamond Schmitt for specifying something rare or unique for aesthetic purposes. We get far too little attention to aesthetics on new Toronto major builds, so this is a welcome detail.

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Uh oh. I didn't realize that this project was this far along.
Better get around to finishing my shop drawings. 😄
😄😄
 

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