Brickwork | Waterville, WA | February 2020
A new office building’s prefab pieces — factory-made eaves, machine-cut wall panels — speed construction but lack soul and personality. In contrast, the bricks laid one-by-one in Waterville’s downtown include frills, contours and textures that speak of the human hand. Protruding bricks create shadows that add visual oomph. Windows are capped by arches formed by function. The roofline’s masonry edge balances storefronts at street level. Sure, a new building touts efficiency and cost effectiveness. But will it deliver a message of craft and creativity a century from now?
IrwinFoto 