What role did the green bricks in ancient buildings play

The main purpose of green bricks is to prevent rainwater from leaking into the house, and the other is to insulate the heat to prevent the solar radiation heat from being transmitted directly to the house during the day. When bricks are laid on top of each other on a pitched roof, an air spacing is created for insulation.

Green bricks are fired from clay, clay is the product of long-term weathering of some aluminosilicate minerals, and is named after its strong viscosity.

Green bricks can be made into various forms of style roofs, and can be made into composite brick roofs. The characteristic of the composite brick roof is that the cover brick also uses slab bricks, and the bottom and cover bricks are reversed and positive, that is, "one yin and one yang" sorting. Composite brick roofing is mainly seen in small buildings and private houses in Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and other places, and large buildings do not use composite bricks.

In these areas, as long as you look at whether the roof is a brick or a cylinder brick, you can know whether it is a private house or a temple or a royal house. In the Jiangnan area, whether it is a house or a temple, it is dominated by composite brick (butterfly brick) roofs. These include two practices: plastering and non-plastering.

Those who do not lay ash are placed directly on the rafters with the bottom bricks, and then the cover bricks are placed directly between the bottom brick ridges, without any plaster. Most craftsmen in Beijing call this the southern gancha brick, and the material used is green brick.

Many people have been to places of interest and seen the green walls and tiles of ancient buildings. There will be a question: why ancient Chinese buildings used green bricks, and there are four reasons for this.

First, because of the compressive resistance of green bricks, the corrosion resistance is higher than that of red bricks; Second, the thermal conductivity of green bricks is good, which can adjust the indoor temperature; Third, because the production process of green bricks is complex and the preservation time is longer; Fourth, because our Chinese character is calm and low-key, green bricks are more in line with our aesthetic habits.

First of all, let's talk about the production process of green bricks. Because the green bricks need to be fired from mud, the original handmade is used, and the more viscous and delicate clay is taken, the better, and gathered into a pile. In the process of stepping on it, it is necessary to select impurities, and the longer you step on it, the more sticky the effect.

I remember when I was a child, many villages had kilns for firing bricks, and this was the equipment that must be used to make green bricks. The production of green bricks must be carried out under high-pressure hypoxic conditions to prevent secondary oxidation. Green bricks have strict requirements for temperature and humidity.

Kiln firing is also a very demanding technical work, because the control of the fire is very important. If the fire is not installed well, it will not burn through, the quality will be poor, and if it is burned too much, it will be deformed. Previously, it was burned with firewood, but later it was changed to coal.

The quality of the bricks depends on the technique of the kiln master before putting the kiln. The soil quality is good, the mud is stepped on well, the burned green bricks are blue-gray, and the service life of the bricks will be extended. The density of green bricks is relatively large, and it has strong thermal conductivity and heat preservation.

This shows the cleverness and wisdom of the ancients in our country, because in ancient times, there was no air conditioning. The summers are hot and the winters are cold, and not every household can afford to burn charcoal. Therefore, cheap and practical is the first choice of ordinary people.

Green bricks are stronger than red bricks and have a longer life in the face of bad weather. Because for the average family, building a house with green bricks is also a relatively huge project, and the cost is also a lot, so it is necessary to take into account its service life. The service life of green bricks is much longer than that of red bricks, and it has become the first choice of ordinary people with high cost performance.

Finally, our Chinese character is calm and low-key, so the green brick and green tile house matches the temperament very well. <>

Later, because the state wanted to protect soil resources, it was forbidden to use kilns to fire green bricks and red bricks, which was also a kind of protection for the environment. Nowadays, the use of green bricks is generally for the restoration of ancient buildings, or the construction of tourist attractions of antique buildings, in order to conform to the historical and cultural sinking of the time. <>

First of all, from the perspective of appearance, the aesthetics of the Chinese have emphasized the atmosphere from ancient times to the present, and they are subtle and introverted without losing their spirit. There is no doubt that blue-gray has this characteristic more than red. Secondly, in terms of materials, modern buildings have cement, even if it is a red brick building, the appearance of cement can also achieve the effect of gray appearance.

However, in ancient times there was no such thing. Therefore, in order to make the color of the wall uniform and in line with the aesthetics, it is necessary to use green bricks of uniform color.

It is because red bricks are often used in the emperor's palace, and blue bricks are used by ordinary people, and the two must not be confused.

First, from the characteristics of bricks.

Red bricks are generally made of loess, through crushing, mixing with water, made by manpower or equipment, after drying, put into the brick kiln, burned through the fire and then stop the fire, wait for the cooling of the bricks.

Because the brick kiln is open to the pores, so the gas in the kiln is relatively smooth, O2 is abundant, and the copper element in the green body is oxidized to ferric oxide, so its color is red. The production process of red bricks is simpler than that of green bricks, and today's brick and tile factories are all mechanical automatic manufacturing, and the productivity is also very high, which is widely used.

Defects of red bricks.

Poor intensity. Because the sand of the red brick material is the yellow mud on the top of the mountain. Yellow mud is less smooth, and the viscosity and relative density are insufficient. After incineration, small round holes in the shape of bubbles are formed inside, which leads to poor performance of the impact function of bearing capacity.

Before you build a house in the countryside and have not yet put it on the ashes, you can take a stick and knock it twice, and the surface will be shattered. Imagine that in ancient times, it was possible to fight anytime and anywhere, whether it was the ancient city wall or the key administrative organs, if red bricks were used, it was very easy to be conquered by the opponent.

Poor corrosion resistance. If the surface of the red brick is not coated with concrete, it will become soft after being exposed to the sun and rain, and it will be like toast bread with slag at the end. If red bricks were used in ancient times, many historical and cultural heritages may not be visible to us.

Characteristics of green bricks.

The soil used for green bricks is mostly low-lying clay with strong stickiness, and most of it is obtained from farmland. In modern times, in order to better maintain farmland, it is not allowed to mine soil and burn kilns in farmland.

Its processing technology is similar to that of red bricks, except for a different cooling process. When the bricks are burned to a similar degree of ripeness, they are poured with cool water to cool them, and then put them into the kiln after pouring, and dry them with the warmth of the kiln.

This whole process is a bit similar to the heat treatment of quenching, and after this process, the brick is very strong and hard. During the whole process of rapid cooling of bricks, the red** compounds in the bricks are transformed into gray-green cheap compounds, and then the blue-green color that people see is established.

Green bricks have high hardness and strong corrosion resistance. In the historical buildings and historical cultural heritage that you see today, you can feel the thickness of the historical time accumulation of green bricks. After thousands of years of rain and wind, it is still standing.

It is because only through the way of green bricks can the atmosphere of an ancient building be created, and because of the better performance, red bricks are usually not chosen, and the advantage is that the corrosion resistance is relatively strong, and it will not appear dirty.

This color looks better and works better. It is very strong, and the color will be more vibrant, the retention time will be long, and it will be cheaper.

The reason why ancient China used a large number of blue brick buildings instead of red brick buildings: because bluestone bricks are more airtight and moisture-proof than red bricks in the process of building houses, and because bluestone bricks are stronger than red bricks in the appearance design of building houses. And more in line with all the traditional artistic beauty, is another major manifestation of the ancients' respect and requirements for Confucianism, but due to the development of the times, bluestone bricks are more cumbersome than red bricks, so the contemporary red bricks are more.

In ancient times, the burning paper money of bluestone bricks was more intricate than red bricks, just because of the complexity, so bluestone bricks were more waterproof than red bricks, and many ancient buildings in the south of the Yangtze River were dominated by bluestone bricks. At the same time, it is also due to the strong moisture-proof nature of bluestone bricks, bluestone bricks also have the following characteristics: good ventilation, not easy to be small blisters, very resistant to wear, can reasonably absorb the water in the house, maintain the dryness of the house, and prevent too much dampness and cold.

In ancient times, the factors commonly used bluestone bricks were not only due to the stronger quality than red bricks, but also the requirements of the ancients for an aesthetic, bluestone bricks were practical, and they were more beautiful than red bricks in the design style of the building. In terms of appearance design, it is more pleasing to the eye than red bricks, and it is more artistic and charming.

Guda people have a unique yearning for the beauty of Chinese oriental art in daily life, and the application of bluestone bricks makes our engineering buildings more different. That is, because the moisture-proof and wear resistance of bluestone bricks is very strong, so that more people choose to use bluestone bricks, without red bricks, the quality of red bricks is not as strong as bluestone bricks, and now we can see that the Guda engineering buildings are all built with bluestone bricks, and the test of time shows that the application vitality of bluestone bricks is more dynamic than red bricks.

In ancient times, red bricks had not yet been fired; Another point is that green bricks are stronger than red bricks, and the hardness and strength are far greater than those of red bricks, and the quality is better and easier to preserve.

It is because the red brick building looks more gorgeous and solemn, and the general materials are also quite scarce, and many people are reluctant to use them. But the cyan ones are very cheap.

The main raw material of ancient green bricks is clay, which is mixed with water, extruded, and then baked to (about 1000 degrees) in the brick kiln, cooled with water, so that the iron in the clay is not completely oxidized, so that it has better weathering resistance, water resistance and other characteristics.

The hardness of green bricks and red bricks is about the same, but the cooling method is different after firing, and the red bricks are naturally cooled and simpler, so the production of red bricks is more, and the green bricks are water cooling (in fact, it is a kind of anoxic cooling), which is more troublesome to operate, so the production is relatively small.

The ancient green bricks have very strict requirements for soil quality: first, the soil layer of more than one meter thick on the surface of the soil field is removed, and the red clay below is selected. "Where the mud is used to make tiles, dig more than two feet into the ground, and choose a sand-free clay foundation for it.

Choose high-quality clay, cool drying, stirring, to violence, increase flexibility, so "three dogs and two summers".

The soil that has been placed for two or three years also needs to be screened again, with neutral water and mud, mud drilling, and pulping. The picture shows workers making mud into mud in preparation for the next step. The next step is billet making, a group of two workers, one is responsible for transporting mud into it, and the other is responsible for billet making, and two people can make about 350 pieces a day.

According to historical documents and the research of experts and scholars, green bricks were widely used in ancient times, mainly for the following reasons:

2.Strong durability: After being fired at high temperature, green bricks have high density, high hardness, strong compression and weathering resistance, and can be used in buildings for a long time, so they are widely used.

3.Beautiful and generous: the green bricks are made of high-quality raw materials, the surface is smooth and neat, the color is slow and regretful, the color is very decorative and ornamental, and it is widely used in ancient buildings and becomes a beautiful architectural artwork.

In short, green bricks have been widely used in ancient times, and their low cost, strong durability and beautiful appearance are important reasons for their widespread use.

The reasons why ancient buildings used green bricks instead of red bricks are as follows:

First of all, the manufacturing process of red bricks and green bricks is different.

Although the materials required to make red bricks and green bricks are basically the same, the red bricks are naturally cooled, but the green bricks require an additional watering process. Although it will be easier to make red bricks, because the ancient craftsmanship is not very good, and there are many impurities in the material, and the distribution of iron elements contained in it is not very uniform, so it is likely that there will be different colors in the process of natural cooling.

That is, some bricks are very red, some bricks are lighter, such bricks are used for construction, it looks very unsightly, which will make the overall effect of the whole building very unsightly, in order to avoid such a situation of color inuniformity, so the ancients would rather do one more process to make green bricks.

Secondly, the performance of green bricks is much better than that of red bricks.

The green bricks have gone through the watering step, which will make the hardness of the green bricks stronger, and the frost resistance and water resistance are better than the red bricks, and the life of the green bricks is longer, so many ancient green brick buildings are still well preserved. If red bricks had been used at that time, it would probably have been shattered long ago, and there was no way to support it until now.

In addition, in ancient times, I liked dark styles and disliked red ones.

In fact, in ancient times, I liked dark colors, because it looked more stable, in line with traditional Chinese thought, and coincided with Confucian thought. And the color of the green brick is relatively easy to unify, plus the green brick is relatively hard, basically plain, there are few patterns and carvings, it looks more solemn. Therefore, the ancients habitually used green bricks when building houses, not only for the sake of being stronger, but also for the sake of beauty and conforming to the aesthetics of the parties.