Building with Bricks - Patterns in Bricks

A standard brick is a 3D solid shape called a cuboid. It has $6$ rectangular faces, $12$ straight edges, and $8$ corners (vertices). When looking at a brick from one side, you can only see a rectangular face.

Bricks are arranged in specific patterns to build walls. A strong wall pattern usually involves 'staggering' the bricks so that the vertical joints do not line up. Visually, this looks like the middle of a brick sitting directly above the gap between two bricks in the layer below.

A 'Jaali' is a decorative pattern in a brick wall created by leaving small gaps or holes between bricks. This creates a net-like appearance that allows air and light to pass through while maintaining the wall's structure.

A 'Jharokha' is a traditional window pattern made with bricks. It often projects out from the wall and can include beautiful arch shapes or intricate brickwork around the frame to make it look like a balcony.

Bricks can also be used to create circular patterns, often seen on floors or around the mouths of wells. In a circular layout, the bricks are placed such that they radiate outward, appearing narrower on the inside of the circle and wider on the outside.

An arch is a curved brick structure used over doors, windows, or bridges. It is built by placing bricks in a curved path, allowing the weight of the wall above to be distributed to the sides. It looks like a semi-circle or a bow shape.

The size of bricks can vary, but within a single wall, they are usually identical. When measuring a brick, we look at its three dimensions: Length (the longest side), Width (the side across), and Height (the thickness or vertical side).

Buying bricks involves large numbers. Prices are typically quoted 'per $1,000$ bricks'. To calculate the cost of a specific number of bricks, we use the unitary method to find the cost of one brick first or use the price ratio for thousands.