AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF COLONIAL AND CONTEMPORARY BRICKS FROM THE BUILDINGS OF LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The British colonial buildings in the city of Lahore were mainly constructed with fair face bricks. The different forms and decorative styles of bricks were used in the building facade that formed the characteristic British Colonial Style. This study focuses on the comparative analysis of the contemporary and colonial bricks for their durability and salt deposits in the present scenario. The representative brick samples have been collected from the selected buildings for their physical, mechanical and chemical testing, to generate data for comparative analysis in addition to the visual examination of buildings for the study of deterioration factors. The results clearly depict that the contemporary bricks composition and manufacturing techniques are different from the colonial bricks. The high content of soluble salts in the contemporary bricks was found to be responsible for salt deposits in contemporary bricks and one of the main cause of failure in the restoration works of the colonial buildings. Keywords: Colonial, Contemporary, Bricks, Lahore, Pakistan