Steel-Framed Brickhouse

I never understood, why these Baradolians prefer to build most of their houses with timber, just like elves. A quick floodwave or a small earthquake, even a fire will easily destroy those! Good thing, we have more common sense and use durable materials: Brick and steel!

The Steelframed Brickhouse is a typical Ethoressian dwelling and based in a famous architctural style that even predates the uprising industrialisation. The brick facades framed with criss-crossing steel beams is a common sight in most modern cities all over Ethoressi. Some cheaper variants using steel- or iron-plated timber logs are often seen in official buildings in smaller towns or villages.

The most iconic feature, the facade’s frame usually consists of steel beams on all edges of the house as well as some vertical beams marking the floors. Several smaller horizontal beams divide the facade further. In wall panels where there are no windows, one often encounters a diagonal beam in the lower floors, to provide further stabillity.

The room between the beams is filled with carefully placed layers of bricks. Usually during construction, there is no special mortar used, but the bricks are layered very orderly and fit neatly together. This is especially impressive in the diagonal parts, where the bricks are perfectly fitted into the gap. In order to provide additional stability, the facade is often additionally covered with a transparent layer of amber.

A steelframed Brickhouse often has three or more floors, which was necessary in the cities where space grew sparse quickly. Due to the stabilizing features of the beams, the architecture was able to rise higher than other buildings of their time without using too much surface area or sacrificing overall stability.

The internal layout of such a house is often centered around the central kitchen area, that contains an oven for heating and cooking properties. This room is usually found on the ground floor, directly opposite of the front door. The chimney usually goes out the backside of the house, while a set of pipes from the oven is going straight up, providing the other floors with heat, if so desired. This kitchen area is usually shared by all living parties in the house.

Being able to save space with higher rising buildings in the city gave the opportunity to have an inner courtyard formed by multiple houses. These communally used yards often house little gardens growing vegetables and herbs for daily uses, and not uncommonly some chickens.