“A common, ordinary brick,” says Woody Harrelson, playing an architect in the movie Indecent Pr oposa l (1993), “wants to be something more than it is.” Harrelson proceeds to turn this proposition into a metaphor for the human condition, something never envisioned by the real architect who served as an inspiration for the movie’s monologue. It was Louis I.Kahn (1903–74) who first posed a question in the early 1970s that has since attained legendary status within architectural circles: “What do you want, brick?” The answer, according to Kahn, is that brick wants to be an arch and not merely an in-fill or cladding material with no structural role. In fact, a key to understanding brick as a modern architectural material lies precisely in its dual potential to be both structure and cladding. For the greater part of the history of architecture, brick walls assumed both roles, simultaneously supporting floors and roof while at the same time providing enclosure. It is only since the late 19th...