---
title: "Soft Tile and Brick (248)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 248
pattern_name: "Soft Tile and Brick"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Soft%20Tile%20and%20Brick%20%28248%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Connection to the Earth (168)"
  - "Good Materials (207)"
  - "Floor Surface (233)"
  - "Sitting Wall (243)"
  - "Paving With Cracks Between the Stones (247)"
  - "Warm Colors (250)"
  - "Ornament (249)"
---

# Soft Tile and Brick (248)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>How can a person feel the earth, or time, or any connection with his surroundings, when he is walking on the hard mechanical wash-easy surfaces of concrete, asphalt, hard-fired architectural paving bricks, or artificially concocted mixes like terrazo?

### Solution
>Use bricks and tiles which are soft baked, low fired—so that they will wear with time, and show the marks of use.
>You can make them in a simple mold from local clay, right on the site; surround the stack with twigs and firewood; and fire them, to a soft pink color which will leave them soft enough to wear with time.

### Related Patterns
... several patterns call for the use of tiles and bricks - [[Connection to the Earth (168)]], [[Good Materials (207)]], [[Floor Surface (233)]], [[Sitting Wall (243)]], [[Paving With Cracks Between the Stones (247)]].

The soft pink color helps to create [[Warm Colors (250)]]. Before firing, you may want to give the tiles some [[Ornament (249)]] ...

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 1141.
> #APL/confidence/low
>
> #APL/Construction-Patterns/Outdoor-Details