Material as Social Construct (MaSC) is a research project driven by our ambition to understand the shifting cultural connotations of specific construction methods and materials. The project traces parallel lineages of brick construction throughout the former Mesopotamian, Persian, and Chinese Empires, by analyzing brick buildings built between 1000 BCE–1000 CE.

We chose brick as the medium because of its perceived ordinariness as ‘a universal building unit.’ Although its dimensions and chemical composition have rarely remained stable, it is clear that its cultural context imparts even greater degree of instability.