MAQUETTE BETTERPAD-RAY - Material of the Wall of the Shahada Mosque (Masjid Syahadat)

In the wall on the mosque building, there are some that are fully installed around the building and some are only partially covering, for example in the ablution place and the parking lot is only covered in front of it. In this article we will discuss the materials for making walls and how to do them according to the design of the Shahada mosque (Masjid Syahadat), part of the Betterpad-Ray (Benteng Terpadu Raya / Great Integrated Fortress) model/maquette. The work of making walls here is focused on the initial work after the completion of the basic structural work (eg foundation) in the form of brick, batako brick or light brick installation.

Red Brick and Its Use

Materials commonly used for building walls, including mosques, are red bricks. Bricks are building materials made of mortar (with or without other mixtures) that are printed, then burned at high temperatures. Not all clay can be used as material for red brick. Only certain clay with enough sand content. The process of making red bricks is usually done manually, so the size is not really the same, depending on the manufacturer. Red brick production is generally carried out by local residents with limited production, because the number of employees is also small. Generally this business is in the form of small and medium enterprises with a distribution scope is not broad, usually only one sub-district / district.

Red brick is usually sold with a size of 3 - 5 cm thick, 7 - 11 cm wide, 17-22 cm long, and weighs 3 kg per piece (depending on the manufacturer and the area where the brick is made). Red brick has several advantages, namely waterproof so that water seepage rarely occurs due to rainwater, cracks are relatively rare, stronger than most other wall materials, durable, and the use of wider stiffened concrete frames, namely 9 - 12 m². Lack of red brick is the installation requires a longer time than batako brick or other wall materials and the required cost is higher, because it requires red bricks in large quantities to finish a wall while the price per piece is quite expensive.

Batako brick

Batako Brick is a print stone that is not burned. Batako Brick that I usually know is PC cement batako brick. PC cement batako brick is made from a mixture of PC cement and sand or stone ash. Cement batako brick has a variety of sizes and models. 

Generally cement batako have two or three holes on one side to be filled by a binding mixture. Another name for cement batako brick is press batako brick which can be divided into two types, namely machine press and hand press. In plain view, the difference in machine press and hand brick can be seen from the surface density of the rock.

On the market, the size of cement batako that can be found has a length of 36 ¬ - 40 cm, thickness 8 - 10 cm, and height of 18 - 20 cm. PC cement batako brick has several advantages, namely waterproof (so the possibility of seepage of water is very small), installation is faster (does not require a lot of time), and the use of stiffened concrete frames is wider, namely 9 - 12 m². The shortage of cement batako is that it easily to cracks, and is easily perforated because there are cavities on the inner side.

There are also other types of batako brick that are white batako brick made from a mixture of tras (pozzolan), limestone, and water, so that it can also be called pozzolan limestone print. Tras/pozzolan is a type of soil originating from weathering of rocks originating from a volcano, some of which are white and some are brownish white.

Lightweight brick

Lightweight brick (or hebel which is actually a trademark produced by Josef Hebel) is fairly light, smooth, and has a good level of flatness so that it can be immediately acied without having to be plastered first. Materials for paste usually use instant cement. This cement is based on silica sand, cement, fillers, and addictive substances. Its use is only mixed with water, but can also use materials such as batako brick making. Lightweight brick has a size of 60 x 20 cm with a thickness of 8-10 cm. But there are also those that make it larger in size so that it is heavier when carried but faster during installation.

Lightweight brick has several advantages, namely watertight so that the possibility of water seepage is very small, installation time is less, lighter, fireproof so it can prevent fires, have good soundproofing, and the use of stiffened concrete frames is 9 - 12 m². The disadvantage is that prices are relatively more expensive, quite rarely found, and not all construction workers have ever installed this type of brick.

To cover the surface of a red brick, batako brick or light brick on a wall, it is usually done by plastering. Plaster material is a mixture of cement, sand, and water. Then mashed again with smooth paste.

Of all these materials, I prefer to use red brick as a material for the Shahada mosque walls, especially in the main part of the building. Red brick is indeed strong and is often used long ago, because of the use of a lot of red brick, the density of the red brick on the wall, and the intermittent installation made me believe that the walls of the building can be strong and durable and resistant to water seepage so that the appearance of the mosque can also be maintained. The long installation time is not a problem for me, because the most important thing in this regard is strength.

Whereas I don't really like using batako or light brick as wall material. For me, the cavity in cement batako brick shows that the impression is not strong and easily fragile. Whereas for light bricks there are still many construction workers who have not experienced this type of brick installation. However, maybe I can use both of these materials for the wall of the parking lot.

This is the article from me. Hopefully the design of the Shahada Mosque (Masjid Syahadat), which is part of the Betterpad-Ray (Benteng Terpadu Raya / Great Integrated Fortress) model/maquette, can inspire and be realized. Aamiin.

Reference:

·         Susanta, Gatut, et al. Membangun Masjid & Mushola. 2007. Depok: Penebar Swadaya. (https://archive.org/stream/BukuArsitektur/1048_Membangun%20Masjid%20dan%20Mushola#mode/2up)

·         https://www.klopmart.com/article-57-kenali-bata-ringan.html