Bricks, hollow blocks (and previously Mangalore tiles) are brought to this level by a conveyor belt and/or lift to lose moisture prior to kiln firing. The tiles are left to dry on the timber racks, which are braced with diagonal members. The drying process takes approximately two weeks. The tectonic of the factory construction gets lighter with height. At this level there is a combination of timber and concrete columns. The concrete columns sit atop brick columns and the timber columns sit atop steel I-sections below. Walls taper and gaps in the timber floor allow heat to rise to the drying racks, establishing a hierarchy in construction according to the processes contained within the building. Towards the bottom part of the drawing is the ramping rail on which the cart brings the clay from the outside mounds to the mill for processing. From here it passes down to the ground floor to make the clay slabs for extrusion.
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- Office for the Commonwealth Tile Factory. Mangalore, 2019.