MAC Hosts Loyola Academy Students for a Day of Masonry Insights

At the training center, groups of four students were paired with a mason apprentice or journeyman for hands-on bricklaying. Student teams constructed impressive masonry walls and arches with brick and mortar using brick bonding patterns they had learned in class.

In addition, the MAC's architect, Steve Blye, led a presentation on the benefits of building with brick, block, and stone. Students were thrilled to see the McGrath Family Performing Arts Center—awarded Best of Block by the MAC in 2022, the organization's highest design honor—featured as a prime example of acoustic design in masonry. Blye also highlighted various tools and technologies that masons use in their work, including a Material Unit Lift Enhancer (MULE), which students had the chance to use to lift heavy bricks during a later demonstration. After the presentation, students formed teams to test their knowledge with a game of Jeopardy! with the chance to win some MAC swag.

Once lunch had ended and the mortar had dried, our hosts removed the wood casts around which the arches were structured to put the students' handiwork to the test. Of the four arches contracted, two held their weight!

A huge thank you to the MAC for hosting and providing such a fantastic, hands-on experience for our students!

Rambler Reflections:

"Mr. Blye's presentation was really engaging and insightful! It was cool to learn about masonry and architecture from people with so much experience in the field. Learning about the durability of brick masonry compared to other materials was really interesting! It is especially important to take this into consideration in locations that experience natural disasters. In class, we've learned about how architects must design based on the environment and location of the site." — Kate Leddon '25

"One of the things that I found quite interesting is the acoustic capabilities of working with masonry. The aesthetic and structural value of using bricks always seemed intuitive, but I never realized that it could also be used for something as specialized as audio engineering. We learned that the concrete masonry units (CMU) used for the walls of the Leemputte Family Theater were precisely rotated to give the theater a very uniform sound profile, meaning every seat had an identical auditory experience. The field trip definitely tied together one of the ideas we've been exploring in class: that a design does not need to sacrifice beauty in order to be functional." — Luke Marqueda Majeske '25

"Building brick arches was way harder than any of us originally expected, especially under time pressure and competition against classmates, but all in all, it was a great hands-on challenge. It was incredibly fun taking some of the stuff we learned in the classroom and translating it into an interactive, team-building competition.” — Johnny Vlad '26