>>>>>>"It's life Jim, but not as we know it...."
>>>>>
>>>>>That's not from a film though - it's from every other episode of Star Trek :-)
>>>>
>>>>I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!
>>>
>>>Like they'd KNOW what a bricklayer was (will be?) in the 24th century!
>>
>>They don't know already. I still have to see a house here built with bricks. Not "having a thin layer of bricks for a façade", but built with bricks as a weight-carrying element.
>
>Do the US houses not have a breeze- or thermo-block inner wall with a brick outer skin? Same principle. Do walls not get built anymore?

Most new houses in the US are built of wood frames. They then have some kind of "skin" added (a soft sheeting that provides some insulation and waterproofing). Then, the exterior layer, which may be aluminum or vinyl siding, stucco (like my house), or any of a number of other materials is applied. Very few new houses have actual brick or stone--instead, they use a brick or stone facade.

That said, commercial and industrial buildings are generally built of block or steel.

Tamar