Innovative Paving Block Inventor Passes

Michael Glickman, British architect and inventor, passed away on May 1st who developed concrete paver shapes and segmental retaining wall designs. He influenced the nascent concrete paver industry as a member of ICPI’s predecessor, the Concrete Paver Institute (CPI) in the U.S. during the early-1990s through London-based McCauley Corporation Ltd. Michael attended CPI meetings in the U.S. always providing positive words about the potential of the industry here. He articulated the notion of pattern-to-shape ratio which varies with each paver shape or combination of shapes. For example, a rectangular unit is capable of creating four patterns from a single paving unit i.e., stack bond, running bond, 45º and 90º herringbone. The addition of half pavers into the mix obviously increases that ratio. A higher ratio potentially adds wider design options and greater value. Along these lines, he invented V-block, a single shape that could be placed in as many as 20 patterns. Other inventions included a segmental retaining wall unit called Porcupine with a gear-like bottom and top faces that locked each course directly on top of each other or enabled pitching back slightly to create a batter or rising wall angle against the earth. These inventions are noted in a 1996 Concrete Plant and Precasting Technology magazine here. He also explored a paver shape dubbed G-Block who angled sides increased vertical interlock.

Prior to developing unit paver and wall designs, Michael worked as an architect in London for Charles Eames, a prolific designer of furniture, buildings and motion picture making. Besides his paver and wall inventions, Michael received international media recognition for documenting crop circles, distinct large-scale, artistic patterns made in agricultural fields across England. Among his four books on the subject, he took a certain delight in offering no definitive explanation for these huge playful patterns that went well beyond the design capacity and execution discipline of clever pranksters. The variation and order of the designs were of great interest to him that likely pointed to supernatural sources. His work in this area is found here.