Brick Arches

Here are some photos showing how a brick arch can be built. It's from a US construction site for a bungalow house. Many of the houses in Australia are not built like ours. Blocks are used for load-bearing walls and then the in-situ first floor slab is cast on top of these load-bearing walls. The slab usually has no beams. There are also usually no columns because of the load-bearing walls. Everything is supported on walls, not columns. Walls don't need formwork but columns do. Load-bearing wall construction is faster and less labour intensive.

The problem with this sort of construction is that an opening, such as for a door or window, cannot be broken into the wall at a later time because it is load-bearing. Creating a door during renovation at a later date may cause the ceiling to collapse. Thanks to dad who told me this. The photos below show how a large brick arch is built.

Placing wooden formwork for brick arch.

Placing wooden formwork for brick arch at another location, same house.

Bricklaying on the wooden arch formwork.

Brick ties are placed every so often.

There are actually two rows of bricks, one for the front and one for the back face. The centre is initially empty. Later concrete is poured into the centre. The brick ties, which are bent pieces of wire, bond both sides together.

Concreting the centre of the arch. The brick ties bond both sides to the concrete.

Looks like something else in the concrete as well, maybe broken bricks or tiles.

Finishing off at the crown.

Done!

Source of images:
http://members.cox.net/benito.loyola/house/Loyola_Lot_95_notes.htm
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700+ images on one page. Otherwise just look at them here :-)