In researching the history of breeze blocks, we found that their story is less of a straight line and more of a shared architectural idea that appeared in different places, climates, and materials over time.
Long before the modern concrete breeze block, many cultures used screens, lattices, and perforated walls to manage light, air, privacy, and heat. In Arab and Islamic architecture, the mashrabiya used intricate wooden latticework to filter sunlight, preserve privacy, and encourage ventilation. In other hot climates, including parts of Africa, builders also used perforated clay, mud, and masonry elements to soften harsh sun while allowing air to move through a space.
In Brazil, a related and important development was the cobogó. The term generally refers to a hollow wall element used to bring light and natural ventilation into buildings. According to the sources we found, the name comes from the surnames of three engineers from Recife, Brazil: Amadeu Oliveira Coimbra, Ernest August Boeckmann, and Antônio de Góis. By combining parts of their names, the word cobogó was formed.
Cobogós appeared in Recife in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Early versions were made primarily of cement, and later examples were produced in clay, ceramic, glass, and other materials. Their function was practical, especially in a tropical climate: they allowed buildings to breathe while filtering sunlight and creating privacy.
The cobogó also became more than a functional building element. In Brazilian modern architecture, it was used for its visual rhythm, shadow, and sculptural quality. Lúcio Costa helped popularize the element through references to colonial architecture, and cobogós became part of the language of modern Brazilian design.
One project that appears often in discussions of cobogó history is the Olinda Water Tower, designed by Luiz Nunes in 1936. It is described as one of the first large-scale uses of cobogó brickwork. Around the same period, in France, Jacques and Michel André were experimenting with a modular cement-block façade at the Nancy Zoological Institute, completed in 1933. Some researchers compare that project to Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile-block systems, noting that architects in different countries were exploring similar ideas at roughly the same time: modular units, repeated patterns, concrete construction, and façades that were both structural and expressive.
That parallel is interesting because it suggests breeze blocks were not invented in only one place or for only one reason. Instead, similar ideas emerged in response to broader questions in modern architecture: how to use industrial materials, how to create modular systems, how to shape light and ventilation, and how to make a façade that was more than a flat wall.
By the mid-20th century, concrete screen blocks and breeze blocks had spread widely. They were especially useful in warm climates, where they could act as a kind of brise-soleil, filtering sun while allowing air to circulate. In Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States, architects and builders adapted them to local climates, materials, and styles.
Another important example from this period is Edward Durell Stone’s American Embassy in New Delhi, completed in the 1950s. Stone used decorative concrete screen elements, often referred to as Empress Blocks, to create a façade that filtered intense sunlight while giving the building a patterned, ceremonial presence. The embassy is a useful reference point because it shows how a screen wall could be both climate-responsive and highly architectural. It was not simply a practical shading device, but a defining part of the building’s identity.
In California and other parts of the American West, breeze blocks became closely associated with midcentury modern design. They were used for garden walls, carports, pool areas, apartment buildings, storefronts, and residential façades. Their appeal was both practical and visual: they created privacy without fully closing off a space, added pattern to otherwise simple walls, and connected indoor and outdoor living.
Today, breeze blocks are being rediscovered for many of the same reasons they were valued historically. They filter light, allow airflow, add privacy, and bring architectural texture to a space. They also fit naturally into current conversations about passive cooling, indoor-outdoor living, and materials that can shape atmosphere without needing to dominate a design.
What we found in this research is that breeze blocks belong to a much larger family of architectural screens. Whether described as cobogós, concrete screen blocks, textile-block-inspired façades, Empress Blocks, brise-soleil elements, or decorative breeze blocks, they share a common purpose: to make walls more responsive to light, air, climate, and human experience.
Sources:
Cobogós, textile-block ou módulo?
Cobogós: breve história e usos
Edward Durell Stone Wikipedia Page
Cobogó Wikipedia Page