Ceramics & bricks

Quality from clay

Diversity by GIMA

Product solutions

Tradition and know-how

Design freedom

Girnghuber GmbH is a traditional company now under fourth-generation ownership. This brickworks business was acquired in 1903 by the great grandmother of the current CEO Claus Girnghuber and has been in family ownership since then.

Ever since, the GIMA brickworks have been guided by a sense of tradition and an entrepreneurial grasp of the bigger picture. If you are looking for a special size or type of ceramics, or wish to develop a new color of brick, you are in the best of hands at GIMA.

“What sets us apart is the breadth of our product range. We are the only manufacturer who makes almost the entire range of ceramic construction materials. And together with tradition and experience, which of course many companies in this sector also have, we can offer an ultimate range of versatility coupled with a great willingness to innovate. We like being the first to make things, and we are committed to satisfying customer wishes by doing so”, explains proprietor Claus Girnghuber.

Whenever visible quality over a lifetime is called for in relation to paving and products for facades, involving extremely individual bespoke manufacturing, we fully commit our huge development and production potential. That is because here at GIMA we work hard on each project to gain a close understanding of what our customers wish to have, and we develop made-to-measure solutions. We have been committed to creating quality ceramic products for over a century.

Ever since, the GIMA brickworks have been guided by a sense of tradition and an entrepreneurial grasp of the bigger picture. If you are looking for a special size or type of ceramics, or wish to develop a new color of brick, you are in the best of hands at GIMA.

“What sets us apart is the breadth of our product range. We are the only manufacturer who makes almost the entire range of ceramic construction materials. And together with tradition and experience, which of course many companies in this sector also have, we can offer an ultimate range of versatility coupled with a great willingness to innovate. We like being the first to make things, and we are committed to satisfying customer wishes by doing so”, explains proprietor Claus Girnghuber.

Whenever visible quality over a lifetime is called for in relation to paving and products for facades, involving extremely individual bespoke manufacturing, we fully commit our huge development and production potential. That is because here at GIMA we work hard on each project to gain a close understanding of what our customers wish to have, and we develop made-to-measure solutions. We have been committed to creating quality ceramic products for over a century.

Weiterlesen

Every project
is unique.

Inspiring

Let yourself be inspired by our references, our variety of laying patterns and bespoke colors. At GIMA we manufacture for specific projects and advise you from provision of samples to installation. You define the shape and color of the bricks, then we work together to develop the optimum solution for your project.
This makes every project unique.

Projects in detail

Current reference reports

Rethinking the earth cycle
GIMA bricks for façades and floors can currently be produced with a recycled content of up to 40 percent, and the research team is constantly working on further increasing the proportion of secondary raw materials. One example of this is GIMA's cooperation with HOFMANN NATURSTEIN, which has led to the development of a brick variant with sawdust in six colors. In addition to the six color variants that have now been developed, numerous other options are possible in consultation with architects, as is the case with all GIMA brick types. © Alexander Bernhard  
The transformed city
The “Am Tacheles” project breathes new life into a long-neglected space in the heart of Berlin-Mitte. The site, once a bustling department store arcade built in 1908 between Friedrichstraße and Oranienburger Straße, has a rich history. It has gone through various reincarnations, from commercial and industrial uses to political ones, leading to significant partial demolitions from 1980, followed by the occupation of the remaining structure by the artist collective Tacheles, who lent their name to the site. Urban redevelopment, guided by a master plan from the esteemed Basel architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, has been underway since the mid-2010s. Photos: © Koy + Winkel  
Filigree facade pattern on the river bank
A parking garage with an elegant design and an ornamental facade enriches the Kiel Fjord. The new building was planned by the Hamburg-based gmp Generalplanungsgesellschaft mbH and AMP Parking GmbH as part of a structural restructuring around the central bus station ZOB. The tone is set by a brick facade from GIMA, whose lattice masonry creates a characteristic pattern and is widely noticeable - day and night. Photos: © Anke Müllerklein
Precision in content and form
On the campus of the PTB Physical-Technical Federal Institute in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Rohdecan Architects have developed a Berlin branch of the quantum technology competence center. For research work that requires highly complex measurement technology, they designed a new building with pinpoint precision. For the clinker facade that characterizes the building, GIMA produced a project-specific special color in the "Walther-Meissner-Bau" sorting. Photos: © Koy + Winkel
Creative hub dedicated to the history of the district
Munich is growing, not only on the outskirts. New, contemporary usage potentials are also being activated in the inner city, so that instead of purely residential areas or large-scale industrial and commercial areas, a lively, mixed cityscape is also being created beyond the center. In the vicinity of the Ostbahnhof, for example, the Werksviertel is a completely new quarter that is being developed, in which living, working and leisure activities go hand in hand. And urban space is also becoming denser in the entire surrounding district of Berg am Laim. The new building ensemble “Die Macherei” is an example of this. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
A square as a stage for city life
The importance of public space for urban society became clear again in the first phase of the pandemic. The quality of use of open spaces and parks has noticeably moved into focus. Since 2019, the city of Spenge in North Rhine-Westphalia has taken on the task of redesigning the centrally located Blücherplatz. From an unapproachable, car-driven street crossing with parking spaces, a place of communication, play and informal stay was created, which should be consciously occupied by the residents. Photos: © Anke Müllerklein
Contemporary building block in a neighborhood that has grown historically
With an extension in the characteristic brick architecture, Knoche Architects have added a new building block to the historically grown building ensemble of the tax office in Zwickau. Until 2010, the Leipzig office was entrusted with the reorganization and renovation of the former university building, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and is now dedicated to administrative purposes. In the most recent addition, GIMA clinker bricks refer to the historical buildings in the area and at the same time reinterpret them due to creative tricks. Photos: © Michael Moser Images
New urban building block with monolithic shell
The district of Pasing in the outer west of Munich has changed its appearance considerably in recent years. A new traffic route and prominent new buildings for living, retail and gastronomy gave the district an attractive core around its own long-distance train station and Pasinger Marienplatz, including its historic Wilhelminian style buildings. Photos: © Meilenstein Kreativagentur
Fire Glazed
With Fire Glazed, GIMA offers a new, fascinating surface variant for unique bricks. The innovative firing method - a combination of charcoal-salt firing and glazing - creates an individual look with alternating glazed and broken surfaces, with salt and charcoal firing, with edges and notches. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
From soap factory to think tank
In the north of Munich, GSP Architects planned the construction of a modern office building on the site of an old boiling plant. The Neue Siederei on Taunusstraße does not just pick up on the historical reference in its name. Digital working environments, high technical standards and sustainability aspects are combined here with the creative expression of past industrial architecture. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
Round Corners

The new building ensemble NeuHouse in the southern Friedrichstadt combines one of the last structural testimonies of classicism, a listed old building from 1847/48 with a modern new building made of light clinker brick by GIMA. Refined facade details such as the perforated clinker parapets cite the detailed design of the stucco facade in a contemporary way. Photos: © Koy+Winkel

Continuity for art
“As if it had always been there” - this is how the architects Herzog & de Meuron describe the new extension to the Küppersmühle Museum (MKM) at Duisburg's inner harbor. Individual bricks by GIMA for the facade and lettering take up the materiality of the adjoining storage building and follow the character of the old brick buildings on the harbor basin. Photos: © Jörg Seiler
Living at Verna-Park
In many locations, transforming traditional industrial towns into attractive residential areas presents a real challenge. A success story is the “Living at Verna-Park” project in Rüsselsheim, where a district close to the town centre has been created that blends discretely into its surroundings architecturally and in terms of urban planning, creating affordable residential housing. The draft design emerged from a competition and was produced by a young Munich-based architecture business, Baur & Latsch, comprising seven buildings with a total of 66 apartments, ranging from studios to four-room homes for students, commuters, pensioners and families. GIMA supplied the facade material, made of brick slips coated with a white finish. Photos: © Sebastian Schels
Hotel Werk 17
No downtime at the former Pfanni factory site in the Munich district of Berg am Laim: Directly adjacent to the future concert hall, the new Werk 17 [Plant 17] hotel has risen up, with its visually striking facade design. A characteristic feature is the composition of a concrete facade with embedded ceramic panels made by GIMA which enable this building to blend visually into this dynamic district on a former factory site. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
Schöller Wohnpark
Everyone knows Schöller. The ice cream maker from Nuremberg has been delighting young and old alike for more than 60 years. However, until now, that name was not associated with architecture and facade construction. For the Schöller family foundation, the firm of architects ATT Artur Asam designed Schöller Park for the Nuremberg district of Thon. Surrounded by mature trees, ten urban villas have been constructed, comprising a total of 80 residential units. For the facade, in keeping with the values of the foundation, durability and permanence, GIMA brickwork was chosen. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
St. Johannis district
Until now, for most residents of Nuremberg, the area between the tram turning loop and the boundary of the St. Johannis district was a blank area on the map. However, after two years of construction work, the new residential district of St. Johannis has been created. Named after the eponymous suburb, this district features a total of 74 rental apartments and an integrative crèche facility, a service point for the resident’s association and a social meeting point - built around neighbourly, multi-generational and energy-efficient values. Photos: © Alexander Bernhard
Vitra Schaudepot

This open storage facility project by architects Herzog & de Meuron enables the Vitra Design Museum to open its doors to the public to showcase its collection of chairs, armchairs and recliners. Over a floor area of 1600 square metres, more than 400 key works are on show here, made between 1800 and the present day. The windowless brickwork structure is an inconspicuous backdrop to this wealth of design history. However, this latest new building on the Vitra Campus is not just a simple barn with a pitched roof and a door – the gleaming red building shell made of hand-broken bricks is reminiscent of fabric, and appears to flow smoothly into the forecourt, which is also paved with brick. Photos: © Romy Picht

The Tate Modern Project
A chamfered and truncated pyramid by Basel-based architects Herzog & de Meuron augments the massive Bankside power station on the South bank of the Thames, home since 2000 to the Tate Modern, one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in Europe. The perforated brick cladding of this new-build not only provides a link in aesthetic material terms between these different structures but it also imbues the building shell with a kind of plasticity and, at night, can be floodlit from inside. Photos: © Anke Müllerklein

Personal and digital

Our service

We are very committed to being close to and satisfying the wishes of our customers. Our experienced team is there to support you from initial concept through to production. Also, you will find all the tools and details online that are important to your planning needs.

Have you already discovered a color that looks appropriate for your project? If so, then take the opportunity of ordering individual samples or of asking us for a sample board.
Do you have a specific notion, for which you are unable to find a color match in our range? Then please contact us right away - bespoke solutions are our speciality.

+ Samples & Textures

Would you like to download informative material, or order printed copies of our literature for facade, floor or building shell construction? If so, then visit our download and ordering portal where you will find all the key documents - from product brochure to press release, the right answer to every need.

+ Download & Order Portal
Jetzt Video zur Klinkerproduktion starten.

A factory in
the change of time.

Informing

We are the only plant in the world to produce this variety of different ceramic products on a single site.

As well as our brickwork for facades and floors, our Marklkofen site also produces roof tiles for our sister company ERLUS as well as large brick slabs for our subsidiary MOEDING. From handmade brick maker to high-tech production, the entire range is represented here, and a visit to the plant and a personal guided tour is always a valuable experience.

Highlights by GIMA

Brick-News

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We look forward to welcoming you to BAU in Munich from January 13-17, 2025.
You can expect impressive new products made of brick and clay.
Find out more on our BAU info page.

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