The biannual Brick Award hosted by Wienerberger recognizes the best in global brick architecture. This year’s celebrated projects range from a museum in China to a Swiss commercial office.
‘The projects in the Brick Award show the very versatile ways brick is used as a contemporary form of construction and that brick architecture is widespread everywhere in the world,’ says Brick Award 20 jury member Jonathan Sergison. With its prize, Austrian brickmaker Wienerberger acknowledges the wide range of innovative applications that designers and architects employ today, showing that brick has potential far beyond traditional settings. Although Wienerberger is the host of the award, it is an independent award and the use of Wienerberger products is not a decisive criterion for participation.
Take Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum for example. Conceived by Studio Zhu Pei, the Chinese cultural institution is one of five projects to be acknowledged in this year’s competition. Eight parabolic vaults comprise the building, which serves to display the namesake city’s rich heritage in porcelain manufacturing. It won Brick Award’s Grand Prize distinction, also triumphing in the ‘sharing public spaces’ category, which addresses the need for ‘comfortable, aesthetic and functional public buildings for education, culture and healthcare’.
Cover and above: The Imperial Kiln Museum by Studio Zhu Pei in Jingdezhen, China. Photos: Schranimage
The House That Inhabits in Babahoyo, Ecuador by Natura Futura. Photo: José Fernando Gómez
A residential and commercial complex in Pantin, France by Avenier Cornejo Architectes. Photo: Schnepp Renou, Charlotte Toscan, Simone Bossi, Avenier Cornejo
2226 Emmenweid by Baumschlager Eberle Architekten. Photo: René Dürr and Max Carlo Kohal
The Brick Wall - Tsingpu Yangzhou Retreat in Yangzhou, China by Neri&Hu. Photo: Pedro Pegenaute
Another section of the prize zoomed in on residential projects. Babahoyo, Ecuador home The House That Inhabits – a Natura Futura-authored design – illustrates how brick can be used to develop vibrant, habitable cities, overcoming its limited image as a low-cost, traditional building material. A complex of 88 flats, and a commercial zone, in Paris suburb Pantin similarly shows this potential to address urbanization challenges, yet on a larger scale. Avenier Cornejo Architectes employed hand-moulded bricks in three colours to execute its accoladed vision.
The fourth project highlighted by the Brick Award takes one to Switzerland. Four-storey building 2226 Emmenweid in Emmenbrücke shows a new horizon in commercial office construction. Baumschlager Eberle Architekten set out to use brick in a sustainable way, using large blocks to ensure efficient vapour diffusion and stabilize the indoor climate. The flexible workspace’s exterior is defined by light lime plaster and generous window allocation.
Rounding out the five agenda-setting projects is The Brick Wall - Tsingpu Yangzhou Retreat, a hospitality destination in Yangzhou, China. Neri&Hu transformed the site – once home to home to fishermen and farmers – into a luxury hotel by referencing traditional Chinese architecture. Brick Award’s jurors distinguished the work within Brick Award’s ‘building outside the box’ portion, commending its innovative concept.
Shim Sutcliffe Architects’ Brigitte Shim, Dekleva Gregoric Architects’ Tina Gregoric, Civic Architects’ Ingrid van der Heijden, Gottlieb Paludan Architects’ Jesper Gottlieb, and Kuehn Malvezzi Architects’ Wilfried Kuehn were the architectural minds behind Brick Award 22’s jury. Their diverse expertise set a holistic standard for this year’s winning group.
