2021 Brick in Architecture Awards

RESTON, Va., August 16, 2021 — The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has opened entries for the international 2021 Brick in Architecture Awards, the premier architectural design competition featuring fired-clay brick.

Entries are due by Nov. 1, with 50% fewer required materials for faster submission. All submissions must use clay brick as the project’s primary building material. Entrants must be either an architect or designer employed by an architectural, design-build or landscaping design firm.

“The BIA Awards celebrate brick architectural design, a historic and timeless material with infinite possibilities,” said Gavri Slasky, AIA, LEED AP, associate, Stephen B. Jacobs Group P.C., New York, New York.

  Per the competition rules, eligible projects include any work of architecture completed since January 1, 2016 in which new clay brick products comprise the predominant exterior building or paving material (over 50 percent) including: face or hollow brick, building brick, thin brick, paving brick, glazed brick, structural glazed facing tile, new clay brick products in special shapes and/or a combination of these.

“The BIA Awards are an excellent opportunity to showcase the craftsmanship of our masons in realizing our designs in brick,” said Carey Jackson Yance, LEED AP, RA, principal, CANNOdesign, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Debuting last year, an overall Craftsmanship Award will honor exceptionally artful installation by an individual mason or a team of masons.

“The versatility, timeless artisanship, and high-performance quality of brick blend to provide a rich and honest medium of expression that is an integral part of our practice, evident in our two Best in Class awards, the Taft Freshman Academy of 2020 and the Back of the Yards High School of 2014,” said Luis Collado and Jose Luis de la Fuente, principals, STL Architects, Chicago, Illinois.

Entries must be submitted online in one or more of these categories:

1. Commercial

2. Education – K-12

3. Education - Colleges & Universities (Higher Education) *

4. Residential – Single Family

5. Residential – Multi-Family

6. Paving & Landscape Projects

7. Historic Renovation**

8. International (If project is located outside of the U.S., Canada or a U.S. Territory, it must be entered in this category)

* Includes residence halls & academic/administrative buildings **This does not need to meet the 50% or more new brick requirement but must have 50% or more brick renovated on the project.

“It celebrates a beautiful craft,” said David Richter, FAIA, principal, Richter Architects, Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Sourcing the brick for our award-winning Inglewood Residence was an immense undertaking, but one of the highlights of this projects,” said Mark Odom, Founding Principal, Mark Odom Studio, Austin, Texas. “We were honored to be awarded for these efforts.”

BIA and Zonda will co-brand an email featuring the winning projects to more than 40,000 architects and designers. All submitted projects will be posted to BIA’s online Photo Gallery.  

Judged by peers, the 2021 winners will be announced in January.

Questions: Tricia Mauer: [email protected].

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Founded in 1934, BIA is the nationally recognized authority on clay brick construction representing the nation’s distributors and manufacturers of clay brick and suppliers of related products. http://www.gobrick.com. /  703-620-0010.