Wienerberger : Brick Award 24 - Leaflet

FACTS & WINNERS

The Brick Award recognizes pioneers in brick architecture to encourage innovation and support those who are finding new solutions to the environmental and social challenges facing the building industry.

wienerberger, a leading provider of innovative and ecological solutions for the entire building envelope in the areas of new construction and renovation as well as infrastructure for water and energy management, launched the biennial Brick Award in 2024.

In June 2024, the 11th edition of the prize was once again awarded for exceptional examples of brick architecture from around the world, characterised by aesthetics, innovation and sustainability.

BRICK AWARD 24

1. PROJECTS

1. COUNTRIES

1. WINNERS IN 5 CATEGORIES SELECTED BY AN INTERNATIONAL JURY

© Architect Hanghar & Palma | Photographer Luis Diaz Diaz

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LOCATION

PURPOSE

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

SHARING PUBLIC SPACES

PROJECT NAME INTERNATIONAL RUGBY EXPERIENCE

ARCHITECTS NÍALL MCLAUGHLIN ARCHITECTS LONDON,

UNITED KINGDOM

LIMERICK, IRELAND

CULTURE

A Cathedral of Sport

Rugby is a national sport in Ireland, so the idea of establishing the event and exhibition center dedicated to the sport as a new attraction in Limerick is not a bad one.

The Color Red

"We were inspired by pictures of red-clad Munster rugby team fans flooding the streets after winning a game and we loved the idea of a cup-winning team standing on that balcony at some point showing off

Copyright:

Architect Tom McGlynn

Photographer Nick Kane

the trophy to the crowd," says Tom McGlynn, partner at Níall McLaughlin Architects. But that wasn't the sole inspiration. Another image was that of the many churches and public buildings in Limerick. The Rugby Experience refers to this existing fabric and towers like a cathedral above the neighboring houses, without

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denying the Georgian neighborhood, as there are connecting points throughout, from the building configuration to formal elements, right down to the brick surfaces.

A Good Many Bricks

A considerable number of bricks come together here, nearly half a million, the architects assure. Three hand-molded brick types were mixed to achieve the appropriate color tone to match the neighborhood, and the building dimensions were tailored to the brick size to minimize waste.

"The project, because of its exterior, entices people to go in and find out what awaits them inside," points out jury member Ingrid van der Heijden, and that is the best thing one can say about a structure such as this.

Dominant and Elegant

Here the brick is more than just decorative - it is dominant inside and out. This dominance is reinforced because the concrete or steel elements are also (brick) red. The theme runs through the entire building, from the "Grand Portico" to the two-story foyer, from the café to the shop, from the exhibition spaces to the educational rooms, and ultimately into a public event space, the glazed crown of the building with a panoramic view over the whole city.

This "sublimity" is underlined by the building's pronounced verticality, which makes it appear taller and more elegant than it already is. The elevated entrance, the balcony above it for presenting the trophies, the brick pillars protruding from the façade and only structured by delicate, horizontal precast concrete parts, the arched shape of the glazing on the top floor and the use of slender columns inside the building.

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CATEGORY WINNER

LIVING TOGETHER

PROJECT NAME	M 5605
ARCHITECTS	ESTUDIO ARQTIPO BUENOS AIRES,
	ARGENTINA
LOCATION	BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
PURPOSE	LIVING

Powerful Elegance

The six-story apartment building with ten units was built on a floor area of

8.8 by 12.7 square meters. The floor plans on the standard stories are compact: Each features an open kitchen, a living and dining room, a bedroom and sanitary rooms.

What doesn't sound spectacular is actually an extraordinary piece of building culture that impresses with visual succinctness and a good amount of cleverness.

Copyright:

Architect Estudio Arqtipo

Photographer Federico Kulekdjian

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From the Trapezoid Family - Or Periscopes After All?

The house occupies a corner plot in northwest Buenos Aires. And this corner has something special: Like curious neighbors leaning out of the window, periscope -like balconies grow out of the façade and stretch out in different directions. The impression is captivating because they are closed at the sides, top and bottom

• like loggias, tapering towards the front, providing a view through glass parapets to the fully glazed "rear walls" of the trapezoidal oriels. This expressive element not only gives the house a unique identity, but also offers residents a shaded outdoor area and weaves it into the public space.

Boundary-Crossing

Large windows rounding the corners are incised in the façade level. Here the boundary between inside and outside is clearly articulated. On the ground floor, how- ever, the cantilevered element is reversed, inviting the public space into the house: The entrance is set back under the corner and the resulting overhang forms the threshold. One can look directly through the entrance door into the foyer, where the façade brick continues as interior wall cladding and the threshold theme is played out once again. Rounding it all off is a car parking space eased into the ground floor and demarcated by lattices - and here, too, the exterior and interior space intertwine.

A Dress Made of Brick

What - besides the "periscopes" - lends the house its specific character is the gray brick dress in which it is completely encased: Laid on the wall surfaces in a stretcher bond, on the oriels in a gap bond as a visual filter and for ventilation, it creates a uniform yet differentiated surface. The combination of gray brick and black metal profiles, e.g., for windows, end strips or cladding, ensures that the dress is also elegant and puts the building's lively massiveness into perspective. Brick makes one appear slender, one could say - or better: Any story can be told with one brick.

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CATEGORY WINNER

BUILDING OUTSIDE THE BOX

PROJECT NAME	TYPES OF SPACES
ARCHITECTS	HANGHAR, MADRID, SPAIN; PALMA,
	MEXICO-CITY, MEXICO
LOCATION	LOGROÑO, SPAIN
PURPOSE	PUBLIC PAVILION

Nothing but Bricks

The festival is over, the installation was taken down, but the memory of this special spatial adventure remains, because when does it happen that so much can be experienced in just 40 meters?

Feeling the City

Concéntrico is the name of an annual festival taking place in Logroño, Spain that is intended to encourage people to consciously experience the city and to per-

Copyright:

Architect Hanghar & Palma

Photographer Luis Diaz Diaz

ceive or get to know urban places for the first time that are not normally the focus of attention. Interventions and installations explore interstices, create context, and link the past and present.

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Linear Labyrinth

On the site of a former tobacco factory there is a narrow, short passageway, hardly present in the urban fabric, which leads directly to a high smokestack. Hanghar and Palma chose this location to implement a sequence of six strictly geometric spatial structures, made entirely of thermal bricks, on the same floor area that fits precisely between the walls of the adjacent houses and to provide a special experience away from the busystreets. One immerses oneself in a world that sharpens perception: of space, light, air and permeabil- ity, of progress and rest, of the static uniformity of brick walls.

Despite its linearity, the installation has a labyrinthine character due to the towering walls, which block any view except up and towards the smokestack, and which are surprisingly rearranged in all the courtyards.

Powerful and Playful

In contrast to the perfectly constructed walls is the floor, covered in brick chips. It also contributes to the variety of sensory sensations: Walking requires attention and slowness; resistance has to be overcome and the fragments crunch when walked on. The continuity of the material is maintained, the experience is diverse.

One can imagine that many visitors walked the path repeatedly to experience this journey through spaces and the emotions associated with it several times. "It is a poeticm journey through different spatial schemes," says jury member Christine Conix. "We see something powerful and playful in it," stresses Diego Escamilla from Palma - and both are right.

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CATEGORY WINNER

FEELING AT HOME

PROJECT NAME	INTERMEDIATE HOUSE
ARCHITECTS	EQUIPO DE ARQUITECTURA ASUNCIÓN,
	PARAGUAY
LOCATION	ASUNCIÓN, PARAGUAY
PURPOSE	SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE

From the Art of

the Intermediate

In many ways, the intermediate is this house's leitmotif, creating an attractive range of different solutions and moods despite a rigid, additive structure.

Copyright:

Architect Horacio Cherniavsky &

Viviana Pozzoli

Photographer Federico Cairoli

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Simple Sophistication

The elongated building itself is already an "in-be- tween." The lot is narrow and a neighbor pushes up close to the property boundary from behind. The architects responded with high exposed brick walls along the long sides of the structure. At the same time, they take on the function of the outer walls, which means that there are no window openings, but instead

• on the inside of the walls - storage space in the form of wall boxes. What sounds like a problem is actually part of the concept and a key element in the play of light and shadow, in the zoning of communal and private areas and in the low-tech approach to climatic conditions. On the street side, the house is set back slightly; another brick wall, designed as a light- and air-permeable filter layer, stands further back. This establishes a transition area that manifests itself inside as a "reception space." What follows is a courtyard with a mango tree around which the house was designed. It constitutes a transition once again and the large stone slabs on the floor also help one consciously move from one world to the other. At the end come the private zones: the kitchen, the dining and living area, as well as the bedroom. A hidden garden lies at the end of the enfilade - it couldn't be more intimate.

Floating Vaults

The theme of the intermediate is also celebrated up- wards. Four longitudinal segmental arches float above the spaces on a slim steel structure, interrupted only in the inner courtyard area. Their "gable ends" are glazed,

and because they rest on cross beams within the outer walls, a narrow slit along the long sides enables light to penetrate the interior.

More Than an Interim Solution

Simple materials, climate-friendly construction and the combination of various zones make the house an exemplary gem - and more than an interim solution.

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LOCATION

PURPOSE

CATEGORY WINNER

WORKING TOGETHER

PROJECT NAME ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BOARD HEADQUARTERS

ARCHITECTS GRAFTON ARCHITECTS & O'MAHONY PIKE DUBLIN,

IRELAND

DUBLIN, IRELAND

OFFICE

Brick Shell

and Landscape Core

Two design sketches already convey the defining characteristics of the project: firstly, the interweaving of built-up and green areas and secondly the façade, which is structurally, as a perforated façade, and materially, with brick surfaces, oriented towards the urban context.

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Architect Grafton Architects &

O'Mahony Pike

Photographer Alice Clancy /

Ste Murray / Ros Kavanagh

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