Wienerberger Brick Award 2018: A tribute to high quality brick architecture

The Wienerberger Brick Award provides architects from all over the world with an opportunity to showcase modern, innovative architecture with clay materials. 2018 marks the eighth time that the world’s largest brick manufacturer Wienerberger is presenting this internationally established bi-annual award.

Nearly 600 fascinating projects from 44 countries were submitted for the 2018 awards. An independent pre-jury narrowed down this number to the top 50 nominations. An expert jury of five internationally renowned architects was selected to whittle down these nominees and choose the final winners. Jonathan Sergison, architect and founding partner of Sergison Bates Architects represented the UK on the panel.

“The projects submitted this year impressed the jury with their innovative spirit and quality. They represent bold and creative architectural concepts for sustainable and forward-looking living spaces.” commented Heimo Scheuch, CEO of Wienerberger AG.

The awards were presented at a prestigious event which took place on the 28^th May 2018 at Albert Hall in Vienna, Austria. Seven global projects were honoured with a Wienerberger Brick Award this year and received prize money totaling €34,000.

This year, two projects were awarded the celebrated Grand Prize. The first winning project is Westkaai Towers 5 & 6 by UK-based practice Tony Fretton Architects. Situated in Antwerp, Belgium – the towers are part of a larger residential project within a new mixed-used development. The project was also the winner in the “Living together” category.

The second Grand Prize winner is the Kunstmuseum Basel Extension project by Christ & Gantenbein, Switzerland. This grey brick structure is connected through an underground hall with the listed main building. LED lights are integrated in the relief-like grooves made of moulded bricks in the façade. In addition, this project also came out as the winner in the “Sharing public spaces” category.

The other Wienerberger Brick Award category winners are:-

• “Feeling at home” - Atlas House by Monadnock
• “Working together” - Terra Cotta Studio by Tropical Space
• “Building outside the box” - Värtan Bioenergy CHP Plant by U.D. Urban Design & Gottlieb Paludan Architects
• Special Prize winner - San Bernardo Chapel by Nicolás Campodonico Estudio
• Special Prize winner - Old Church of Vilanova de la Barca by AleaOlea

To take a look at all the Wienerberger Brick Award winning projects and find out more about the awards, visit www.brickaward.com.