Award Winning Brick Construction Projects: Projects Honored For Excellence And Innovation In Architecture By Brick Industry Association

2005 Brick In Architecture Award Winners:

(HIT) - The Brick Industry Association (BIA) recently announced the recipients of its 2005 Brick in Architecture Awards, which honor innovative use of clay brick in four categories: commercial, institutional, residential multi-family and "special feature" applications. Five renowned architects from around the country independently reviewed and scored each entry.

Winning projects were recognized nationally through publication in a special issue of Brick In Architecture, which was included as an insert to Architectural Record. Winners received a Brick In Architecture Awards plaque commemorating their participation in the 2005 awards program, and their work is being featured in the Brick Gallery on www.gobrick.com.

"The rich quality of responses made it difficult for the judges to pick winners in each category," said Dick Jennison, President & CEO of BIA. "In the end, eight projects were chosen as the best in their field because the jury believed they best demonstrated clay brick's performance benefits, aesthetic appeal, and versatility."

Commercial Category:

	RadioShack Riverfront Campus

Project: RadioShack Riverfront Campus, Fort Worth, Texas…Architect: HKS, Inc. (Photo A -- by HKS, Inc.)

The RadioShack Riverfront Campus, which replaced two high-rise buildings, was developed based on the company's desire to be responsive to its business requirements, its employees' needs, and, especially, the Fort Worth community. Serving as the corporate headquarters, the Riverfront Campus is at the center of the proposed Trinity River Project master plan expected to invigorate the downtown Fort Worth area.

	Riverfront Parking Deck

Project: Riverfront Parking Deck, Wilmington, Delaware…Architect: Tevebaugh Associates. (Photo B -- by Tevebaugh Associates)

The Riverfront Parking Deck was conceived as a unique design that would blend into the historic character of Wilmington's Train Station District. The design team was charged to create a structure that a) maintained a low profile while allowing the 1.5 million Amtrak passengers per year to enjoy the river view from the train and elevated track platforms, and, b) create a visual, architectural link between the existing historic buildings—the Wilmington Station (now Amtrak), built in 1907, and the picturesque Baltimore & Ohio passenger station, built in 1888.

Institutional Category:

	Alice H. Cook House

Project: Cornell University's Alice H. Cook House, Ithaca, New York…Architect: Kieran Timberlake Associates LLP (Photo C -- by Barry Halkin Photography)

The West Campus Residential Initiative (WCRI), which includes the Alice H. Cook House, was developed to provide housing for 1,250 undergraduate students in five college houses. The design team understood that architectural compatibility with the existing residential buildings was of utmost importance to the University. Since stone in the quantity and color to match the existing Collegiate Gothic residence halls was unavailable, the design team chose a specific type of brick that matched the Gothic stone in scale and pattern of the units, texture, and the ranges of value and hue.

	Life Sciences Centre

Project: Life Sciences Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada…Architect: Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc. (Photo D -- by Elizabeth Gyde -- Steven Evans)

The University of British Columbia (UBC) Life Sciences Centre is a 565,000 square foot research-academic building, which complements and augments an existing medical complex on the campus. Home to the UBC Medical School, the Centre houses anatomy teaching labs, faculty offices, two large auditoria and two sky lit atria. Two of the mandates for the design team were to ensure that the building would be sustainable and would provide the owner high performance with a long service life.

Residential Multi-Family Category:

	Kentucky Courts

Project: Kentucky Courts, Washington, D.C.…Architect: Sorg and Associates, PC (Photo E -- by Robert Lautman)
The mandate for Kentucky Courts' design team was to create a mixed-
income housing complex which reinvigorated a neighborhood plagued by crime while respecting the existing architectural vernacular of its setting's traditional Victorian homes, historic buildings, and national landmarks. The design is transformative, encouraging individual, family-oriented housing that welcomes community interaction.

	Garlands at Barrington

Project: The Garlands at Barrington, Barrington, Illinois…Architect: Torti Gallas and Partners, Inc. (Photo F -- by Torti Gassas and Partners -- Hedrich Blessing)

The design of the Garlands at Barrington was influenced by Northern European architecture, especially the French Provincial and English Manor House styles. This design style was integrated with the mission to create a mixed-use "village within a village," serving as a campus open to the surrounding community rather than a simple gated enclave of senior housing. The forms and details of the architecture were based on traditional precedents and combined with brick to create the traditional village character.

Special Feature Category:

	Hotel Valencia

Project: Hotel Valencia, San Antonio, Texas…Architect: 3D/International Architects (Photo G -- by Al Rendon)

The lounge is the center of Hotel Valencia's public spaces. Designing the lounge needed special consider-ation as it is aligned in between several structural columns and an emergency stair. The mandate for the design team was to utilize natural materials such as wood, concrete and brick to express a familiar material in an entirely different way.

Project: Buffer Ruled Wall, Tampa, Florida… Architect: MGA Group Architects, Inc. (Photo H -- by Ariel Valmaggia)

	Buffer Ruled Wall

The Screen/Buffer Ruled Wall was designed to create a beautiful piece of sculpture and to screen the owner's yard from the street. Using Eladio Dieste's building system as inspiration, which includes brick and steel reinforcing, the design team succeeded in creating a functional work of art. Brick, used for the screen, not only fulfilled the structural requirement, but also allowed the design team to emphasize the modulating waves.

A common theme among the winning projects was the need to utilize environmental-friendly materials to create durable and sustainable structures. Brickworks' inherent durability and sustainability not only made it the leading material choice but it also enabled most of the winning projects to receive or register for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification, a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

The Brick in Architecture Awards will be held once again in 2006. Firms from around the country can enter their best material to be judged by a jury of their peers. Any work of non-residential architecture completed since 2001, in which clay brick and/or clay pavers is a dominant building material, is eligible. A call-for-entries will commence on January 30, 2006 through BIA's website, www.gobrick.com.

Courtesy: Home Improvement News and Information Center