After being delayed due to the extended lockdown, the Winners and High Commendations for the Think Brick Awards 2021 were finally announced at an intimate Gala Lunch held on the 19th of November at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House.
The 15th Annual Think Brick Awards continue to recognise and champion the ever-important contribution that architects, manufacturers, builders and bricklayers make in bringing outstanding built projects to life. Nearly 250 amazing projects were showcased as 2021 Award entries. This represents hours of creativity, project management, and craftsmanship, and of course, millions of bricks, blocks, pavers, and roof tiles.
Group CEO Think Brick, CMAA & ARTA Elizabeth McIntyre says “Despite over half of Australia experiencing an extended lockdown and feeling the immense impacts of COVID19 in different forms, the architectural community endures, embodying this year’s Elemental theme. I really want to acknowledge the effort that goes into these projects. It's impressive and impactful, and without this support the (Think Brick) Awards wouldn't be possible.”
This year’s experienced Jury panel of distinguished architects and industry experts were: Amy Muir (Muir Architecture), Koichi Takada (Koichi Takada Architects), Geoff Warn (with_architecture), Michael White (Freadman White), Jane Irwin (Jane Irwin Landscape Australia), Elizabeth McIntyre (Group CEO, TBA, CMAA, ARTA).
This project is a masterclass in the use of brick. We fell in love with the meticulous and seamless detailing. The way the vertical curves create a very subtle canopy over the footpath allows the public to engage with the material and is a generous way of giving back to the public realm. It's bold, yet it displays subtle and structurally integral ways of using brick.
- Jury 2021
Divided House really takes the brick and challenges it. It doesn't accept it for what it is. This project displays lovely innovation in the way that the facade is being defined and articulated, but then we're also seeing this lovely joy in the way that the skinniness of the chimney is being articulated within the garden and the manner that all those elements start to play into a bigger language and a larger way of understanding how the house operates
- Jury 2021
Sutton Forest Growers Garden elevates the use of masonry in a creative way through the bricklaying pattern. It displays both solidity and porosity and it’s compelling in the way that it allows a partial view through the wall to the framed garden within, and from within looking out. The sense of delicacy of filigree is something that will have far reaching influence on landscape designs.
- Jury 2021
La Scala really stood out to us as a clear winner in the Kevin Borland Masonry award. This project elevates the use of masonry through a sense of plasticity. There's a very subtle finish to the block that is complimented by the concrete finishes. The muted, organic quality that the project has receives the light in a lovely way through soft and hard shadows. It has the poetic qualities of a simple design response - of almost a phenomenological design response.
- Jury 2021
Camberwell House stood out to us as a clear winner for this category, because it uses the material in a sophisticated and delicate way that is not over empowering – that it doesn't become the main feature of the house, but it shows how the noble and traditional roof tile can be used through modern interpretation quite successfully.
- Jury 2021
A sensitive and mature design response to an existing home, creating a spatial energy with both whimsy and delight. The design demonstrates that the brick can be used to mesh with the existing fabric of an old house so that the two, old and new, can work together in harmony.
- Jury 2021
