November 2008: BIA 2008 Awards

Words: Dan KamysNovember 2008

BIA's 2008 Brick in Architecture Awards

The Brick Industry Association (BIA) announced the recipients of its 2008 Brick in Architecture Awards, which honor innovative use of clay brick in six categories: commercial, educational, health care facilities, houses of worship, municipal/government and paving/landscape architecture applications. Five renowned architects from around the country independently reviewed and scored each entry.

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

The 2009 Brick In Architecture Awards are slated to begin in January. A change to next year's program will be the addition of a category for multi-family residential projects.


Commercial

award1 Architect: Gideon Toal Inc.

Educational

award2 Architect: Payette Associates

Health Care Facilities

awards3 Architect: TRO Jung|Brannen

Houses of Worship

award4 Architect: Cyntergy AEC

Municipal/Government

award5 Architect: The Freelon Group

Paving and Landscape Architecture

award6 Landscape Architect: Landscape Architecture Bureau      
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