Reston, Va., (July26, 2010)– The Brick Industry Association (BIA) announced the recipients of its 2010 Brick in Architecture Awards, which honor innovative use of clay brick in eight categories: commercial, educational, health care facilities, houses of worship, multi-family residential, municipal/government/civic, paving and landscape architecture, and single family residential applications. In total, 51 projects from 22 different states, Washington, DC and Canada won awards in the Best In Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories.
"The quality and depth of submissions made judging intense and difficult. With winners coming from more than 20 states, the Brick In Architecture Awards Competition is truly national in scope," exclaimed J. Gregg Borchelt, President & CEO of BIA. "The winning projects prove that brick is versatile, adaptable, and beautiful in just about any architectural style."
The winning projects will be recognized nationally through publication in a special issue of Brick In Architecture, which will be included as an insert in the November issue of Architectural Record. Additionally, visuals of all of the entries from the last two competitions can be viewed on Brick Gallery at www.gobrick.com/brickgallery.
The 2010 Brick In Architecture Awards Best-In-Class Winner in the Educational Category is theMeier Hall Dormitory at Elmira College, Elmira, NY. The Architect was QPK Design of Syracuse, NY. The Construction Manager and masonry constructor was Welliver McGuire, Inc. (Montour Falls, NY). The brick manufacturer was Glen-Gery Corporation and the distributor was Bock Brick, Inc.
Meier Hall celebrated its ribbon-cutting ceremony in June and the first student occupants will be moving into the 140-bed dormitory in the coming weeks. Besides complementing the college's celebrated and traditional character of clay brick, limestone, and slate roofs, Meier Hall incorporates a thoroughly modern floor plan that facilitates shared social and instructional activities and competes favorably with dormitories found in other colleges' campuses. A highlight is the 4,000 SF multi-use social space with a catering kitchen located on the first floor. To create the traditional fabric and character of collegiate gothic architecture of the late 19th century, the design uses a specially-finished and textured extruded brick as the primary exterior material, which is an affordable response to the hand-molded brick of the original buildings. The project utilizes an English bond pattern to match the brick bonding patterns on other campus buildings, while the soaring towers, steeply pitched gables, crenellated terminations, and ornamental entries, all complement the brick. The project also concealed masonry expansion joints by isolating and affixing windows and limestone quoins to the masonry backup.