Reading, Writing, Arithmetic & Red Bricks: The revival of red brickwork in school architecture
Think Brick Australia
Think Brick Australia represents the clay brick and paver manufacturers of Australia.
School architecture is going Back to the Future, thanks to our renewed love affair with red brick.
The classic red face bricks that characterise some of Australia’s most historic campuses are having a modern-day resurgence – with award-wining results.
This year’s Think Brick Awards’ jury was impressed with the red brick renaissance on display at Kiara College’s new performing arts centre and student services building, which won the Horbury Hunt Commercial Award 2022. A combination of red and white bricks from Midland Brick and Austral Brick were used to reinvigorate the campus and create a new identity for the school.
Their jury statement read: “Kiara College really celebrates red brick and invites you to experience the presence that it creates.” ?
Architect Daniel Aisenson , of With_Architecture Studio discusses the intricacies of this project, including the lengths he went to when sourcing the best bricks to bring it to fruition, with our Group CEO, Elizabeth McIntyre , during the Think Brick podcast.
“Brick was a natural choice,” he says. “We've been working with bricks now for a long time. It’s a way of progressing and developing our architectural language and identity and attitude, and this was, no exception.”
With_Architecture Studio’s red brick work on the new boarding house at Guildford Grammar School was another notable awards entry.
Pascoe Vale Primary School’s celebration of red brick in all its glory garnered Kosloff Architecture a high commendation in the New Entrant Award category.
The architects on this project truly went Back to the Future when designing the extension to this neo-classical Melbourne school.
“This extension continues the existing building’s masonry and brick articulation,” their awards submission explains.
“Refining the detailing of the brickwork throughout construction achieves a quality that is in-keeping with the original building yet clearly contemporary.”
Das Studio ’s Greenwith Primary School design also embraced the trend.