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About the 2008 awards
In 2008 About Face was all about exploring the art of brickwork. As in 2007, six Australian architects were invited to take part and each took up a challenging brief that aimed to explore the possibilities for brick in the 21st century.
The About Face 2008 Awards are proudly supported by Form & Function and Architectural Review Australia.
The Architects:
Think Brick Australia invited six emerging architects from around Australia to design projects highlighting the artistic potential of clay brick use.
Each of these young architects was specifically selected from a shortlist of emerging research-based practices from across Australia. The selected architects were deemed those who have demonstrated prior ability in and commitment to research by design and who could offer specific expertise that would further the aims of this year’s competition.
Read about our 2008 Architects
The Brief
This year the brief shifted from a purely residential focus to allow schemes to incorporate public space.
As the various face brick products on the market today allow for a large range of detailing possibilities and innovation in assembly or in the development of new components, Bellemo and Cat explored the ‘Art of Detailing and Components’.
Recognising that materials have a range of political and social implications which are often culturally specific, Adrian Lahoud worked with this cultural material, in respect to brick use, under the banner of ‘Commemoration and Meaning’.
M3 Architecture will address ‘Colour’, challenging the perception of brick as a “red” or “brown” building material.
A variety of patterns and textures are available in face brick products, which can be selected and combined to push the formal possibilities of a design into new territory. The brief for Rowan Opat was to “surprise” in regard to what is possible through ‘Pattern and Texture’.
Choi Ropiha explored ‘Form’. Although bricks are elemental in nature, it can of course be in the build-up of elements that formal opportunities emerge. Thus, the task for this practice was to exploit the formal potential specific to brick, to result in a singular and innovative response that pushes this idea to the fullest.
The manipulation of space and light is fundamental to architectural practice and thinking, however, the question arises as to what specific spatial and lighting opportunities emerge because of the use of brick and clay elements. A level of originality was sought from Pendal and Neille Architects in the deployment of bricks to provide another essay in ‘Space and Light’.
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