7/09/2026
The winners of the 2026 Think Brick Awards have been announced, celebrating Australian architecture and design that challenges convention and rethinks what is possible with brick, block, pavers and roof tiles. This year’s theme, Re:Form, invited designers to consider not only how we build, but how we value and respect the materials, places and resources already around us.
With more than 150 projects submitted, the 2026 jury was impressed by the quality, diversity and sophistication of this year’s entries. The strongest projects placed masonry at the heart of their design ambition, demonstrating that innovation does not always mean doing more — but often doing less with greater intention. Across the awards, masonry was used to create enduring envelopes, moments of refuge, civic spaces and highly crafted architectural expressions.
The awards also highlighted the growing importance of durability, adaptability, reuse and longevity in creating a lower-carbon built environment. Many of this year’s projects demonstrated how thoughtful design can transform existing places, use materials with greater purpose and create lasting value. Together, they show that environmental responsibility and design excellence are not competing ambitions.
Head Juror Kim Crestani said the projects demonstrated the enduring ability of masonry to adapt to changing technologies, aesthetics and environmental expectations while retaining its fundamental qualities of permanence, durability and craft. “The role of the designer is not simply to use materials, but to listen to them, understand them and reveal new possibilities,” they said.
The jury included Michael Christensen (m3architecture), Connie Argyrou (Architectus), Eva-Marie Prineas (Studio Prineas) and Think Brick Australia CEO Cathy Inglis AM. The winning projects represent a willingness to rethink how we build and reshape how we value materials — demonstrating what is possible when innovation, intensive detailing, craftsmanship and sustainability come together.
Horbury Hunt Commercial Award
Winner
24/7 Latelab
Kosloff Architecture
Krause Bricks
Project Summary:
Framed as both a spatial and environmental intervention, the 24/7 Latelab demonstrates how existing assets can deliver high-quality amenity while significantly reducing embodied carbon and fostering cultural change across campus.
Three principles underpin the project: reuse over replacement, co-creation over prescription, and generosity as a driver of belonging. The design engages the building’s layered history, retaining and adapting its structure as a repository of carbon, memory, and latent potential. This material language is carried inward, where brick is integrated into joinery and seating, creating a continuous dialogue between exterior expression and interior experience.
Jury Quote:
“24/7 Latelab exemplifies the essence of re:form. There is such complexity in this adaptive reuse, with the project harnessing the expressive potential of brickwork to breathe new life into the building, creating an outcome that is both innovative and enduring.”
High Commendations
Willowdale Sports Pavilion – Sam Crawford Architecture – PGH Bricks & Pavers, Austral Bricks
The Canopy Café – Blight Rayner – Austral Bricks
Finalists
Billyard Avenue – SJB – Krause Bricks
Lacebark – Smart Design Studio – Lohas Australia
St. Joseph's Art & Learning Precinct - PMDL McGlashan Everist – Krause Bricks, Leviat
Yiaga – Wardle – Krause Bricks
Marlborough Street – Ted Quinton Architecture – Lohas Australia
Horbury Hunt Residential Award
Winner
Sandstock
Clayton Orszaczky
Krause Bricks
Project Summary:
“Sandstock” is a sculptural composition in textured masonry with deep elevated gardens punctuating its robust brick forms. Hit and miss masonry and textured masonry create soft brick edges and filtered light to windows flanked by gardens. Internal views of the brick character are revealed as you walk through the home.
The reliable durability of brick offers maintenance free, beautiful materiality to this home and anchors the home in its exposed coastal setting. Textures and colours reflect the sandy cliffs of the adjacent wooded reserve.
Jury Quote:
“There is an elegance to the restraint shown throughout this project. Every detail has been carefully considered, resulting in a home that feels protective, beautifully proportioned and deeply connected to its landscape.”
High Commendation
House of Light – Jolson Architecture and Interiors
Finalists
Clay House – Muci – Lohas Australia
Newcastle House – Owen Architecture and Steve Hunt Architect – Austral Bricks
One Surf – Blueprint Architects – Krause Bricks
Solara – The Sociable Weaver
Surrey 112 – Smart Design Studio – Krause Bricks
Queenscliff House – Chenchow Little – Krause Bricks
Kevin Borland Masonry Award
Winner
Eaglemont Residence
Adam Kane Architects
Project Summary:
Eaglemont Residence is a new build contemporary three-storey family home positioned on a sloping site, conceived with a sense of monolithic strength, permanence and timelessness. The architecture adopts a restrained and muted material palette, allowing the surrounding landscape and softer complementary tones to become a defining feature of the living experience.
Masonry plays an integral role in both the architectural expression and construction methodology of the project. Each level is articulated as a distinct horizontal band of randomly laid, flush-struck brickwork, creating a refined mottled tapestry of texture that adds depth and subtle variation without overwhelming the strength of the architecture.
The restrained masonry detailing and disciplined material palette ensure the home feels enduring and deeply grounded within its site, balancing robust permanence with warmth, refinement and subtle textural richness. Importantly, the masonry extends seamlessly beyond the external facade and continues internally throughout the home, creating a sense of honesty, continuity and balance rather than functioning as a superficial feature element.
Jury Quote:
“The monolithic use of a single material, detailed to the eleventh degree, is outstanding. This is minimalism at its absolute best, who couldn’t love it?”
High Commendation
House of M – UME Architecture – National Masonry
Finalists
House Freddie – Studio Bright – GB Masonry
The Corner Shop House – Downie North – GB Masonry
Bruce Mackenzie Landscape Award
Winner
Edgley Street Reserve
Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture
Bowral Bricks, Austral Bricks, Lohas Australia
Project Summary:
Edgley Street reserve is an existing park that was in need of an upgrade to improve usability, update play, and repair paths and paved seating areas. It is a small local park, providing amenity in a densely populated area with young families.
The park design builds on existing character, brick buildings and paving, sandstone kerbs - a fine grain response within a finer scale, domestic character of terraced housing. Bricks were selected for durability, character fit with the area, and for the human scale, hand held, crafted quality that they impart.
The paving is a mix of recycled bricks with new brick infill. A blue glazed brick mix on walls responds to an existing mural on the wall of the end terrace, adding fun and colour, leading the eye into the park.
Jury Quote:
“A small leftover space transformed into something really special. This pocket park is simple, joyful and beautifully resolved, creating a little moment of calm and connection within the inner city.”
High Commendation
Manning Gallery Amenities – Ode Architecture – Lincoln Brickworks
Finalists
Barangaroo Pods – Atelier Luke – Lincoln Brickworks, Leviat
The Forest – Realm Studios & Woods Bagot – Daniel Robertson
Hedge and Arbour House – Studio Bright & Emergent Studios – GB Masonry, National Masonry
Robin Dods Roof Tiles Award
Winner
Hanslope House
Olaver Architecture
Bristile Roofing
Project Summary:
Hanslope House is a contemporary family home on a rare double-corner suburban site, designed to balance openness, privacy, and connection to landscape. Organised as two pavilions linked by a central spine, the house creates a sequence of courtyards that structure movement, light, and daily life, replacing the typical singular backyard with a series of outdoor rooms.
The design draws from the surrounding context, abstracting familiar suburban elements such as pitched roofs and masonry forms into a refined, contemporary expression. The material palette is complemented by terracotta roof tiles, which reinforce the project’s relationship to its suburban context while contributing to its thermal performance. Together, these materials offer durability, longevity, and reduced environmental impact. The use of recycled brick not only minimises embodied energy but also enriches the tactile and spatial qualities of the house, grounding it in both place and material authenticity.
Jury Quote:
“The success of this project lies in its precision. Every roof detail has been carefully resolved, allowing the slim terracotta roof form to work effortlessly with the surrounding masonry.”
High Commendation
St Clare – Woods Bagot – CSR Monier
Finalist
Rose Terraces – Luigi Rosselli Architects – Bristile Roofing
New Entrant Award
Winner
Marlborough Street
Ted Quinton Architecture
Lohas Australia
Project Summary:
Set in the heart of Surry Hills , the building reimagines a warehouse as a flexible cultural hub incorporating a multi-use performance and rehearsal space, cafe and commercial office space. The existing brick shell has been retained on three sides with a new front facade of recycled bricks. The flush grout colour is a deep red to enhance the brick and create a continuous monolithic appearance. The facade is punctuated by strategic openings and framed by weathered steel which provides a delicate counterpoint to the mass of the building.
The detailing was subtle but deliberate, and carefully composed, through articulation of corners and features above openings.
Jury Quote:
“This project brings a real sense of joy and whimsy to the streetscape, using brick in subtle and unexpected ways. The level of craftsmanship is immediate from the get-go — a perfectionist architect, perfectionist bricklayer and perfectionist steelworker have clearly come together to create something beautiful.”
High Commendation
House of M – UME Architecture – National Masonry