The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has recognized a North Carolina State University (NCSU) project as “best in class” for post-secondary educational projects in its 2021 Brick in Architecture Awards.
Judges selected the Fitts-Woolard Hall in Raleigh, designed by Clark Nexsen Architecture & Engineering The project’s mason contractor was Brodie Contractors with Sioux City Brick (subsidiary of Glen-Gery) bricks distributed by Custom Brick & Supply Co.
“Throughout this four-story facility featuring traditional red and gray flashed brick, high degrees of transparency create a light-filled, vibrant academic and research environment,” the awards citation said.
The school was one 49 projects out of 138 entries—almost double the amount over the past three years—with eight Best in Class winners featured in this video. The Best in Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze winners include projects in the United States, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
“These awards demonstrate clay brick’s infinite design versatility derived from a myriad of available colors that never fade, textures, and installation options. Brick’s natural beauty along with its unmatched durability, fire, and wind-blown debris protection, energy efficiency, and low or no maintenance are some of the qualities that make clay brick the best wall cladding available,” Ray Leonhard, BIA’s president and CEO, said in a statement.