September 04, 2010 10:00 AM CDT

2nd Annual Brickstainable Design Competition

Raising the bar for integrative design

By Karli Simmons

Potomac Valley Brick (PVB) is raising the bar for sustainable design in masonry construction by hosting an international design competition! The BrickStainable Design Competition seeks integrative solutions for a building using clay masonry units (brick) as a primary material. This competition seeks to explore the potential of brick construction in the creation of an energy efficient building.

The 2nd Annual BrickStainable Design Competition launched this past summer. Since July 15th, the website has had over 3,000 visitors from 87 different countries!

For more about BrickStainable please visit, www.BrickStainable.com.

The Site: Baltimore, Maryland

Integrative Building Challenge: Design a hypothetical NET ZERO energy building using brick as the primary material.

Technical Design Challenge: Explore a specific technical aspect of the “brick” or an assembly.

Jury: Vivian Loftness, internationally renowned researcher, author and educator; Bill Browning, one of the green building and real estate industry’s foremost thinkers and advocates for sustainable design solutions; Anna Dyson, the director of the Center of Architecture Science and Ecology; and, Martin Vachon, a pioneer in the field of concrete and masonry engineering.

Prizes: Potomac Valley Brick will award a $10,000 grand prize and $7,500 grand prize in the Integrative Building and Technical Design categories, respectively. Up to three honorable mention winners in each category will be awarded $2,000 per team. All winners will be flown to Washington, DC for the awards celebration which will be held at the National Building Museum on March 31, 2011. Individuals or teams may enter.

Schedule:
Nov. 15th (2010) – Deadline to Register
Dec. 15th (2010) – Deadline to Submit
Feb. 15th (2011) – Winners Announced
Mar. 31st (2011) – Awards Ceremony

Social Media Links:
Watch videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/BrickStainable
Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brickstainable
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pvbrick
Visit our Blog: http://brickstainable.blogspot.com/
See photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brickstainable

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About the Author

Karli Simmons was the Coordinator of Marketing at Potomac Valley Brick.