20 years of the Think Brick Awards

Since 2005, the Think Brick Awards have celebrated the creative possibilities of clay brick, concrete masonry, pavers, and roof tiles in contemporary Australian design. What began as a concept-driven design competition has evolved into Australia’s richest awards program for built projects, reflecting the ongoing relevance and innovation of masonry materials in architecture and landscape design.

The theme for this year’s awards, Continuity, marks two decades of recognising exceptional design — and the enduring role of bricks, blocks and roof tiles in shaping beautiful, resilient, and sustainable places. From the very first conceptual entries to the first built project entered in 2008 — The Mornington Centre by Lyons — to now over 3,000 entries later, the awards have continued to evolve. Today, they include six categories: the Horbury Hunt Commercial and Residential Awards, the Kevin Borland Masonry Award, the Bruce Mackenzie Landscape Award, the Robin Dods Roof Tile Award, and the New Entrant Award.

Continuity – Think Brick Awards 2025

The winners of the 2025 Think Brick Awards have been announced, celebrating architects that demonstrated continuity through innovative and thoughtful use of bricks, blocks, pavers, and roof tiles in their projects.

The awards Jury included Michael Heenan (AJC Architects), Laura McConaghy (Studio Bright), Elizabeth Carpenter (fjcstudio), Tone Wheeler (Environa Studio) and Cathy Inglis AM (Think Brick Australia).

The winners were unveiled across six categories at the prestigious Gala Lunch, held at the Art Gallery of NSW on Friday, 5th September 2025. From 146 entries, 6 winners, 5 high commendations and 25 finalists were celebrated amongst designers and masonry and roof tile manufacturers.

Head Juror – Michael Heenan (AJC Architects)

No other material tells a story of continuity quite like the brick. It has endured not by standing still, but by evolving — adapting to new technologies, new aesthetics, and new demands, while retaining its essence of strength, simplicity, and craft.

During the judging process, it was remarkable to witness the quality of submissions across the board. The innovation was undeniable, but more than that, we sensed a shift — a quiet evolution in how projects are conceived and delivered. Year by year, we’re seeing concrete masonry, bricks, pavers, and roof tiles being used with greater intent and sophistication. This isn’t just a credit to architects; it reflects a growing collaboration with the manufacturing industry, which is increasingly investing in research, testing, and design support.

The awarded projects represent more than just design excellence — they signal an enduring commitment to building with integrity, care and creativity. They remind us that continuity is not about repetition, but about relevance — the ability of a material and a profession to stay meaningful through change.

As we celebrate 20 years of the Think Brick Awards, we also look forward — with confidence — to the continued presence of brick, block, paver and tile in shaping the next generation of Australian architecture.

Horbury Hunt Commercial Award

Winner

Plant Futures Facility - The University of Queensland– m3architecture – PGH Bricks & Pavers, Austral Bricks, Bowral Bricks and Leviat

Functionally, the Plant Futures Facility is a container for plants and their research conditions, accommodating an array of highly technical, controlled environments.

The concept embraces the project’s typology by defining the building as a “walled garden”. The wall is then given context with nine different bricks, each one similar to a brick found in the array of neighbouring buildings. The brick detailing and forms also reference the local context. The brickwork steps around in large-scale pixels, the pattern reflecting the cross section of Queensland’s geological profile.

This is a highly technical, flexible, research facility that in contextual terms is of its place.

“This building takes a really complex technical brief into a harsh environment in this section of the university and creates a really special moment for the campus and the students.” ~ Awards Jury 2025

High Commendations

Tan Tat – SJB – Robertson’s Building Products

Yarrila Place– BVN – Austral Bricks

Crows Nest Sydney Metro Station – Woods Baggot – Namoi Valley Bricks, PGH Bricks & Pavers, Robertson’s Building Products

Finalists

Carnegie Memorial Swimming Pool – CO.OPStudio – Bowral Bricks

Hale Memorial Hall and Stow Precinct – KHA – Bowral Bricks

Redfern Street – Aileen Sage, Jean Rice Architect, Djinjama and De Noni Boyd – LOHAS

Shiel Street North Melbourne Community Housing Project – Clare Cousins Architects – PGH Bricks & Pavers

Horbury Hunt Residential Award

Winner

Hotham – Austin Maynard Architects – Krause Bricks

Embedded within lush foliage on an established suburban street, Hotham is the considered retention and extension of an Inter-War brick bungalow that seeks to slow-down and consider Canberra’s past, present and future built environment.

At the core of Hotham is the original brick cottage, with two pavilion ‘wings’ extending either side, connected by glass links. Though the addition forms match the cottage in height and roof pitch, the external materiality is deliberately different to the original red brick, intended to pose the question of age and chronology, to celebrate old and new rather than blend or disguise.

“Hotham is an exciting project because it shows how brick can be used with restraint and a quiet humbleness for a family home.” ~ Awards Jury 2025

High Commendation

Clique – WOWOWA Architecture – Bowral Bricks

Finalists

Woollahra Village House – Tobias Partners – Robertson’s Building Products

Fairholme House – Marc & Co – Nubrik

Brise House – Taylor Renolds Architects – Robertson’s Building Products

The Don – Mihaly Slocombe – Bowral Bricks

Kevin Borland Masonry Award

Winner

Bondi Breeze – Panov-Scott – Austral Masonry

Bondi Breeze is a house reduction that establishes a great breeze-block screened garden, outside and enclosed, to rewild a suburban lot. The built form adopts this contextual pattern and is an aggregation of the humble grey concrete block, laid in two ways.

The simplicity of form and material belies a clever construction methodology and structural solution. The construction methodology allows uninterrupted repetition and the magical effect in which the mass of the block aggregates to become a filigree screen. A compressive member somehow made tensile, as beautiful inside as it is outside.

“Every experience of the light in this home is part of the breeze. It’s almost as if the house isn’t there — as if it’s the air, the landscape, the smell of Bondi Beach, the salt coming in. It feels like it’s all part of that.”~ Awards Jury 2025

Finalists

Monument – K2LD Architects – GB Masonry

Cross Street – Aphora Architects – GB Masonry

Boulevard House – Albert Mo Architects – GB Masonry

Templeton Primary School – Kosloff Architecture – GB Masonry

Project Rosshire – Ali Kaddour Architects – Adbri Masonry

Kooyong House – A for Architecture – National Masonry

Bruce Mackenzie Landscape Award

Winner

Kalgoorlie City Centre Redevelopment – ASPECT Studios – Urbanstone

The Kal City Centre Redevelopment is an ambitious revitalisation of Kalgoorlie’s civic heart through a collection of site and city specific narratives that reveal the unique qualities of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.

The design thoughtfully integrates four coloured pavers in custom patterns, and Western Australian granite in sculptural elements, seating, and water features, grounding the space in its local context. The use of masonry pavers has played an important role in unifying the precinct, bringing a civic character to the square, addressing technical and servicing issues and providing a canvas to tell the design narratives of the project.

“Every regional town in Australia needs an intervention like this, and this landscape response has really looked at what Kalgoorlie is as a town. The paving picks up from the striations of the long shops along the main road, and it then breaks up into a fragmented pattern in the more open area. They have had a lot of fun with the paving in this project.” ~ Awards Jury 2025

Finalists

The Boot factory – ASPECT Studios, Archer Office and Matt Devine & Co – Bowral Bricks

Denman Village Park Amenities – Carter Williamson Architects – Bowral Bricks

Prospect Road Regeneration – WAX Design – Littlehampton Bricks & Pavers, Adbri Masonry

Saltbush on Bellarine – Phillip Withers – Natural Brick Co  

Robin Dods Roof Tiles Award

Winner

Clubbe Hall – First Class Slate Roofing and TKD Architects– Bristile Roofing

Clubbe Hall sits in the grounds of Frensham School in Mittagong and was built in 1963 to celebrate the school’s 50th birthday.

The Roofing team was approached in 2023 by the building’s architect to enquire about a suitable terracotta tile that could be used to replace the old roof tiles. A suitable profile was put forward as an option to match existing Spanish Mission style tiles.

The building holds great historical value in the community so getting it right was very important. The end result proves that the architects made the right choice.

“Sometimes, simplicity rules. Two beautifully organised pitched roofs come down, and then you add the texture and colour of those roof tiles. So elegant, so simple — there are big lessons in that.” ~ Awards Jury 2025

High Commendation

Green House – R Architecture – Bristile Roofing

Finalists

Ku-ring-gai Town Hall – Michael Peel Roofing – Bristile Roofing

Mahogany House – R Architecture and Victoria Roofing – Other

Riverside Girls School – APT Roofing – Other 

New Entrant Award

Winner

Truganina Community Centre – JASMAX – Daniel Robertson

Situated in Melbourne’s western growth front, the Truganina Community provides this fledgling community with informal access to books and programs, responding to this community’s expressed desire for cultural literacy, competency and inclusivity.

Seeking balance between the physical and cultural context of this site, the building adopts the material language of the surrounding housing estate while embracing a formal language and material formatting that looks beyond the singular representation of the estate.

The bricklayer’s 'hand', necessary to find a median line between the temporal edges of the rugged bricks, reveals a new, less familiar expression of this material—one that holds beauty in the navigation of imperfection.

“Truganina Community Centre demonstrates something truly important in its brief and something remarkably sophisticated in its material composition. The design responds to a strong community-focused brief, delivering meaningful spaces for the people it serves, while the brickwork is executed in a way that feels warm, inviting, soft, and welcoming.” ~ Awards Jury 2025

Finalists

Easy Street Commercial – DFJ Architects – Krause Bricks and Bowral Bricks

Solis – Integrated Design Group – Natural Brick Co

Dalgety Lane – Chamberlain Architects – Krause Bricks

Marrickville House – Chris Rogers Architect – Bowral Bricks