Promotion:a Vietnamese temple and a Mexican tequila factory are among the eclectic winners in this year’s Brick Award program.
The six Brick Award 2026 winners include an unfinished housing project in Belgium, a series of student-designed brick buildings in China, a cliffside Mallorcan house and a public housing complex in Spain.
Presented biennially by Austrian-headquartered architecture firm Wienerberger since 2004, the Brick Award celebrates unique buildings around the world that use bricks and ceramics.
The company said it “recognizes innovation, creativity, and sustainable design” and says it has “become a respected platform for visionary architects”.
“Even after more than 30 years in the industry, I continue to be inspired by the amazing new creativity that takes the use of brick and ceramic to new heights,” said Wienerberger CEO Heimo Scheuch.
“Tonight’s winners demonstrate the flexibility of these timeless materials to address the most pressing demands of climate change and modern life while creating a sense of wonder and beauty for the users of the buildings they build.”
This award has five award categories. These are Feeling at Home for houses and small projects, Living Together for urban residential development, Working Together for commercial buildings, Sharing Public Spaces for shared spaces and Building Outside the Box for innovation.
There is also a Grand Prize, awarded to the overall winner, and for the first time this year, a Special Prize for “a project that renews the sense of neighborhood”.
This year’s Grand Prize went to the Đạo Mẫu Temple and Museum in Vietnam, which includes six million clay tiles restored from local homes.
Designed by Vietnamese studio ARB Architects for indigenous artist Xuân Hinh, the building also received an award in the sharing of public space category in recognition of how it created a “unique and sacred connection with the people of the region”.
Meanwhile, the first special prize was awarded to a Belgian housing project by Maker Architecten, which provided 54 houses in an unfilled area in Kortrijk.
It has been celebrated for its use of reclaimed bricks and tiles throughout its facades and for the way it creates connections between residents and their surroundings.
A social housing block in Barcelona designed by Spanish studio Peris+Toral Arquitectes took the Living Together award, receiving praise for its use of biomass-fired brick internally and externally to help create a comfortable building temperature.
The judge also praised its social atrium, which connects the homes and their residents with social spaces.
This year’s Feeling at Home category was won by an open-plan, cliffside home in Mallorca, called Ca na Birgit.
Designed by Spanish studio Ted’a Arquitectes, it overlooks the sea while maintaining the privacy of neighboring buildings thanks to two deep walls on either side.
The final two awards, Building Outside the Box and Working Together, were won by Endless Brick Playground and La Hacienda Jalisco, respectively.
La Hacienda Jalisco is a tequila factory in Mexico designed by local studio Atelier Ars. It was chosen for the award in recognition of its use of local ceramics and stone, including a traditional clay roof, which the judge said: “grounds the building in the earth”.
Finally, the Endless Brick Playground is a collection of red brick buildings created by first-year students at the School of Architecture at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.
Created by approximately 80 students, the work demonstrated “a multitude of possibilities for form and spatial interpretation” with brick.
The Brick Award 2026 winners were selected from a shortlist of 50 projects covering 21 countries.
They were chosen by an international jury including the founder of the Mexican studio Colectivo C733, Gabriela Carrillo, the founder of the Belgian studio Conix RDBM, Christine Conix, the founder of the Spanish studio Hanghar, Eduardo Mediero, the founder of the Danish studio BOGL, Jens Linnet and the founder of the international Traudy Studiol Traudy Map.
According to the panel, it considered “innovative design and architecture concepts, creative and innovative use of bricks” in its selection, as well as how they address issues of sustainability, climate sustainability, energy efficiency and affordable living.
All winners received a high-quality ceramic trophy and €5,000 (£4,308). The Grand Prize Winner received the total prize money
€7,000 (£6031). Their work will be featured in Brick Book 2026.
To learn more about The Brick Award 2026, visit its website.
Top photo by César Béjar.
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This article was written for Wienerberger as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen’s content partnerships here.
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