Five international architects were noted for outstanding brick buildings.

Winners of the Wienerberger Brick Award 2012 were recently announced at a ceremony in Vienna’s City Hall. Five international architects were awarded for their outstanding work for projects using brick as a construction material.

The five-person jury chose South African architect Peter Rich as grand-prize winner and winner of the Special Solution with Brick category for the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa.

The Non-Residential Building category was awarded to Scottish architectural firm NORD for its innovative electrical substation for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Architect Bart Lens won the Single Family House category with his project The Rabbit Hole Single-Family House.

Portuguese architects and brothers Francisco and Manuel Aires Mateus received the Residential Building Brick Award for House for Elderly People in Alcácer do Sal. The Conversion category was awarded to Slovakia’s Pavol Panák with his personal architectural, brick-built hideaway.

The Brick Award, which has been presented in a two-year cycle, recognizes particularly successful examples of modern brick architecture. The award includes ?27,000 (approximately $33,800) in prize money.

“With the Wienerberger Brick Award, we want to cast a spotlight on the innovative and versatile use of brick in today’s modern architecture,” says Heimo Scheuch, Wienerberger CEO. “All of the projects give you a sense of the instinctive feel with which the architects showed consideration for the local environment. This is also reflected in the choice of materials.”

International architecture critics and architecture journalists submitted nominations for scores of outstanding buildings constructed using clay products. Some 50 projects from 28 countries on five continents were shortlisted, and the final decision was made by the international jury composed of architects Plamen Bratkov (Bulgaria), Rudolf Finsterwalder (Germany), Hrvoje Hrabak (Croatia), John Foldbjerg Lassen (Denmark) and Zhang Lei (China).

For additional details, visit www.wienerberger.com.