Study Architecture 
ProPEL 2025 Brick Education Prize Winners
Overview
The Brick Industry Association (BIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Brick in Architectural Education Prize.
The Brick in Architectural Education Prize recognizes effective, innovative proposals and curricula that create a stimulating environment for learning about brick. The winning course proposals will equip students with the knowledge and design skills to achieve sustainable design goals in a range of project types. These courses will be taught at ACSA member schools across the world in the coming years.
The jury selected three winners who will receive a cash prize along with travel support for the course, students to visit a manufacturing facility, and/or guest speakers for the class.
Orsolya Gaspar
Pennsylvania State University
The course explores the theory, history, and best practices of fired brick masonry construction. High-level theoretical understanding is reinforced through hands-on exercises and seminar-style discussions. The course culminates in a collaborative design-build pavilion project, where participants utilize Augmented Reality (AR) to explore and showcase its potential in brick masonry construction.
The brick—a small rectangular prism—is the ultimate building block, both figuratively and practically. This course begins with the premise that understanding bricks requires an understanding of patterns. From the abstract, geometry-driven world of patterns, students transition to discussions on masonry materials, structural strength, and how these factors should influence the geometry (both global and local) of brick structures. The history of brick construction offers illustrative examples of how material, form, and pattern serve as tools for spatial design in the hands of a skilled designer. Theoretical discussions are reinforced through practical assignments that develop students’ computational design skills. The design-build cumulative experience at the end highlights that bricklaying relies on tactile feedback, requires skill, and must deal with the element of impromptu. It also showcases how AR can enhance the craft of bricklaying by adapting to its inherently design-on-the-go nature and enabling the realization of complex patterns.
Juror Comments:
This course highlights construction technology, presenting a transformative approach that could redefine the labor of building with brick. Its innovative assembly methods highlight the potential for new efficiencies in construction and beyond.
Dillon Pranger
Illinois Institute of Technology
Building deconstruction is poised to revolutionize the construction industry. A growing number of deconstruction policies are being put in place to support this effort, however, when it comes to implementation, knowledge gaps surrounding cost, labor force training, application, and assembly methods often deter industry professionals from considering reclaimed materials as a viable building source. With over 70% of the built environment relying on masonry construction, this studio is focused on developing novel approaches to the reclamation of demolished and deconstructed masonry elements, specifically brick.
While irregularities in shape, geometry, or unknown structural capacity often lead to the downcycling of masonry materials into lightweight aggregates, the course believes these materials are still a viable building resource only in need of appropriate design strategies to harness them. With engineers, contractors, and deconstruction experts contributing to each phase of the course, this studio seeks to equip students with the training and tools necessary to develop the emerging field of building deconstruction through considering previously untapped material resources for future building construction. This process aims to set a new standard for how we not only view existing building stock as future resources, but how we may work across industries to successfully identify, deconstruct, and recover materials for reuse.
Juror Comments:
This course thoughtfully explores brick reclamation and its application in sustainable design. As the industry increasingly embraces reclaimed materials, this work stands out as a strong contender, demonstrating both innovation and environmental responsibility.
Liz McCormick
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
This course challenges conventional architectural thinking by positioning bricks—not as static building components, but as catalysts for innovation in global health and sustainability. Rather than focusing on a single prototype, the course aims to cultivate a generation of architects and engineers who recognize the transformative potential of humble materials in addressing urgent global challenges. By exploring how simple modifications to brick geometry and composition can enhance thermal comfort, air movement, and mosquito deterrence, students will develop a new framework for integrating architecture, material science, and public health.
Cross-listed between architecture and civil engineering, the course fosters interdisciplinary collaboration through research, iterative prototyping, and fabrication. Students will investigate how traditional materials can function as “disruptive technologies,” moving beyond market-driven, high-tech interventions to scalable, contextually appropriate solutions. Ultimately, this course is not just about designing better bricks—it is about redefining the role of architects as agents of change. By expanding the possibilities of what architecture can be, students will leave with the skills and vision to leverage material innovation in service of broader environmental and public health goals.
Juror Comments:
This course presents a truly innovative approach on exploration of clay brick. It introduces fresh ideas pushing the boundaries of traditional studies in typical brick design.
JURY
Ahmed K. Ali
Texas A&M University
Chip Clark
Brick Industry Association
Lisa Huang
University of Florida
Brick Industry Association (BIA)
The Brick Industry Association (BIA) is the national trade association representing manufacturers and distributors of clay brick and suppliers of related products and services. Since its founding in 1934, the association has been the nationally recognized authority on clay brick construction.
BIA provides a broad range of programs and services that fulfill its mission of promoting and safeguarding the clay brick industry. BIA promotes the industry through education programs like online training classes; market research including production, shipment and other data; publications such as Technical Notes on Brick Construction, Brick in Architecture and Builder Notes; and promotional programs such as public relations, advertising and a national architectural awards competition. BIA safeguards the industry through comprehensive advocacy and compliance efforts at the federal and state levels; representation in all model building code forums and national standards committees; and local advocacy programs that educate local planning and elected officials about clay brick
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
The mission of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is to lead architectural education and research.
Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, ACSA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association of over 200 member schools in several categories. These include full membership for all accredited programs in the United States and government-sanctioned schools in Canada, candidate membership for schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for schools for two-year and international programs. Through these schools, over 5,000 architecture faculty are represented.
ACSA, unique in its representative role for schools of architecture, provides a forum for ideas on the leading edge of architectural thought. Issues that will affect the architectural profession in the future are being examined today in ACSA member schools. The association maintains a variety of activities that influence, communicate, and record important issues. Such endeavors include scholarly meetings, workshops, publications, awards and competition programs, support for architectural research, policy development, and liaison with allied organizations.
ACSA seeks to empower faculty and schools to educate increasingly diverse students, expand disciplinary impacts, and create knowledge for the advancement of architecture.
