The Brick Industry Association Announces Recipients of 2024 Brick in Architecture Awards
RDG Planning & Design has been recognized for its creative use of brick in meeting aesthetic and functional design challenges.
The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has awarded RDG Planning & Design with a 2024 Brick in Architecture Bronze Award for the firm’s design for Des Moines University’s Medicine & Health Sciences Campus in West Des Moines, Iowa. Now in its 35th year, the annual competition highlights brick’s versatility to create inspired, sustainable designs that achieve any aesthetic. The 2024 awards competition awarded 39 projects for Best In Class, Gold, Silver and Bronze designations across nine different categories.
Des Moines University’s Medicine and Health Sciences campus features four interconnected buildings that frame outdoor university commons. RDG’s design uses hand-laid brick veneer for the building’s exterior, selecting the material for its timeless appearance and proven durability. Likewise, red Norman brick anchors the building’s forms to the hill with expanses of glass suspended above the manicured university quad.
The hand-laid brick veneer helps minimize the building’s environmental impact. Further enhancing the project’s sustainability, the masonry products used were manufactured or quarried within 350 miles of the job site and the brick was manufactured within 20 miles of the campus.
Since 1989, the Brick in Architecture Awards has been one of the most prestigious national architectural award programs featuring the use of clay brick. Architecture firms throughout North America enter projects to be judged by a jury of their peers.
Click here to view the projects recognized in the 2024 Brick in Architecture Awards.