Dezeen Competitions: The Brick Development Association has launched The Future of Brick Design Competition, challenging UK-based architects and students to reimagine clay brick architecture for the year 2075.

The competition explores how clay brick can act as a catalyst for climate resilience, circular construction and low-carbon design over the next 50 years.

Organiser: The Brick Development Association
Competition: The Future of Brick Design Competition
Judges:

• Luke Tozer, founding director, Pitman Tozer Architects
• Alexis Harrison, associate, Arup
• Alison Duxbury, director, Triangle Architects
• Amy Napier, founding director, Napier Clarke Architects
• Sarah Firth, associate, Haworth Tompkins Architects
• Fiona Scott, co-founder, Gort Scott Architects
• Ross Ogilvie, director, Cartwright Pickard Architects
• Nieves Valle, associate, Stanton Williams Architects

Submission deadline: 25 September 2026
Prizes: two VIP tickets to the 50th anniversary Brick Awards ceremony on 4 November 2026 and national digital showcase feature for shortlisted entries

Click here to enter ›

Competition overview

The Future of Brick is a national design competition challenging participants to look ahead to 2075 and explore how one of the world's oldest building materials can shape the next generation of architecture.

This is an opportunity to rethink brick not as a traditional material, but as a catalyst for innovation – driving circular construction, climate resilience, urban transformation and low-carbon design.

Entrants are invited to design a visionary building set in the year 2075 using any open building typology, including residential, public, educational, commercial, cultural or mixed-use proposals.

Designs may address themes including:

• Climate resilience: responding to extreme weather, flooding, and thermal performance
• Net-zero and beyond-carbon strategies: advancing low-carbon and regenerative approaches
• Circular economy and reuse: designing for adaptability, disassembly, and material recovery
• Advanced modular or prefabricated construction: exploring new construction systems and efficiencies
• Urban density and mixed-use living: rethinking future communities and city living
• Community wellbeing and social infrastructure: creating healthier, more connected places
• Biodiversity integration and regenerative design: embedding nature within the built environment
• The building typology is open and may include residential, public, educational, commercial, cultural, or mixed-use proposals

Eligibility and judging criteria

The competition is free to enter and open to UK-based architects, architectural students and multidisciplinary design teams.

Entrants must submit two A1 landscape presentation boards accompanied by a 500-word design statement outlining the project vision, environmental strategy and technical approach.

Submissions should include site plans, floor plans, sections, elevations, high-quality 3D visualisations and diagrams illustrating technical strategy.

The proposals will be judged on:

• Innovative and primary use of clay brick
• Creative application in futuristic or non-traditional ways
• Technical credibility and buildability, even where speculative
• Architectural ambition and design excellence
• A compelling vision of society in 2075

Submission deadlines

The deadline for entries is 25 September 2026.

Winners will be announced on 9 October 2026, ahead of the 50th anniversary Brick Awards ceremony on 4 November 2026.

About The Brick Development Association

The Brick Development Association is the industry representative for UK member brick manufacturers.

Its role is to support the continued success of the UK brick industry by providing an authoritative source of information about clay brick and championing its role in the built environment.

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