Milano News: BOLLES+WILSON Receive ‘Brick Award 2012′

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Awarded by the Brick Development Association (BDA), BOLLES+WILSON recently received the 'Brick Award 2012′ for their Raakspoort – City Hall and Bioscoop project in Haarlem, Netherlands. The jury headed by BDA-Chairman Bob Allies commended a wealth of innovation in brickwork details throughout the building's intelligent design and its character, which is clearly responding to its contextual surroundings. Out of about 300 projects from across the globe, with 84 shortlisted, this project won the international category 'Worldwide Brick'. More information after the break.

The jury described the building's many armatures providing a 'performative interface' that allows the brick surfaces to interact with each other throughout the different lighting conditions of the day. The judges went on to say "it truly exploits brick, applying a tactile property to all its many faces". The Raakspoort project already looks back to a long planning history. It took more than ten years to evolve from the considered Urban Masterplan (Donald Lambert – Urbis Stadsontwerp) through a sequence of workshops and program rethinks to the final ensemble, which opened in October 2011. The change of use from casino to town hall initiated a multifaceted design of the facade.

Only one type of handform brick is used and evolves various appearances by the use of different colors of mortar joints and the use of flush or relief-like masonry bond. These alternating brick surfaces are interspersed by three different kinds of windows: glass proud of brick facade, glass flush with brick facade or recessed behind brick level. The adoption of Carlo Scarpa's Verona technique of suspending signifying fragments in front of supporting walls offers an additional historic layer by integrating restored components of the previous building.

Architects: BOLLES+WILSON
Location: Haarlem, Netherlands
Team: Architects – Prof. Julia B. Bolles-Wilson, Peter L. Wilson
Project Leaders: Christoph Macholz, Remco de Graaf
Project Assistants: Heiko Kampherbeek, Susanne Asmuth
Interior City Hall: Döll architecten, Rotterdam, NL; Henk Döll, Andres Ambauen
Contact Architects: Bureau Bouwkunde B.V., Rotterdam, NL
Contractor: Dura Vermeer Bouw Haarlemmermeer B.V.
Brick Facade: Vandersanden Steenfabrieken, BE
Client: MAB Development Nederland B.V.
Size: 18,500 m²
Cost: 18.3 Mio Euro
Realization: July 2008 – October 2011