Brick Awards Spotlight:
Wylie Civic Complex

 

The design team crafting a new civic center in Wylie, Texas, commissioned a custom-made brick shape to provide architectural distinction. The project earned LEED Silver certification and a Best in Class Brick in Architecture award.

City administrators in Wylie, Texas, tasked Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture, in association with Architexas, to create an iconic, sustainable civic structure with a lifespan of at least one hundred years, while connecting to the natural landscape of the former ranch site.

The design team worked closely with brick manufacturer DMG Masonry Limited to create an iconic new brick shape, made specifically for the project but at the same cost as a standard shape.

The unique "W" shape is laid in bands, with alternating sections of smooth and "W"-shaped bricks that add texture and pattern, breaking up the long expanse and accentuating the varying heights of the three distinct program volumes.

The regional manufacture and composition of natural elements helped contribute to the project's LEED Silver certification. The brick's thermal mass also benefits the occupants by slowing heat gain or loss through Texas's wide temperature swings, and its durability ensures low maintenance requirements for the buildings.

The Brick Industry Association named the Wylie Civic Complex Best in Class for Municipal/Government/Civic Design among its 2012 Brick in Architecture award winners.