?EUR??,,????'??Broadened visual ties with neighborhood through colors chosen?EUR??,,????'???bright and lively without being garish,?EUR??,,????'?? was the jury?EUR??,,????'???s description of the therapeutic garden for the early childhood center at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children designed by Astorino/DamianosGroup Associated Architects. Designers used a unique and colorful blend of durable clay brick pavers manufactured by Whitacre-Greer, to add a sense of character to the project and accentuate the building while creating an exciting groundplane.

The designers at Marshall?????Tyler?????Rausch, LLC of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, chose Cushwa hand-made pavers manufactured by the Redland Brick, Inc. to bring a classic appearance, beauty, charm, and durability to the walkways at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, located in North Carolina. The jury stated, ?EUR??,,????'??unified patterns draw the eye in and direct visitors through the space, or pauses them.?EUR??,,????'??

At the Independence Grove Forest Preserve, local materials emphasized a complex paving pattern that used a variety of color blends contrasted by limestone pieces in the plaza and garden. The design team, led by the Lake County Forest Preserve District Planning, Conservation and Development Department of Libertyville, Ill., along with their brick supplier Endicott Clay Products Company, and paving contractor worked to carefully specify and install 100,000 square feet of clay brick paving and hundreds of tons of limestone for the walls, pond, planters and paving details.

The Sanders Residence renovation project, designed by Thompson Landscape Architects in Dallas, Texas, enhanced the original grace and sophistication of this 1950s landmark property. ?EUR??,,????'??Brick patterns add interest to an otherwise flat space?EUR??,,????'???detail gives it unity and variety,?EUR??,,????'?? is what jurors said about this award winning design. The brick was manufactured by Whitacre-Greer.

Fong Hart Schneider & Partners dressed up the University of Southern California Hoover Corridor during Phase II of a three-phase construction and planning effort. The brick manufacturer was Pine Hall Brick Company, Inc. The jury said, ?EUR??,,????'??nicely connects the groundplane to the architecture?EUR??,,????'???provides a sense of arrival.?EUR??,,????'?? The Hoover Corridor design abandons the diagonal Hoover Boulevard for a series of pedestrian quadrangles, that was ordered on the great lawn, one acre in size, and a series of distinct plazas.

Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park architects EDAW, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, used brick manufactured by Whitacre-Greer as its ?EUR??,,????'??paving material of choice for its warmth, texture, color, human scale and ability to creatively convey design intent. At the neighborhood entry, the plaza is paved in alternating triangles of brick and colored concrete to portray a sunburst.

Heather Hammat, of SmithGroup, Washington, DC, a frequent contributor to Landscape Architecture magazine, and George Hazelrigg, a Senior Project Associate in the Department of Landscape Architecture of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, made up the panel of jurors. BIA Paving Expert and Technical Publications Manager Leroy Danforth, EIT, was on hand to answer questions and offer technical advice, with Angela Wilson from Landscape Architecture and Sandy Speer of BIA providing additional assistance.

BIA represents the manufacturers and distributors of clay brick, as well as suppliers to the industry. BIA?EUR??,,????'???s mission is ?EUR??,,????'??to promote clay brick, to increase its market share, and to safeguard the industry.?EUR??,,????'?? The Association is involved in a broad range of marketing, technical, engineering and research, government relations and communications activities, and is the national authority on the use of clay brick in construction.

For more information, visit BIA?EUR??,,????'???s web site at www.gobrick.com.

Concrete Paver Sales Rise in 2003

Continued growth of concrete pavers was confirmed by the annual study released by the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI). From 2002 to 2003, North American sales were up 8.8 percent. ?EUR??,,????'??This growth shows the continued strength of the segmental concrete pavement market in North America,?EUR??,,????'?? said Steve Barry, ICPI chairman. The 2003 residential market once again accounted for almost 75 percent of the paver sales. The second largest market was commercial at 18 percent followed by municipal at 10.3 percent.

Associated Builders and Contractors Celebrates Historic Election Victories