Lorax Role: Lorax was the creator and project manager of the BrickStainable initiative.
Project Information
Location
Client
Potomac Valley Brick
Owner
Size
Certification
Potomac Valley Brick engaged Lorax to explore how to enhance the perception of brick as a sustainable building material. Lorax identified the unique qualities of brick to be its thermal mass and storage capacity and its durability. In order to raise awareness of these qualities and to gain the attention of the design community, Lorax created BrickStainable, an educational and promotional initiative including a design competition.
It is known that buildings are large consumers of energy and that their operations contribute significantly to global climate change. The BrickStainable design competition challenged design teams to create net-zero energy designs utilizing brick as the primary building material. Recognizing that materials have different physical properties and that builders have exploited those characteristics in the past, BrickStainable challenged the design community to reconsider the nature of brick. Utilizing modern construction technologies, the integration of brick with other materials, the spatial design and planning of the building and even reconsidering the brick itself, designers were challenged to show us what is possible to reduce building energy demand through design.