In the running: Brick Awards are back and celebrating everything from recycled London clay to salt-glazed black blocks

Brick, stone and other natural materials dominated the recent Stirling Prize shortlist and now come the Brick Awards 2018, to celebrate the best examples of clay brick in our built environment.

Brick is the most versatile of building materials: fired clay lasts centuries and will not run out as long as there are kilns to cook clay in.

Brick buildings are strong, relatively cheap, flexible and healthy. In the hands of architects they can be miraculous, or modest and practical.

Now in its 42nd year, with 300 entries in 15 categories, the awards celebrate brick’s many colours — including black — and glistening glazes.

From homes to large developments to restored historic buildings, here’s our pick of the shortlist:

BLACK ON TRACK

Black hits the mark at the striking Volcano House from Urban Mesh Architects, on a narrow, wedge-shaped corner plot in a Shoreditch street.

The architect’s own home, it uses three different ink-black engineering bricks, interspersed with mirror-polished stainless-steel “slips” for interest and visual lightness.

Some of the black bricks are lustrously finished with a salt glaze, and glisten like wet pebbles. Laid in bands, the bricks also protrude in and out, breaking the flat surface like basket-weave.

The architectural practice made lots of models, and the glazed bricks are bespoke. Thousands were used and their intricacy turns a potentially simple house into art.

COLOUR-BLOCKING

Brick colour-blocking makes a strong statement on the already award-winning Red House, by 31/44 Architects.

Also a corner house, it completes a Victorian row in East Dulwich, so the architects used crisp, wire-cut bright red brick on its façade, with a panel of sculpted, red-dyed concrete on the front. Even the mortar is dyed red.

The modern interior, punctured with glass internal courtyards, also has flashes of the same red brick.

HANDMADE

The joy of handmade bricks traditionally pointed with lime mortar is demonstrated in self-built Orchard House, which invokes the late 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement.

This sweet two-storey Lambeth family house on the site of a former garage is built on passive house principles, a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building.

Two sections of timber with single glazing add an arts-and-craftsy feel, a mood enhanced by stained glass over the front door and reclaimed timber inside.

The front brickwork has been lovingly laid in various traditional patterns with lime mortar, which tolerates movement and moisture.

In this unique, quirky house the owner-builder went back to basics with traditional techniques and bricklaying methods, alongside some modern energy saving within.

NEW FROM OLD

Willowbrook, a big, box-fresh, brick, glass and steel makeover in Radlett, Herts, by Paul Archer Design, reuses recycled bricks, cleaned and matched to new ones, to extend and rejuvenate the house.

Rather like tofu, bricks happily take on the flavour of the building they are part of.

It’s a strong argument for using lime mortar in domestic houses, because lime is easy to remove when old brick buildings are demolished and their bricks recycled.

LIGHT AND BRIGHT

A standout small development is Weston Street in Southwark by Solidspace, with eight apartments.

The scheme is made of hand-finished, textured, pale Wienerberger bricks. Each apartment has the company’s trademark staggered volumes, fabulous dual-aspect light and an office below, so they are perfect for modern life.

Solid brick walls are not only excellent at heat retention but also great for noise reduction.

TOWNHOUSE TRENDS

The welcome return of the London townhouse is displayed in two developments.

Signal Townhouses by U+I in Greenwich are beautifully austere, geometric houses set around a courtyard. The proportions are traditional but striking.

Ordnance Road by Peter Barber is more decorative, offering a hint of casbah crossed with a railway arch.

All use pared-back techniques — an arch here; a bit of fun bricklaying on the garden walls there. And these 15 homes are council houses, so hats off to Enfield.

AMAZING GLAZING

Among other entries, glistening deep peacock glazed brick on the front of a swanky office and restaurant in Beak Street, Soho by upmarket architect Stiff + Trevillion shows a growing trend for glazes.

And if you still think brick’s conventional, contractor Lyons & Annoot has made brick balconies mounted on steel structures, which were then craned into place on the vast curved façade of The Crescent building at the former BBC Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

They’re not stuck-on brick slips, but socking, heavy, real bricks — and the company has made a great film to show off its brickie skills.