The Brick Bay Folly 2021 is now open for entries from students and recent graduates (within the last ten years) to create designs that explore the intersection between sculpture and architecture. This annual competition allows teams to collaborate on the creation of experimental and innovative architectural follies, with one group receiving $30,000 in grants to bring their project to life by building it at Brick Bay. Entries are due by 9am on 28th June 2021.

Along with grant and sponsorship money, the selected winning team will receive mentorship and technical support from Resene, Naylor Love and Unitec. The finished project is then displayed on a site for up to 24 months and photographed by Samuel Hartnett.

As Brick Bay’s Richard Didsbury notes, “Architectural follies are found all over the world, and their purpose is to inspire and delight audiences, but even more importantly folly projects provide a fantastic opportunity for emerging architects to test their ideas on a real life project, manage construction, solve contingencies and participate in physical construction.”

Chair of the 2020 Folly judging panel, Pip Cheshire, said of last year’s winning project called Genealogy of the Pacific: “The Folly programme is a great challenge, the growth in the designers’ knowledge, ability and confidence has been enormous, and the result is a beautiful piece of work that easily realises the potential of the original renders and offers a work that is both enigmatic and suggestive.”

See the full submission guidelines and how to submit your project at brickbaysculpture.co.nz.

The 2021 Brick Bay Folly is supported by the Brick Bay Sculpture Trust, Resene, Naylor Love, Cheshire Architects, Samuel Hartnett, Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects, Architecture New Zealand and ArchitectureNow.