The jury for the Erich Mendelsohn Award 2026 for Brick Architecture has been announced. In early July, the five members of the main jury will convene in Berlin to decide on this year’s awards: Max Wasserkampf, Ulrich Brinkmann, Josep Ricart, Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir, and Lena Unger.
Over its 18-year history, the Erich Mendelsohn Award for Brick Architecture has been in a constant state of evolution: priorities shift, new social and environmental questions shape the debates, and with them the criteria by which outstanding brick architecture is assessed continue to change. The fact that each edition is accompanied by a newly composed jury underscores this commitment to a vibrant, continually evolving discourse.
For Max Wasserkampf, who represents the Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten (BDA) as a cooperation partner of the award on this year’s jury, the appeal lies in the tension between past and future. His expectations for submissions to the Erich Mendelsohn Award 2026 for Brick Architecture: “Brick challenges architectural thinking: how can we continue to experiment with a seemingly familiar material? How can we preserve traditions while at the same time enabling innovation?” In addition to Wasserkampf, four other architecture experts have been appointed to the jury:
Max Wasserkampf is an architect and Professor of Architectural Design and Construction at HTWK Leipzig, as well as a partner at the firm Naumann Wasserkampf. As an associate member of the executive board of the Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten (BDA), he will serve on the jury of the Erich Mendelsohn Award 2026 for Brick Architecture for the first time in 2026. Previously, he has worked in both teaching and practice in Weimar, Leipzig, Wuppertal, and Dresden. Those interested in learning more about his approach to architecture and to brick as a building material can find further insights in the foreword of VORTEILE Magazine, issue no. 26.
Ulrich Brinkmann, editor at Bauwelt, has been a member of the five-person jury for the award since 2020. He studied architecture at the TU Dortmund University and has been an editor at Bauwelt since 2000. The architecture magazine has supported the Erich Mendelsohn Award for Brick Architecture as a cooperation partner since its founding in 2008. For many years, Brinkmann has helped shape architectural discourse through his publications, thereby enriching the work of the jury as well.
Josep Ricart Ulldemolins is an architect, co-founder of the Catalan firm HARQUITECTES, and teaches at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Founded in 2000 in Sabadell, the practice—led by Ricart together with David Lorente, Xavier Ros, and Roger Tudó—has long been regarded as one of the most distinctive offices in contemporary Spanish architecture and has received multiple awards at the Erich Mendelsohn Award for Brick Architecture. In 2023, the firm was awarded the Grand Prix for the Clos Pachem Winery. With Ricart, the jury is strengthened by an architect who has been closely connected to the prize for many years and knows it well as a multiple award-winning participant.
Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir runs the Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Architekten office in Berlin together with her son. For many years, she was part of Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei – a practice whose work has received multiple awards at the Erich Mendelsohn Award for Brick Architecture and that has a particularly close connection to brick as a building material. With her on the jury comes architectural renown, extensive experience as a juror, and a long-standing engagement with brick.
Lena Unger is an architect and co-founder of Meier Unger Architekten in Leipzig, which she has run together with Jan Meier since 2016. She studied at the Bauhaus University Weimar and at ETH Zurich. In recent years, the firm’s work has received multiple awards, including the Bauwelt Prize 2023 and the BDA Architecture Award 2021. The practice she co-founded is considered one of the most distinctive younger voices in contemporary German architecture.
The independent jury reaches its decision through a two-stage, anonymized selection process: following the nomination of the best projects from all submissions, the winners of the competition are chosen in a second round. The Erich Mendelsohn Award for Brick Architecture is awarded in the following categories:
Additional awards are granted for:
The award ceremony will take place in September in Berlin. Submissions for the Erich Mendelsohn Award 2026 for Brick Architecture can still be made via the online submission portal until April 30.
