Kite Breeze 2.0
Brickworks has again partnered with acclaimed Australian industrial designer Adam Goodrum to evolve the Kite Breeze block, first released in 2020.
Kite Breeze first entered the architectural lexicon as a contemporary take on the classic breezeblock, reimagining a familiar mid-century motif for today’s streetscapes and courtyards. In its second iteration, the collaboration between Brickworks and Australian designer Adam Goodrum elevates this inspiration, refining both form and performance while preserving the poetic interplay of light, air and masonry that defined the original.
Rooted in Goodrum’s long-held fascination with breezeblocks, Kite Breeze carries a distinctly personal resonance. “I was brought up in Perth, Western Australia,” he says. “When I think about breezeblocks now – the dappled light, the cooling breeze and decorative entrance they provided – I realise I always held a fascination for them.” Those memories of blinding sun, the Fremantle Doctor and modest family homes inform a design language that privileges geometry, shadow and sensation over ornament.
The new Kite Breeze builds on that foundation through a quietly confident evolution. A half-inset panel introduces a subtle sculptural depth, inviting the passage of air while casting a shifting pattern across adjacent surfaces throughout the day.
Equally at home in residential courtyards and large-scale commercial facades, Kite Breeze sits comfortably between object and architecture.
The block’s 300mm x 300mm x 90mm wetcast format – manufactured by Brickworks subsidiary UrbanStone at Jandakot in Western Australia – offers both durability and a distinctly Australian provenance. A milled finish across both faces is offset by recessed sections that reveal a raw, off-form surface, giving each block a tactile quality that rewards close contact.
Colour is drawn directly from the Western Australian landscape. Sunset Sand channels the warm glow of the Lancelin dunes at day’s end, while Paperbark Beige nods to the luminous sands of Lucky Bay on the state’s south coast. Paired with two additional tones, the palette feels considered rather than decorative – a series of grounded neutrals that can recede, anchor or gently accentuate, depending on scale and context.
Colour is drawn directly from the Western Australian landscape.
For Brickworks, the project is as much about partnership as product. “We were excited to revisit our collaboration with Adam Goodrum on Kite Breeze, and equally pleased to manufacture this product locally, with the expertise of our UrbanStone manufacturing team,” notes Brett Ward, general manager of marketing at Brickworks.
Equally at home in residential courtyards and large-scale commercial facades, Kite Breeze sits comfortably between object and architecture. It is a system that can shield and reveal, filter and frame, celebrating the movement of air and light rather than shutting it out. In doing so, this latest chapter in the Brickworks x Adam Goodrum collaboration reaffirms the enduring appeal of the breezeblock – not as a nostalgic reference, but as a distinctly contemporary expression of an Australian way of living.
