At the 14th annual Wood Design Awards, which took place on Feb. 26 at the Vancouver Convention Centre (West), the innovative architectural and structural design of taller and larger mass timber buildings took centre stage.
The event was organized and hosted by Wood WORKS! BC, a national industry-led program of the Canadian Wood Council, with a goal to support innovation and provide leadership on the use of wood products and building systems. The awards honour excellence in wood building and design, and recognize leadership and innovation in wood use. The event was also presented by the Canadian Wood Council and its B.C. member associations, with support from National Resources Canada, Forestry Innovation Investment and industry sponsors.
“This evening presented a stunning showcase of innovation and ingenuity in wood building and design, with the use of mass timber and engineered wood products featured in rising heights and larger project sizes in BC as a commonality amongst the winners,” said Lynn Embury-Williams, Executive Director of Wood WORKS! BC, in a press release. “Tremendous advances in wood product research and manufacturing are revolutionizing how we design and construct buildings, and wood is emerging as a primary material in building types that we wouldn’t have seen 20 years ago, including taller multi-unit residential, and larger industrial, institutional and commercial buildings.”
The 2018 Wood Design Award winners include The Brock Commons – Tallwood House, which was celebrated in three categories, receiving the Engineer Award, the Architect Award and Wood Innovation Award. The 18-storey project, which is located at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, was the tallest hybrid mass timber building in the world at the time of construction, and showcases qualities that demonstrate wood as a premier building material for the future. Acton Ostry Architects Inc. received the Architect Award and Wood Innovation Award for this project, while structural engineering firm Fast + Epp and fire engineering/building code consultants GHL Consultants Ltd. shared the Engineer Award for the project.
Kevin Mahon of Adera Development Corporation received the Wood Champion Award for his firm’s leadership in innovation and best practices in the growing market of five- and six-storey mid-rise wood frame residential construction.
The Prefabricated Structural Wood Award, a new category for 2018, was presented to StructureCraft Builders Inc. of Abbotsford for its Abbotsford Industrial Shop and Office, which showcased a faster way to construct industrial buildings using wood as a primary material, including the firm’s new product, dowel laminated timber.
Vancouver’s Cornerstone Architecture was presented with two awards, including the Environmental Performance Award for The Heights in Vancouver, a mixed-use project that is the nation’s largest designed to the Passive House standard when constructed. Cornerstone also received the Interior Beauty Design Award for the use of wood in the Crofton House School Dining Hall in Vancouver.
Other winners include:
- Residential Wood Design: D’Arcy Jones, D’Arcy Jones Architecture, Vancouver – Okada Marshall House, East Sooke
- Multi-Unit Residential Wood Design: Adera Development Corporation, Vancouver – Prodigy, Vancouver
- Commercial Wood Design: HDR | CEI Architecture Associates, Inc., Vancouver – Penticton Lakeside Resort – West Wing, Penticton
- Institutional Wood Design – Small: Kimberly Johnston, Johnston Davidson Architecture + Planning Inc., Vancouver – Logan Lake Fire Hall, District of Logan Lake
- Institutional Wood Design – Large: Okanagan College, represented by: Roy Daykin, Kelowna – Trades Renewal and Expansion Project, Okanagan College, Kelowna
- Western Red Cedar: Larry Adams, NSDA Architects, Vancouver – GoodLife Fitness Family Autism Hub (The Hub), Richmond
- International Wood Design: Jinjiang Zhou, Suzhou Crownhomes Co., Ltd., Suzhou, China – Timber Structure Enterprise Pavilion in Jiangsu Horticultural Expo, Suzhou City, China
- Jury’s Choice Award: Bill Downing, president of Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation of Penticton, Penticton
- Technologist Award: Karla Fraser, senior project manager at Urban One Builders Construction Management Inc., Vancouver
- Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Certified Wood Award: Innovation Building Group Ltd. – Solana in Whistler
“B.C.’s architects, engineers, designers and project teams continue to explore wood’s potential with vision, passion and courage,” continued Embury-Williams. “You are making our communities more sustainable; our province more prosperous; our living and working environments more beautiful, all the while celebrating our forestry heritage by using wood.”
