Coastal BC swept the 2013 Wood WORKS! BC Wood Design Awards, with projects of the winning architects and structural engineers located in and around Vancouver and the Gulf Islands, including three projects on the University of British Columbia campus.
There were 98 nominations in 12 categories for the 2013 awards from all over the province, as well as some national and international submissions, including one by a BC architect for a project located in Tajikistan and another in the Yukon. “We are truly amazed by both the structural and architectural uses of wood; we are seeing innovation beyond anything we could have imagined a decade ago,” explained Wood WORKS! BC executive director Mary Tracey. “Builders and designers have always embraced wood for its beauty and sustainability, and now with technological advances in wood products, they are recognizing it as a building material that offers them opportunities to create distinctive and expressive projects because of its remarkable versatility, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. The project teams are exploring wood’s potential and advancing the science and art of wood design and building which are the goals of our awards program.”
The panel of five judges included Henry Hawthorn, Architect (retired); Tom Guenther, P.Eng. Chair – Civil Engineering Department, Okanagan College; Douglas MacLeod, Ph.D., MRAIC, Chair – RAIC Centre for Architecture, Athabasca University; Thomas Tannert, Ph.D. Associate Chair – Wood Building Design and Construction, UBC; and Dwight Yochim, RPF, Executive Director –Truck Loggers Association.
The Wood Champion Award was presented to Vancouver-based and internationally renowned structural consulting engineering firm, Equilibrium Consulting. Its principals, Eric Karsh and Robert Malczyk were chosen for their work on such projects as City of North Vancouver Civic Centre Renovation and Prince George Airport. Founded in 1998, this firm has been successfully involved in over 800 projects worldwide, including many award-winning designs. The BC architect who nominated this firm for the 2013 Wood Champion Award had this to say about Equilibrium Consulting: “As architects that are fascinated by structure, we ask a lot of them in pushing the limits of wood technology. They always deliver for us and have helped us create some very unique technical solutions. Their ability to resource solutions from Europe and adapt them to Canada has been exemplary for improving the wood design industry as a whole.” Elegant solutions with brilliant engineering are the hallmarks of this esteemed firm.
Equilibrium co-founder and principal Eric Karsh was also the recipient of the Engineer Award. He was honoured for his commercial, residential and institutional projects, all of which provide innovative, sustainable structural solutions. His showcase project, City of North Vancouver Civic Centre Renovation, was deemed to demonstrate a highly innovative use of wood and the jury appreciated his ability to push the envelope on the design. “For many years, this engineer has chosen not to take the easy route, and has encouraged and supported advances in wood design,” stated the nomination. As a leader in the field of timber engineering, Eric Karsh is the engineer of record for numerous award-winning projects, including the Earth Sciences Building at UBC and the Raleigh Durham Airport.
In addition to finding solutions for large-scale commercial projects, he has been actively promoting solid wood construction as a viable alternative to concrete, and as an answer to going taller with wood. He is also co-author of the widely publicized Tall Wood report (co-authored with BC architect Michael Green, principal at Michael Green Architecture), which introduces a structural concept to build timber high-rises of 30 storeys or more, even in high seismic zones such as Vancouver.
Kimberley Smith and Bo Helliwell of Helliwell + Smith Blue Sky Architecture in West Vancouver, are architects whose names are synonymous with innovative architecture, and were the recipients of the Architect Award. The principals of this firm acknowledge it has taken decades of practice to understand the economy and versatility of both conventional wood-frame and timber post-and-beam construction. The appreciation for wood is evident in their designs which encompass residential, multi-family and commercial projects. They continue to experiment with exposed timber-frame structures and new wood products, as well as traditional wood products – in turn developing an architecture that is expressive, economical and lasting. The ingenious use of organic, flowing spaces in their designs suggest that wood is a malleable material, not confined to straight lines and right angles. Their award-winning work has been widely published and exhibited locally and internationally.
The Wood Innovation Award recognizes creative and innovative approaches in the use of wood in building design, product design and/or processes. The winners of this category were Vancouver-based Peter Busby and Jim Huffman of Perkins+Will Canada for their VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre in Vancouver. This remarkable project creates a harmonious balance between architecture and landscape, and features extensive wood products, including a complex panellized roof structure. With wood as the primary building material, it provided an added environmental benefit – it sequesters enough carbon for the project to achieve carbon neutrality. The jury applauded the structural expression of the roof, calling it highly dramatic and very innovative. It is the first building in Canada to register for the Living Building Challenge, the most stringent measurement of sustainability in the built environment.
The Green Building Award winner demonstrates a significant contribution to improving the overall environmental performance of any building. The 2013 award went to Vancouver-based Peter Busby of Perkins+Will Canada for the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at UBC in Vancouver. The jury noted that the elegant and extensive use of wood resulted in an impressive sustainable building. The project is designed to be the most sustainable building in North America; more than a building, CIRS is a research tool that demonstrates the possibilities in sustainable design and construction, serving as a catalyst for change.
Other awards include the following. The Residential Wood Design Award was given to Kimberley Smith of Helliwell + Smith Blue Sky Architecture for Solar Crest in Sidney Island, and the Multi-Unit Residential Wood Design Award recognized Oliver Lang of LWPAC Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture for Monad in Vancouver. The Commercial Wood Design Award went to McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd. for the Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility in Vancouver, and the Queen of Peace Monastery in Squamish Valley by Andreas Kaminski of aka architecture + design inc. took the Interior Beauty Design Award. In the Institutional Wood Design (Small) category, Graham D. Fligg of Merrick Architecture – Borowski Sakumoto Fligg Ltd. – took the award for the Klahoose First Nation New Relationship Centre on Cortes Island. In the Institutional Wood Design (Large) category, Jana Foit of Perkins+Will Canada claimed the award for the Earth Sciences Building at UBC in Vancouver. The Western Red Cedar Award went to Pam Chilton of Zimba Design for the Urban Longhouse in North Vancouver.
And finally, honourable mentions were presented to two noteworthy projects and their designer/project teams: Kinsol Trestle Rehabilitation Project in Cowichan Valley (Gord Macdonald, Macdonald & Lawrence Timber Frame Ltd.), one of the largest wood structures in the world and truly outstanding from an engineering perspective, in the words of the jury; and the Pallas Residence in Revelstoke (Keith Starling, Take To Heart), which was noted as an exemplary example of a truly green building. Constructed of solid wood wall pane
ls and assembled with wood screws, the result is a highly efficient building with little impact to the environment.
For more information, please visit www.wood-works.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=257:bc-2013-design-award-results&catid=51&Itemid=204