Winners announced for NZ Wood-Resene Timber Design Awards

Winners announced for NZ Wood-Resene Timber Design Awards 2018

Design professionals were honoured for their creativity and ingenuity at a gala event in Auckland on September 20. Over 250 finalists, prominent companies and other industry leaders attended the glittering event organised by the Wood Processors and Manufacturers’ Association (WPMA), which saw He Tohu Document Centre from Studio Pacific Architecture win the Supreme Award and Cymon Allfrey’s Family Bach a worthy runner up.

“In a market crowded with grand designs and wonderful claims for every construction material, New Zealand timber is proving just how versatile and cost effective it is,” said WPMA Promotions Manager Debbie Fergie. “These Awards have again proved how imaginative design and structural integrity can combine to deliver beautiful timber buildings.”

Judges agreed.

“The 2018 NZ Wood-Resene Timber Design Awards showcase some of the best examples of innovation in timber design that New Zealand has to offer,” they said. “It’s evident there is great collaboration between architects, engineers, suppliers, fabricators and builders to produce some outstanding and highly innovative timber buildings and structures. The real stand-outs were those that went a step further, displaying a mature professional approach, an evocative sophisticated outcome, or a surprising twist.”

Entrants competed within ten categories covering everything from residential and commercial architectural excellence to engineering innovation, multi-storey construction and student innovation.

Structural performance and aesthetic excellence were highlighted across all categories.

The He Tohu Document Centre within the National Library won the Resene Supreme Award. “This is the perfect vessel to display the founding documents of Aotearoa,” said the judges. “Highly developed manufacturing technologies are woven together with traditional timber materials, showcasing how timber can deliver technological, social and cultural value in a beautiful way.” This entry also won the Niagara Timber Products’ Interior Innovation category.

Runner up was Cymon Allfrey’s Family Bach in Hanmer Springs. “An interesting redefining of the family bach as a series of separate yet interrelated buildings with shared common spaces,” commented judges. “A building where architecture hero’s wood, and wood has hero’d architecture.” This entry also won the CHH Woodproducts Futurebuild Residential Architectural Excellence Award.

TimberLab Solutions’ Commercial Architectural Excellence Award went to Te Wharehou o Waikaremoana. “This stunning building is highly spiritual, carefully considered, and ultimately connected to its site – it is exceptional architecture of place,” said judges. It also won the Wood and Fibre Creativity Award, sponsored by Scion Research.

The XLam NZ Multi-Storey Timber Building Award is a new category, requiring entrants to submit projects at least three stories high. This was won by Te Pa Tauira-Otago Polytechnic Student Village in Dunedin. It was the first five-storey all-timber building in the country, with judges hoping it will help to positively shape the attitude of a new generation towards timber.

As a professional director and seismologist, Dr Helen Anderson QSO was a powerful keynote speaker. She was a member of the Ministerial inquiry into the failure of Christchurch CBD buildings, and chaired technical inquiries into the performance of Statistics House in Wellington during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. Her own home is a timber, partially cantilevered home that also has “a lot” of timber inside.

What she has learned, she said, is that all complex designs carry risks (that can usually be overcome) and that safety of public buildings as well as private dwellings in earthquakes is critical for the preservation of life and infrastructure. This doesn’t mean buildings should not be beautiful, but rather be places people want to be. “Beautiful buildings have the power to transform lives,” she said.

Wooden structures meet structural and beauty imperatives, and medium-density wooden housing can be both beautiful and safe for residents, she believes.

Wood, particularly engineered wood products, are therefore the right materials to deliver building resilience, and architects and engineers should continue to advocate strongly for its use in multi-storey buildings, she told the audience.

A clearly delighted Owen Griffiths was named a “Wood Warrior” industry champion at the Awards. This is just the third time such an award has been made – previous recipients were Steve Chadwick, Rotorua Lakes Council Mayor in 2015, and Warren Parker from Scion in 2017.

Owen is Sales and Marketing Director of TimberLab Solutions Ltd, previously McIntosh Timber. He joined the company 49 years ago and for most of that time has been involved in the development and manufacture of laminated, structural timbers including glulam, LVL and CLT. Over that time he’s been instrumental in introducing New Zealand laminated timber elements to many overseas construction markets previously dominated by steel and concrete.

In awarding him, Chair of WPMA Brian Stanley pointed out that Owen “really understands the industry” and is an active member of a number of industry organisations. Owen has also presented many technical papers on timber design across a number of international seminars, and helped develop NZ Standards on glulam use.

Owen said his time in the industry has consistently provided “great personal stimulus” and his passion for wood remains undimmed. “Wood is the only construction material that’s self-reproducing and self-sustaining,” he told the audience.

Judges were universally delighted with the standard of entries, and continuing development of a series of timber design guides are expected to further promote timber’s use.

“These awards prove that using sustainable and engineered wood products for all types of buildings offer health and safety benefits as well as structural resilience and aesthetic beauty,” they said. “The high quality of entries shows that timber design is becoming an even more innovative and mature discipline.”

“The remarkable achievements of all contestants show how wood is the perfect material to deliver more sustainable and resilient buildings,” they added. “It's fantastic to see the growing use of local products such as CLT, glulam and LVL in a broader range of applications with some stunning results.”

The four judges included Pamela Bell M.Arch., Founder and Chief Executive of Prefab NZ who brings experience in architecture, Olympic-level sport, small business development, governance and management to the group. David Carradine Ph.D, is a Structural Engineer at BRANZ and President-Elect of the NZ Timber Design Society. Tim Melville B.Arch, FNZIA is a Principal with Warren and Mahoney and President-Elect of the NZ Institute of Architects, and Andrea Stocchero, M.Sc in Architecture from the Università IUAV di Venezia (Italy) is Scion’s Sustainable Architect.

ENDS

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