The winners of the annual Wood Awards were announced at a ceremony held at Carpenters’ Hall in London.
Established in 1971, the Wood Awards is free to enter and aims to recognise and encourage outstanding design, craftsmanship and installation using wood.
The judges selected Cork House as this year’s Gold Award and Private category winner. The Gold Award is given to the winner of winners. Judge Ruth Slavid comments, “This is a really exciting project. Not just a house, it is also a piece of research.”
Cork House is built almost entirely from cork and timber. Monolithic walls and corbelled roof pyramids are built with loadbearing expanded cork made from the bark of the cork oak tree, a byproduct from wine stoppers. The house, which is adorned with five skylight-topped ziggurats, is a prefabricated kit of parts.
Blocks of expanded cork were CNC-machined off-site and then assembled on-site by hand without mortar or glue. All 1,268 pure cork blocks will be available at end-of-building-life as either biological or technical nutrients. A CLT floor platform, finished with oak floorboards, rests on Accoya beams supported on steel screw piles.
Accoya is also used for the bespoke doors, windows and external steps. Western red cedar weatherboarding is used on the roof and rear façade. All internal built-in joinery and loose furniture is made from spruce. Internally, the exposed cork and timber create a rich, evocative, sensory environment.
The Commercial & Leisure winner is Royal Opera House 'Open Up'. The judges admired how the new design reads as a complete building, yet seamlessly connects with the main spaces of the existing space.
Striking the right balance between heritage and 21st century life, the transformation of the Royal Opera House reimagines the world-renowned home of ballet and opera. Improved access and transparency, a completely new Linbury Theatre and new foyers, terraces, cafes, bars, restaurant and retail facilities extend the building’s life outside of performance hours.
At entrance level, subtle timber elements inlaid in the stone floor offer a warm welcome. Descending into the double-height Linbury Theatre foyer, the atmosphere becomes more intimate and theatrical as exquisitely book matched veneer surfaces are complemented by elegant linear grids of timber batons and solid wood parquet. The Linbury Theatre is entirely clad in black walnut, inspired by the rich cherry cladding in the main 1858 Opera House auditorium. Lights, acoustic insulation and sound equipment are integrated within the timber.
Cambridge Central Mosque was selected as the Education & Public Sector winner. Judge David Morley says, “This building is an exemplar of how wood can enable a structure to become the primary representational element of a building. This is a hard project to beat.”
The first purpose-built mosque in Cambridge is a calm oasis of contemplation within a grove of trees, inspired by an image of the garden of paradise – with its water fountain symbolising the source of all life. Timber was chosen for its natural, warm and calming qualities. The expressed vaulted structure is glulam, while the surrounding wall and roof structure is CLT. The guiding geometry of the building is The Breath of the Compassionate, a historic Islamic pattern which evokes breathing in and out. Repeating star octagons are converted into a continuous structural pattern and projected onto the three-dimensional fan vaulting form. Alternate octagons are converted to the structural columns or ‘trunks’. The 30 trees create an overall impression of stillness, quiet and focus. 2746 pieces form the vaulted structure. Wherever possible metal connectors have been replaced with half lap joints for continuity of timber grain.
The Interiors winner is Battersea Arts Centre. Head buildings judge Stephen Corbett comments, “The design philosophy, imagination, originality, and the meticulous modelling, prototyping and execution made this stand out as a project of high quality.”
In March 2015, a fire broke out in the northern half of the 1890’s grade II* listed building destroying the roof to the largest performance space. The original decorative plaster barrel vaulted ceiling was completely lost. Rather than replicating the lost ceiling, a contemporary plywood lattice ceiling was conceived. The new ceiling follows the curvature of the original and echoes the motifs in the plasterwork. It is much more porous and suitable for a modern theatre’s requirements.
The new ceiling is constructed of three layers of 18mm thick birch-faced plywood. Many apertures provide multiple rigging and lighting positions from the technical walkway built into the roof space above. Hidden banners within the roof space provide a variety of acoustic options.
MultiPly, this year’s Small Project winner, is the is the first structure made from UK manufactured CLT. The judges praised its simple design that communicates modularity and repetition.
MultiPly is a carbon neutral engineered timber pavilion, made from hardwood CLT. The vertical maze of stacked modules and staircases creates labyrinthine spaces which intertwine, inviting people to explore the use of wood in architecture and reflect on how we build our homes and cities. MultiPly demonstrates how engineered timber structures can be reconfigured, reused, repurposed and ultimately recycled. The pavilion has been shown in three locations, each iteration taking a different form.
The unassuming assembly of modules belies the engineering challenges created by the thinness of panels, significant cantilevers, and the complexity of designing a structure that can be reduced to a set of parts. MultiPly provided an opportunity to push the boundaries of CLT construction. Like a piece of flat-packed furniture, it arrives as a kit of parts and can be quietly assembled in under a week.
This year’s Structural Award winner is House in a Garden, chosen from all the shortlisted buildings. Judge Nathan Wheatley said,“House in a Garden is an exceptional structural form of elegant and slender timber ribs, a structural arrangement which is exciting, efficient and responds perfectly to the study of natural light.”
Replacing a dilapidated bungalow built in the 1960’s in the garden of an 1840’s villa, the house is on ground and two basement floors surrounded by gardens, light wells and skylights. The ground-floor, pavilion-like structure floats, creating distant views through gaps in the city skyline.
Wood is used throughout the project: structurally for the roof; as wall, floor and ceiling linings; and for the floating staircase. The glulam structure is unique in terms of the double curvature and the slender section sizes. The roof curves into an oculus. Shaped and informed by light and shadow, the roof’s tent like form creates a new place for life to occur.
Wood-lined 'internal' spaces (living rooms and bedrooms) are juxtaposed with marble-lined 'external’ spaces (wet areas, pools and courtyards).
