Rothschild Foundation strikes gold at Wood Awards

The Rothschild Foundation in Buckinghamshire has been crowned the Gold Award winner in the Wood Awards 2011 - the UK’s premier awards for use of wood in architecture and furniture.

Stephen Marshall Architects were presented with the trophy – along with the winner's trophy for the Structural category – in front of around 200 industry and architectural figures at the awards ceremony at Timber Expo, Coventry. The project has already won a RIBA Award this year and was a contender for the 2011 Stirling Prize.

The Rothschild Foundation, built to house the Rothschild Foundation Archive and the offices of the Rothschild charity, was constructed on the site of a former dairy farm.

Use of timber as the main construction material was inspired by the timber barns, vertical boarding and roof trusses on the site. The main space, the archive reading room, was designed as a modern reinterpretation of a barn structure, with a European oak gridshell roof supported on triangular struts.

Other winners included the Brockholes Visitor Centre in Lancashire by Adam Khan Architects for the Commercial & Public Access award; Strange House in London by Hugh Strange Architects for the Private/Best Small Project Award; while Diamond Hall at the University of Ulster by Samuel Stevenson & Sons won the Conservation/Restoration award.

Katie Walker Furniture won its second Furniture Award win for ”Windsor Rocker”, with the Outstanding Design special award going to Sebastian Cox’s “Suent Superlight Chair” using coppiced hazel, and an Outstanding Craftsmanship award going to “The Manolo Lounger” in American black walnut by John Galvin Design.

The Innovation award went to Atmos Studio, which the judges said created “a beautifully designed piece of 3D joinery…fluid and dynamic”.

Among the sponsors of the Wood Awards are The American Hardwood Export Council, the Carpenters’ Company, the Forestry Commission, Wood for Good and TRADA.

For more cov erage see the next issue of TTJ.