From timber frame structures to a multispecies drinks cabinet, the winners in this year’s Wood Awards showcase the versatility and possibilities of timber – and its secure place as a building and design material.
The winners were unveiled at a presentation evening in November at Carpenters’ Hall, London, hosted by Johanna Agerman Ross, founder of Disegno magazine and curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the V&A.
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) was particularly pleased with this year’s winners as four used American hardwoods.
The successful projects, which were chosen from 300 entries, illustrate that timber can be hi-tech or handcrafted – and eye-catching.
This winner of this year’s Arnold Laver Gold Award was Coastal House in Devon, a refurbished home which “seduced” the judges.
The early 20th century house, which also won the Interiors category, has an oak beam structure. Tapered oak verticals are used for primary drawing room columns, external veranda posts and the stair spindles.
Four of this year’s winners featured cross-laminated timber (CLT), reflecting the growing interest in the technology and its established position as a structural product. For Rievaulx Abbey Visitor Centre & Museum, winner of the Commercial & Leisure category, CLT helped address the problems of a tight contract period and unpredictable winter weather.
Spruce CLT was used for the Hampshire passivhaus, winner of the Private category, and the structure was complete and watertight in just four days. Timber is also used for the house’s interior joinery and exterior cladding and the judges praised the project’s design, craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Two very different winning projects represented world firsts for American tulipwood CLT.
Maggie’s Oldham, the Education & Public Sector winner, is the first permanent building constructed from tulipwood CLT, while The Smile, which won the Structural award, was the first project in the world to use large hardwood CLT panels. The entire structure, which was 3.5m high, 4.5m wide and 34m long, was made from just 12 tulipwood panels, each up to 14m long and 4.5m wide.
The Smile, which was built for this year’s London Design Festival, was praised by the judges for the ease with which it rested in place, masking “some impressive and complex engineering”.
In the Production Made category, designer David Irwin challenged preconceptions of the folding chair with his Narin Chair made from birch ply and solid wood with an American white oak or black walnut veneer.
Student designer Mark Laban used a 3-axis CNC router to produce an unusual finish to his Rustic Stool 1.0 made from American hard maple. By manipulating the machine’s software he created a textured finish that evoked raw timber.
Another student, Damian Robinson, won the People’s Choice Award with his Hex Drinks Cabinet featuring a patchwork of species – British bog oak, fumed oak, English cherry, black walnut, tropical olive, teak and olive ash – inspired by a garden bees’ nest.
Hastings Pier, the winner of this year’s Stirling Prize, was highly commended in the Commercial & Leisure category.
Arnold Laver sponsors the Arnold Laver Gold Award. The major sponsors are American Hardwood Export Council, the Carpenters’ Company, TRADA and the London Design Fair. Other sponsors include American Softwoods, Forestry Commission, Timber Trade Federation, Wood for Good, the Furniture Makers’ Company and Party Ingredients. TRADA’s Rupert Scott described project entries as “world-class”