Wood WORKS! BC 2013 Green Building Award recipient: Peter Busby, Perkins + Will |Centre for Interactive Research

VANCOUVER, March 4, 2013 /CNW/ - 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 UBC campus.

More than 350 distinguished design and building professionals, including architects, engineers, project teams, industry sponsors and guests gathered this evening to honour the nominees and winners of the 2013 Wood WORKS! BC Wood Design Awards. The 9th annual awards evening at the Vancouver Convention Centre (West) recognized leadership and innovation in wood use while being an opportunity to publicly salute and celebrate continued excellence in the building and design community.

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 world-wide, 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 this evening 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, formerly principal at mgb ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN), 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, West Vancouver, architects whose names are synonymous with innovative architecture, 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 for their project, 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 panelized roof structure. With wood as the primary building material, the wood 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.

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Winning architects , structural engineers and project teams enthral and inspire at 2013 BC Wood Design Awards

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Manchester based Architecture practice Grant Erskine Architects design for conversion of a church to a Nursery i in Diggle, Oldham has opened to the public. The renovation project incorporated a full interior design and and remdel to accomodate current building legislations. The completed building offers facilities for children of all ages, as well as a venue for local community groups.

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Manchester Architecture Company Grant Erskine Architects Church to Nursery Conversion - Video

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David Hodges - Radio Interview on CHYZ FM 94.3 (Architects Du Son)
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The state Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether residents of a luxury 595-unit condominium complex across from AT&T Park in San Francisco can sue the architects for allegedly causing overheating and structural defects.

The justices voted unanimously to review appeals by two architectural firms challenging a lower-court ruling that reinstated the suit by the Beacon Residential Community Association, representing owners of the condo units.

The Beacon complex, at 250 and 260 King St. in China Basin, opened in July 2005, selling units for between $500,000 and $1 million. The owners association sued in 2008, claiming that units had overheated because of defective ventilation and window design, and also alleging instances of water infiltration, structural cracks and other hazards.

The suit is pending against the developers and their contractors, who have denied wrongdoing. The issue before the state's high court is whether residents can also sue the architectural firms, HKS Inc. and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the architects from the case in 2011, saying the building's designers were responsible only for making recommendations to the developer.

But the First District Court of Appeal disagreed, saying architects who are negligent in their plans can be held responsible for any resulting harm to residents of the building.

"A design professional ... cannot be unaware of the fact that his or her work will have a direct bearing on the integrity, safety and habitability of property intended for residential occupancy," said Justice Terence Bruiniers in the 3-0 ruling Dec. 13. He said the architectural firms were allegedly paid more than $5 million for their work on the Beacon complex.

The Supreme Court set aside the appellate ruling Wednesday and will decide whether California law allows such suits against architects. No hearing date has been scheduled.

The case is Beacon Residential Community Association vs. Skidmore, S208173.

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Suit against architects to be reviewed

STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Henning Larsen Architects has been selected to design the European Spallation Source research centre. In a large international design contest, two winners were chosen: the concept by the Henning Larsen consortium, and the concept by the BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group consortium. In the end, HLA was selected to develop the final design.

The ESS is Europes largest science current project. It will be the world-leading research facility for materials research and life science with neutrons.

After an international design contest, ESS has chosen Henning Larsen Architects as the architectural partner to design the ESS facility. The concept was considered to show great skill and sensitivity, a strong campus concept, and a combination of human and dramatic scale.

The Henning Larsen Architects consortium included the companies COBE, SLA, as well as the engineering enterprises Buro Happold, NNE Pharmaplan and Transsolar. This team will now be assigned to develop the final design of the ESS premises.

- The flexibility, human scale and campus-like layout of the work submitted by Henning Larsen Architects will give us an excellent base for developing a functional and variable work-place suited to the scientists everyday needs. Featuring a symbolic building, it will also give dignity and (shine) to reflect the future ESS importance in the European scientific landscape, says Colin Carlile, the ESS CEO.

- I am also particularly proud over the very high quality and creative thinking that have permeated all the submitted concepts. The amount of ingenuity and beauty that have been submitted by these large number of leading firms participating in the design contest has simply been impressive, and will provide much inspiration.

The process of designing the ESS architectural design and surrounding landscaping is still in an early stage. The final architectural design will be developed in the coming year.

- The choice of an architectural partner for the design of the ESS facility is a large step. It will mean that we can start the detailed planning of the construction needed to move ahead, says Kent Hedin, Head of the ESS Conventional Facilities Division.

The choice was preceded by an international design contest, in which two winning concepts were chosen by the jury. The second winner, besides the Team Henning Larsen Architects concept, was the concept by the Team BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. The BIG concept was selected because of an extraordinarily strong design idea, integrating the building complex with the surrounding landscape, expressed in an emblematic building.

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European Spallation Source AB: Henning Larsen Architects will design ESS, Europe’s largest research project