U.S. Wood Design Awards

This call for wood design nominations is for all lovers of wood! The due date is fast approaching (September 30 deadline) to nominate work for the Wood Design awards. Here is pertinent information from the website:

Wood Design Awards celebrate excellence in wood design, engineering and construction, as well as innovative projects that showcase attributes of wood such as strength, beauty, versatility, cost effectiveness and sustainability.

The Wood Design Awards program is intended to recognize architectural designers with the exception of the Innovative Wood Engineering award, which recognizes structural engineers.

WoodWorks will be accepting nominations for Wood Design Awards in the following categories.

Multi-Story Wood Design

This category recognizes wood building projects that are four stories or more. It covers a wide range of mixed-use and multi-family building types, including hotels, apartments, condominiums, duplexes, dormitories, affordable housing facilities and seniors’ residences. Special consideration will be given to projects that utilize wood as the dominant structural material and demonstrate ingenuity, cost effectiveness or the realization of green building objectives.

Wood in Educational Buildings

This category recognizes the use of wood in the construction of schools and education-related buildings such as student commons. Special consideration will be given to projects that utilize wood to cost-effectively meet a variety of objectives—such as creating an enriching environment or achieving green building certification.

Commercial Wood Design

This category recognizes the creators of projects that push the limits of commercial wood design in offices, restaurants, stores, malls, industrial buildings and other public spaces. Projects of exceptional size or those showcasing unique wood applications will be given special consideration.

Institutional Wood Design

The healing and stress-reducing properties of exposed wood are becoming increasingly well documented. This award recognizes the benefits of wood in institutional applications such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, libraries, fire halls and public recreational facilities. Special consideration will be given to projects that utilize wood to create a warm or healing environment and feature wood as the main structural material.

Green Building with Wood

Wood is a good choice for green building because it grows naturally and is renewable; because wood products have less embodied energy, are responsible for less air and water pollution and have a lighter carbon footprint than other materials; and because wood building systems can contribute to operational energy efficiency. Nominations in the green building category will be judged on the basis of showcasing how wood contributed to some or all of these principles when applied in the building’s design and construction.

Beauty of Wood

This category recognizes extensive use of wood on the interior and/or exterior of a non-residential or multi-family structure. Consideration is given to the expression of modern architectural styles where wood products are used extensively in any variety of visible applications.

Innovative Wood Engineering

This award recognizes the contribution of innovative engineering to a non-residential or multi-family building project. Special consideration will be given to submissions that highlight wood solutions to challenging design requirements (for example, a complicated architectural layout or unusually high wind or seismic loading).

Wood in Government Buildings

This award recognizes the effective use of wood in a government building. Federal, state and local governments have a responsibility to demonstrate superior stewardship in the context of both finances and environmental resources, while also providing healthy structures that last. Special consideration will be given to the use of structural wood to achieve savings of public funds and/or reduce the carbon footprint of a project and/or achieve green building certification. Other criteria include using wood in visible applications to reflect cultural values or create a welcoming environment, and using wood to cost-effectively balance multiple design objectives.