The Wood Awards: Excellence in British Architecture and Product Design call for entries is open. The competition is free to enter and, with permission from the owner, anyone associated with a building or product completed within the past two years can apply. The entry deadline is 26 May. Established in 1971, the Wood Awards recognises, encourages and promotes outstanding design, craftsmanship and installation using wood in projects throughout the UK. The Wood Awards’ elite independent panel not only judges all submitted entries, but also visits the shortlisted projects in person, making the Wood Awards a uniquely rigorous competition. Buildings must be located within the UK, while furniture and other products must have been either designed or manufactured in the UK. There are no restrictions on the size or budget of a project and entrants may submit more than one project. Pantori by Stephanie Leake & Jack Badger Ltd, Bespoke Winner, 2016 Michael Morrison of Purcell and Max Fraser of Spotlight Press return as chairmen of the Buildings and Furniture & Product judging panels. New to the Buildings judging panel is Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects. He says: ‘It’s a fascinating and exciting time to be judging these awards. We are seeing the emergence of a new environmentally aware architecture – an architecture that is centred on the beauty of wooden construction – an age of timber architecture.’ The 2017 Building categories will be confirmed at the shortlisting but are likely to be Commercial & Leisure, Education & Public Sector, Interiors, Private and Small Project. The Furniture & Product competition will be split into Bespoke, Production Made and Student Designer, which is open to anyone currently in education or who has left education in the past 12 months. Within the Student category there are two cash prizes (£1,000 for the winner and £500 for the ‘people’s choice’). Other awards, such as Structural and Existing Building, are given at the judges’ discretion. The Arnold Laver Gold Award is chosen from the winners of all the categories. The Wood Awards shortlist will be announced in July and the winners will be announced in November. The shortlisted projects will be on display during the London Design Festival in September. Stihl Treetop Walkway by Glenn Howells Architects, Commercial & Leisure Winner, 2016 ‘The Wood Awards enabled me to meet interesting and important people within the industry at an early stage and was a confidence-boosting accolade on which to launch a whole collection of furniture,’ says designer Sebastian Cox, who won the Special Award for Outstanding Design in 2011. ‘More importantly, the Awards reinforce the importance of working with timber and celebrate the creativity and innovation designers and architects, at all stages of their career, are applying to this material.’ As a not-for-profit competition, the Wood Awards can only happen with collaborative industry sponsorship. Arnold Laver sponsors the Arnold Laver Gold Award, which is given to the winner of winners. Major Sponsors are the American Hardwood Export Council, Carpenters’ Company and TRADA. Other sponsors include American Softwoods, Forestry Commission, Timber Trade Federation, Wood for Good and Furniture Makers’ Company. For further information or to apply please visit the Wood Awards website This is an advertisement feature |
Above: Contour House by Sanei Hopkins Architects, Private Winner, 2016 |
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Stretch Extending Dining Table by Simon Pengelly, Production Made Winner, 2016 |