A record number of entries were received for the NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards this year according to Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association (WPMA) Promotions Manager Debbie Fergie. Source: Timberbiz
Winners of the eight categories will be announced at a function in Auckland on 15 September.
The categories reflect the wide range of timber usage in today’s world.
From residential and commercial architectural excellence, to innovative uses of engineered wood, to new ways to use indigenous or specialty woods.
Judges for the event are Pip Cheshire, Dr Duncan Joiner and Daniel Scheibmair.
Finalists range from a plywood seating shelter designed by architectural students, to a cabin in the Taraweras, to a chair constructed from rimu that has been recycled from a destroyed house in Christchurch, to a six-storey, timber framed commercial building that exceeds seismic specifications.
Long-term sponsor Resene Paints Ltd sees great value in partnering with the WPMA to present these awards.
As Resene’s Marketing Manager Karen Warman said: “The NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards always bring new ideas into the limelight, that help inspire others to use timber in more innovative ways. We’re proud to support these awards.”
The Timber Design Awards have been presented since 1975, and organisers see these as an important way to promote New Zealand forest and wood resources.
Timber is a sustainable and renewable resource that can be treated and dressed locally, yet retains a structural flexibility that makes it an ideal construction material for our “shaky isles,” especially when laminated and/or engineered to the degree that allows multi-storey buildings to withstand seismic forces.
According to the WPMA this year’s record number of entries demonstrates how wood has gained in popularity, especially since the Canterbury earthquakes five years ago.
“This tragic series of events has however contributed to the rapid uptake of New Zealand’s world-beating research and innovation, especially when applying the safe construction techniques available for modern timber structures,” said Ms Fergie.
