Wood Awards 2013
Bishop Edward King Chapel by Niall McLaughlin Architects has taken the Gold Award in this year’s Wood Awards 2013 competition.
The Carpenters’ Company hosted the awards ceremony on the 19th November at Carpenters’ Hall with the presentations made in front of a full house of more than 200 leading industry and architectural figures. The Chapel at Ripon College, Oxford, was awarded the Structural Category prize before taking the overall award.
Chairman of the judges, Michael Morrison of Purcell UK said, “Niall McLaughlin’s Bishop Edward King Chapel is a stunning and worthy Gold Award winner. It embodies the Wood Awards celebration of excellence in design and craftsmanship in wood, and even exceeds the hope that the building might be ‘a work of art which would touch the spirit’.” The independent judging panel, which included previous Wood Awards winners Adam Khan and last year’s Gold Award winner David Morley, Hopkins Architect’s Jim Greaves and Andrew Lawrence from Arup, praised the team for its attention to detail, careful use of materials and elegant curved glulam columns and beams which create the light and soaring internal timber structure.
Other category winners included the Colyer-Fergusson Building by Tim Ronalds Architects for the Commercial & Public Access Award, Church Walk in London by David Mikhail Architects for the Private category; Magheralin Parish Church in Northern Ireland by Waddington-McClure Architects for the Repair & Adaptive Reuse Award, and the undulating RoominaRoom in London by Atmos Studio for the Small Project Award.
In the Wood Awards furniture categories, the Production MadeFurniture Award was won by Pengelly Design’s ‘Theo Chair’, and EJ Bespoke Furniture’s chest of drawers ‘Ripples’ in 3D veneer European ash took the Bespoke Furniture Award.‘Worldscape’, an Atmos Studio project comprising 16 metres of continuous integrated furniture as a map of the world in Latvian birch plywood with seating for 80 people, was given the Wood Awards Judges’ Special Award.
The furniture judging panel included Katie Walker of Katie Walker Furniture and previous Wood Awards winner, Rod Wales of Wales & Wales and renowned furniture designer John Makepeace. For the first time this year, a surfboard maker was highly commended for their work in wood “using wood’s best roperties – naturally beautiful, strong and light”.
Chair of the judges, Michael Morrison said, “All the projects we inspected were showcasing both the versatility of timber as a building material as well as the great pool of talent in the design and construction industries. Two things were particularly pleasing – the high standards of craftsmanship that we saw and, perhaps more importantly, that we were able to give awards this year to some modest schemes where the selection of timber, the design and the workmanship have produced a splendid result on a tight budget. This must surely be the message that these awards are design to spread – that wood is a beautiful and economical material that can be used to great advantage in any building project.”
As the flagship for wood in the best of British architecture, furniture and design, the Wood Awards is made possible by the major sponsorship of the Carpenters’ Company, American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), Canada Wood, TRADA and Wood for Good. Other sponsors include American Softwoods, BRE and the Forestry Commission.
For full project information on the shortlist and winners, visit www.woodawards.com
