Six projects from Wellington, Kāpiti, and Carterton have been chosen as finalists in the 2012 NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards, representing excellence in commercial, engineering, interior, innovation and sustainability categories.
2012 attracted 93 entries across the nine categories more than three times the number in 2011 and a record in the more than 30 year history of the Timber Design Awards. Of these, 38 have been selected for second stage judging which requires the entrant to provide greater detail.
“New Zealand’s only Timber Design Awards achieved a massive jump in entries this year, reflecting the desire of professionals to differentiate themselves and their practices from the rest,” says NZ Wood CEO Jane Arnott.
“Winning an NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Award provides a competitive edge that is compelling in a marketplace that values expertise. The Awards cater to such expertise, and they help draw a line in the sand between mediocrity and brilliance. In these tough economic times, what better way to do this than to put your work forward to be judged alongside your peers,” says Ms Arnott.
The finalists with projects in Kāpiti are Peka Peka by Box Living, Ngā Purapura (at Te Wananga-O-Raukawa) by Tennent + Brown Architects and Kākano entered by Tennent + Brown Architects, Dunning Thornton Consultants Ltd & Stanley Group.
Peka Peka is a 4 bedroom beach house which was designed and built using BOX’s engineered timber framing system in place of steel. The architect individually designs BOX homes for the site and client, but all homes use a common engineered post and beam building system. The system aims to reduce the architectural design fees by up to 75%, allowing more people to afford services of an architect. The system also gives certainty of build cost. The system has been optimized for efficiency and unlike a custom build, does not throw out any ‘unknowns’ during construction. The system is a set of components that are assembled on site. Post & beam components are cut, drilled, routed and painted off site so that everything fits together fast and perfectly on site.
Ngā Purapura at Te Wānanga-O-Raukawa, a Māori tertiary institution in Ōtaki required a building to fulfill its vision for courses focused on improving physical wellbeing for Māori. Timber was used extensively for structure; engineered timber, laminated & LVL, was used for post, beams & rafters. Within the sports hall a 36m span Tahuhu (ridge beam) with a precambered composite timber & steel beam which aesthetically represented a waka & minimised the bulk of the structure. Timber was used to minimise high embodied energy steel and was precast from local supplier 4km from site. It also used sustainably sourced sports floor timber and landscaping local native hardy species.
Kākano is a special meeting space in the main foyer at Te Wānanga-O-Raukawa which represents a ‘new beginning’ for young Māori, and is also a structure of beauty. Kākano in Māori means ‘seedpod’. The 54m2 pod was fabricated entirely out of 12mm high-grade plywood. The interior and exterior of the pod are each made up of 268 triangular panels, every one different, fitted together with a ‘tenth of a degree’ of accuracy. The final result demonstrates pushing common everyday materials to their limit in terms of use but at the same time showing off the natural beauty plywood has to offer.
For further details see www.nzwood.co.nz/timber-design-awards-2012/
Winners will be announced at an awards evening on 9 October in Auckland.
