The six winners of the Western Red Cedar Architectural Design Awards are presented here. The competition demonstrated the architects’ abilities to express innovative structural techniques and surfaces in new construction and in renovations using Western Red Cedar. Winners included Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Mark Cavagnero Associates, Chadbourne + Doss Architects, Albert de Pineda Álvarez and Manuel Brullet Tenas, Bureau B+B, and Alfred Waugh Architects.
More images and information after the break.
The projects were diverse and included community centers, medical facilities, university buildings, churches and private residences. Projects were judged by a three-member architect jury for their use of Western Red Cedar in consistent themes of interior and exterior elements: Katherine Chia of Desai/Chia Architecture, Martin Finio, a LEED AP founding partner of the award-winning New York residential and institutional firm Christoff:Finio Architecture; and Alfred Zollinger, a principal in Matter Practice. One of the jury members, Katherine Chia commented on the use of Western Red Cedar outside of its conventional use as cladding. In many of the projects it was used for structure, interior finishes and material details.
• Combs Point Residence, Ovid, N.Y. by Architects: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
A center of activity and quiet retreat for a family that treasures life on the lake, Combs Point is a series of Western Red Cedar wood clad buildings that stretches through a forested glen leading to the head of a waterfall.
• Bernal Park Restroom Building, Pleasanton, Calif. by Architect: Mark Cavagnero Associates
Designed to fit seamlessly into a landscape setting, the building appears elegant and residential in scale while at the same time is durable and enduring. The building is wrapped in horizontal cedar siding boards covered with a semi-transparent stain and graffiti coating.
• Wood Block Residence, Mercer Island, Wash. by Chadbourne + Doss Architects
A major reconstruction of a 1962 residence, the redesign roots the house to its sloping wooded site and provides a protective shelter for family life. Western Red Cedar tongue-and-grove planks clad the existing painted Hemlock ceiling to bring appropriately natural warmth to an otherwise modern pallet of materials that includes aluminum, steel and plaster.
• Research Medical Complex of Barcelona by Architects: Albert de Pineda Álvarez and Manuel Brullet Tenas
This elliptical building on the promenade along Barcelona’s seafront features a double-skin façade that protects it from direct solar radiation while still allowing light to pass. More than 44,000 red cedar slats make up the outer protective skin and create its unique geometric appearance.
• Pilot Dwelling Het Entreeheuis, Netherlands by Architects: Bureau B+B
An entrance house located at the gateway of the Groote Scheere country estate built from sustainable and lightweight red cedar coated with a black oil color. The roof opens up to the landscape to become a private outdoor space. It is the first of 10 houses to be built at the estate.
• First People’s House, Victoria, B.C. by Architects: Alfred Waugh Architect
This multi-purpose education facility at the University of Victoria, B.C. is the only major wood building on campus. The post-and-beam structure inspired by the Coast Salish longhouse is clad in clear Western Red Cedar and houses a student union, Elders lounges, study areas, classrooms and ceremonial spaces. The registered LEED project targets gold.
Jack Draper, managing director of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, commented, “The talent of the architects and their builder partners combined with the authenticity and durability of wood really made for lasting work.”
