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2023 Wood Design Award Winners Embrace Timber’s Potential

The 22 projects recognized by WoodWorks offer a contemporary snapshot of timber’s innovative applications.

As awareness of timber construction’s myriad benefits hits the mainstream, the winners of the 2023 U.S. Wood Design Awards offer real-world proof of the material’s potential. This year’s iteration of the annual program from Think Wood’s strategic partner WoodWorks recognizes 22 projects across 10 categories—lauding their excellence and innovation in mass timber, heavy timber, light-frame, and hybrid-structure building design.

“It’s an honor to celebrate design teams that inspire the broader AEC community by challenging the expectations of modern design and construction,” WoodWorks President and CEO Jennifer Cover says. “This year’s winning projects represent the work of building designers from across the nation who are demonstrating the incredible potential of wood.”
The projects range from the tallest completed timber tower to date (Milwaukee’s Ascent, with 19 stories of mass timber structure atop a six-story-tall concrete podium) to the memorable yet petite 5,820-square-feet Ellis Golf Course Clubhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Several projects demonstrate timber’s economy and light weight compared to alternatives, providing advantages when adding to existing structures. At 316 12th Street in Oakland, California, oWOW Design added one floor of commercial space and three residential levels to an existing single-story commercial structure. In Washington, D.C., Hickok Cole added three floors of mass timber construction to an existing seven-story concrete structure at 80 M Street.
Several solutions demonstrate how wood’s naturally warm aesthetic can play well with existing historic buildings. At Rogers Partners’ Nanotronics Smart Factory, four “pods” of CLT are inserted within the restored shell of a Civil War–era warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects and Peter Logan Architecture and Design (PLAD) transformed the Maclac Building D in San Francisco by suspending CLT diaphragms from new steel king post trusses within the building’s century-old masonry shell.
Wood’s warmth can suffuse entirely new structures as well. At the Houston Endowment’s elegant new headquarters, the Kevin Daly Architects with Productura-designed building’s rigorously monochromatic white palette receives a healthy dose of warmth from its exposed wood roof decking.

Whether the teams behind these designs cite ease of construction, economy of material, or the sustainable sequestration of carbon as motivating factors in their use of wood, virtually every winner embraces wood’s characteristic warmth as an essential design element.

Taken together, these 22 solutions suggest a distinct contemporary aesthetic based on wood’s natural advantages in the 21st century.

Nanotronics Smart Factory
Photo credit: Albert Vecerka

Winner of Commercial Wood Design – Mid-Rise Mississippi Workshop

Portland, Oregon

Developer/Owner: Waechter Architecture
Architect: Waechter Architecture
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Contractors: Waechter Architecture | Owen Gabbert, LLC | Cutwater PDX

  • Mississippi Workshop
    Photo credit: Lara Swimmer
  • Mississippi Workshop
    Photo credit: Lara Swimmer
  • Mississippi Workshop
    Photo credit: David Papazian

Winner of Commercial Wood Design – Low-Rise High Tech Client Campus

Mountain View, California

Architect: WRNS Studio
Structural Engineer: Holmes
Contractor: Rudolph and Sletten

  • High Tech Client Campus
    Photo credit: Bruce Damonte
  • High Tech Client Campus
    Photo credit: Bruce Damonte
  • High Tech Client Campus
    Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

Winner of Wood in Schools – Low-Rise San Jacinto College Anderson-Ball Classroom Building

Pasadena, Texas

Developer/Owner: San Jacinto College
Architect: Kirksey Architecture
Structural Engineer: Walter P Moore
Contractor: Tellepsen

  • San Jacinto College Anderson-Ball Classroom Building
    Photo credit: Joe Aker
  • San Jacinto College Anderson-Ball Classroom Building
    Photo credit: Joe Aker
  • San Jacinto College Anderson-Ball Classroom Building
    Photo credit: Joe Aker

Winner of Multi-Family Wood Design Central Lofts

Portland, Oregon

Developer/Owner: BlackRock Development and Real Estate
Architect: Jones Architecture
Structural Engineer: Froelich Engineers
Contractor: R&H Construction

  • Central Lofts
    Photo credit: David Papazian
  • Central Lofts
    Photo credit: David Papazian
  • Central Lofts
    Photo credit: David Papazian

Winner of Wood in Government Buildings Winthrop Library

Winthrop, Washington

Developer/Owner: Friends of the Winthrop Library
Architects: Johnston Architects, Prentiss Balance Wickline
(associate architect)
Structural Engineer: Methow Engineering
Contractor: Impel Construction

  • Winthrop Library
    Photo credit: Benjamin Drummond
  • Winthrop Library
    Photo credit: Benjamin Drummond
  • WInthrop Library
    Photo credit: Benjamin Drummond

Winner of Institutional Wood Design Locust Grove Event Pavilion

Louisville, Kentucky

Developer/Owner: Locust Grove
Architect: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
Structural Engineer: Structural Services
Contractor: Woodbine Construction

  • Locust Grove
    Photo credit: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
  • Locust Grove
    Photo credit: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
  • Locust Grove
    Photo credit: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop

Winner of Sustainable Wood Design The Ecology School

Saco, Maine

Developer/Owner: The Ecology School
Architects: Simons Architects | Kaplan Thompson | Briburn Architecture
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Contractor: Zachau Construction

  • The Ecology School
    Photo credit: Trent Bell
  • The Ecology School
    Photo credit: Trent Bell

Winner of Beauty of Wood Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

Beaverton, Oregon

Developer/Owner: City of Beaverton
Architect: Opsis Architecture
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Contractor: Skanska

  • Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
    Photo credit: Josh Partee
  • Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
    Photo credit: Josh Partee
  • Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
    Photo credit: Josh Partee

Winner of Durable and Adaptable Wood Structures Maclac Building D

San Francisco, California

Developer/Owner: Comstock Realty Partners
Architects: Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects | Peter Logan Architecture and Design (PLAD)
Structural Engineer: Gregory P. Luth & Associates
Contractor: Rod Heisler Construction

  • Maclac Building D
    Photo credit: Billy Hustace
  • Maclac Building D
    Photo credit: Billy Hustace

Winner of Innovation Ascent

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Developer/Owners: New Land Enterprises | Weichmann Enterprises
Architect: Korb + Associates Architects
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Contractors: C.D. Smith Construction | Catalyst Construction

  • Ascent
    Photo credit: C.D. Smith Construction
  • Ascent
    Photo credit: Korb + Associates Architects
  • Ascent
    Photo credit: VRX Media Group

Regional Excellence Winners

  • Intro

    Intro

    Cleveland, Ohio

    Developer/Owner: Harbor Bay Ventures
    Architect: Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
    Structural Engineer: Forefront Structural Engineers
    Contractor: Panzica Construction

    View the gallery
  • Idaho Central Credit Union Arena

    Moscow, Idaho

    Developer/Owner: University of Idaho
    Architect: Opsis Architecture | Hastings+Chivetta Architects (sports architect)
    Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers (base building) | StructureCraft (roof structure)
    Contractor: Hoffman Construction

    View the gallery
  • 1030 Music Row

    Nashville, Tennessee

    Developer/Owner: Panattoni Development Company
    Architect: Anecdote Architectural Experiences
    Structural Engineer: StructureCraft
    Contractor: Turner Construction

    View the gallery
  • 80 M Street

    Washington, D.C.

    Developer/Owner: Columbia Property Trust
    Architect: Hickok Cole
    Structural Engineer: Arup
    Contractor: James G. Davis Construction

    View the gallery
  • Chemeketa Community College Agricultural Complex

    Salem, Oregon

    Developer/Owner: Chemeketa Community College
    Architect: FFA Architecture and Interiors
    Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
    Contractor: Swinerton Builders

    View the gallery
  • Wellesley College Science Complex

    Wellesley, Massachusetts

    Developer/Owner: Wellesley College
    Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
    Structural Engineer: Le Messurier
    Contractor: Turner Construction

    View the gallery
  • Kansas City Current Training Facility

    Riverside, Missouri

    Developer/Owner: Kansas City Current
    Architect: Generator Studio
    Structural Engineer: Apex Engineers
    Contractor: Monarch Build

    View the gallery
  • Nanotronics Smart Factory

    Brooklyn, New York

    Developer/Owner: Nanotronics Imaging
    Architect: Rogers Partners
    Structural Engineer: Silman
    Contractor: Eurostruct

    View the gallery
  • Houston Endowment Headquarters

    Houston, Texas

    Developer/Owner: Houston Endowment
    Architect: Kevin Daly Architects with Productura
    Structural Engineer: Arup
    Contractor: WS Bellows

    View the gallery
  • Ellis Golf Course Clubhouse

    Cedar Rapids, Iowa

    Developer/Owner: City of Cedar Rapids
    Architect: OPN Architects
    Structural Engineer: Structural Design Group
    Contractor: Septagon Construction

    View the gallery
  • Crested Butte Center for the Arts

    Crested Butte, Colorado

    Developer/Owner: Center for the Arts
    Architect: Steinberg Hart with Andrew Hadley Architect
    Structural Engineer: Resource Engineering Group
    Contractor: Black Dragon Development

    View the gallery
  • 316 12th Street

    Oakland, California

    Developer/Owner: oWOW
    Architect: oWOW Design
    Structural Engineer: Altos Structural Engineering
    Contractor: oWOW Construction

    View the gallery
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