2026 Wood in Architecture Award Winners

This six-story, 116,000-square-foot building for the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science leverages wood’s biophilic qualities alongside its carbon and construction performance benefits to create a space that fosters human connection for those working and learning in the digital realm. The cross-laminated timber and glulam structure selectively incorporates steel to address long spans at the auditorium, exterior columns, and stairs while also exposing the structural wood wherever possible and integrating elegant timber braced frames to highlight the material’s rich character.

Set within a forest clearing, the Doris Duke Theatre is one of three performance venues at Jacob’s Pillow, a contemporary dance school and performance center in the Berkshires. The 19,300-square-foot multi-use theatre is designed to adapt to a wide variety of performance needs, with a double-height, 230-seat auditorium, multipurpose lobbies, back-of-house spaces, and more. To temper the visual starkness of the vast array of theatrical technology within, the designers leverage the organic quality of the exposed wood structure, which includes glulam columns and girders and CLT roof panels and load-bearing walls. Acoustic wall panels absorb sound and conceal the perimeter movement gap required for dance floor deflections. Wood also added value in the speed of construction; the mass timber structure was erected in just six weeks.

Imagined as an extension of the network of trails running throughout Auburn University’s 120-acre Kreher Preserve, the Environmental Education Building is organized along a central “learning trail” spine. The structure embraces the landscape, and wood’s natural materiality and accessibility within the building itself invite student engagement and encourage connection with the trees outside. Light-filled classroom spaces in the 4,989-square-foot building are mixed with an administrative area and a series of open and covered porches that allow activities to spill out into the surrounding forest.

Orange County Sanitation District (OC San) provides wastewater collection, treatment, and recycling services for 2.6 million residents in Southern California. Employees had been working from 13 scattered facilities, and OC San wanted a new headquarters to enhance collaboration and strengthen their presence within the community. Employees and visitors enter the 109,000-square-foot hybrid mass timber building through a spacious, two-story lobby where exhibits teach visitors about water treatment processes as well as mass timber and sustainability. Two adjacent office wings feature an open configuration that prioritizes occupant well-being with views and natural light reaching 97.5% of occupied office spaces. Because OC San is a publicly funded utility, it was particularly important to balance the organization’s sustainability objectives with fiscal prudence; the project had to meet the construction budget for a standard Class B office. Here, the project team proved it is possible to successfully meet public sector design/bid/build requirements using mass timber.