Winners of the North East Timber Trade Association’ (NETTA) annual Structural Timber Awards were announced at the association’s dinner on January 19.
This year’s awards called for the design of a temporary pavilion for Jesmond Dene park in Newcastle.
There were 13 team entries from the Newcastle University School of Architecture, each tasked with creating “exciting, but practical designs”. The building is to accommodate theatrical performances, music and art exhibitions and space for personal leisure and footprint had to be extremely light, so that no permanent traces remain after dismantling.
First prize went to Markus Ryden, Robert Gibb and Alex Cook for a pavilion inspired by Fibonnaci’s golden spiral and a local wood waterwheel. It uses glulam ribs supported on recovered oak pilings and wooden peg connections, reducing the use of adhesives.
Second prize went to Yohance Harper, Rebecca Close and Felicity Babur for their “Bauhaus tectonic” structure, which, the judges said, made excellent use of high strength and low weight properties of glulam to simulate a tree supporting branches and leaves. The team also used recycled pallet wood.
Tom Dobson, Laura Stevenson and Kit Stilby Harris won third prize for a pavilion incorporating plywood and glulam and inspired by the idea of a germinating seed.
The competition was judged by TRADA and sponsored by SCA Timber.
