Provincial wood awards recognize Fast + Epp projects

November 6, 2012

WoodWORKS! BC recognized three Fast + Epp projects at its annual gala on March 4, which celebrates the best of timber design.

Architects at Perkins + Will Canada were recognized with the 2013 Wood Innovation Award for the VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visitor Centre in Vancouver, a building that targets LEED Platinum and was first in Canada to register with Living Building Challenge.

The jury applauded VanDusen for its structural expression, calling the orchid-inspired roof “highly-dramatic and very innovative.” Featuring 71 unique prefabricated roof panels and a novel column connection created by engineers at Fast + Epp, the facility has also been called the top international engineering project of 2012 by World Architecture News.

Fast + Epp would also like to congratulate Perkins + Will Canada for a successful collaboration on the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. The project was honoured with the 2013 Green Building Award.

Designed to be North America’s greenest structure, CIRS “is more than a building,” according to a WoodWORKS news release.

The facility “demonstrates the possibilities in sustainable design and construction, serving as a catalyst for change.”

A third honour, awarded to Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture for its design of the MONAD building on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver, celebrates excellence in Multi-Unit Residential Wood Design.

Structurally-engineered by Fast + Epp, the 10,000 sq. ft. project features modular residences stacked on a narrow lot — redefining the potential for creative home design to increase neighbourhood density.