World Forestry Congress: winners of the PEFC-sponsored Treehousing Award announced
The Grand Prize winner for tall wood housing, the category sponsored by PEFC, was tied between architecture student Ayla Harvey and Koura Studios/ARUP Seattle.
World Forestry Congress: winners of the PEFC-sponsored Treehousing Award announced
22 September 2015 Sustainable construction
The world’s growing urban population - including the need to provide adequate, sustainable housing for them – along with the threat of deforestation, are among the significant issues facing society today.
Wood materials not only offer unique construction solutions to address global urban housing needs, but if sourced sustainably from a certified forest, can also help prevent the overexploitation and degradation of the world’s forests.
To highlight the importance of wood as a construction material, we supported the FAO’s international wood design competition TREEHOUSING, part of the 2015 World Forestry Congress celebrations.
The Grand Prize winner for tall wood housing, the category sponsored by PEFC, was tied between two entrants:
Architecture student Ayla Harvey (South Africa) for her community ‘Jungle Gym’, praised by the jury for capturing the dynamic spirit of urban life
Koura Studios and ARUP Seattle (USA) for their ‘Nkosi Market’, which the jury said showed good understanding of South African forestry and forestry products
“The TREEHOUSING competition has seen extremely innovative and exciting high-rise solutions that have wood at their heart,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International, following the award ceremony. “We are extremely proud that the 1st prize goes to two excellent designs."
Today, just over half of the world’s population lives in cities, with this number predicted to grow to 75% over the next 20 years. This means that some three billion people will need a new home over that period.
“There is now the opportunity to not only build these homes, but also to do so in a way that results in the lowest footprint possible: sustainable timber therefore sits at the heart of tomorrow’s construction industry,” Mr. Gunneberg concluded.
The Competition
TREEHOUSING challenged students, professional architects and engineers around the world to develop innovative wood housing and urban building solutions through two distinct open competitions: Tall Wood Housing and Affordable Wood Housing.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has sponsored this ideas competition to offer unique insights into how these two global issues intersect.