Five creative student designs selected as 'Timber in the City 5: Urban Habitats' winners

Today, the Softwood Lumber Board and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture announced their joint selection of five outstanding projects as part of the Timber in the City 5: Urban Habitats Competition.

A three-member jury of academics chose from a slate of more than 600 participants. The winning proposals were determined based on their wooden overbuild design’s ability to create a healthier built environment while reflecting the importance of sustainability and affordable development. 

Strategies for emissions reductions, mobility, and added density were a few undercurrents, along with an embrace of mass timber's aesthetic and design functional qualities. The 1st Place winner from Columbia GSAPP Thomas Gomez Ospina is particularly notable for his demonstrated creativity in adapting an existing NYCHA building and leveraging the site's unused air rights to maximize the design's floor-area ratio.

The winners are listed below along with two Honorable Mention selections. You can compare the results from the fourth edition here.

1st Place: MAXX TIMBER: Between Forest and Home

Student: Thomas Gomez Ospina
Faculty Sponsor: Thomas Schaperkotter
Institution: Columbia University
Research Contributor: Peter Osborne, McGill University

Juror Comments: "MAXX TIMBER: Between Forest and Home is uniquely designed adding a timber extension over the existing building without adding major loads to the overall design. The student created a landscape space on the roof of the existing structures for the community that is both innovative and practical. The interstitial space between the new timber massing and the existing buildings are compelling and highlight the aesthetics of timber structure. The project effectively densifies urban space in a non-imposing way."

2nd Place: Local Timber

Student: Jarren Amaro
Faculty Sponsor: Peter Raab
Institution: Texas Tech University

Juror Comments: "Local Timber is a creative design with elegant use of timber diagrid structure and Y columns that are beautifully detailed. The design also developed the project for sustainable living including a thorough embodied carbon analysis. The project respects the aesthetic and function of the existing building and showcases the capabilities of mass timber design in an urban area."

3rd Place: Knox Yards

Students: Anna Grace Calhoon & Rupan
Faculty Sponsors: Tricia Stuth & Jeremy Magner
Institution: University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Juror Comments: "Knox Yards creates a clever design with the timber vertical extension on top of a historic building. The highlight is the beautifully detailed sections that show spatial qualities which allow for ample amounts of air and light flow through the building. The graphic expression of the project provides a unique aesthetic that translates to the building design and highlights mass timber as a central element."

4th Place: Saw Solace at Bond Bread

Students: Sarah Jane Graven & Megan Bugbee
Faculty Sponsor: Peter Noonan
Institution: University of Maryland

Juror Comments: "Saw Solace at Bond Breadis an expressive design with a noteworthy parti. The design includes integration of timber bracing and lateral bracing that is masterfully achieved. The differential treatment of facades provides a dynamic quality to the building that embraces the capabilities of wood as both a cladding and structural material."

5th Place: Resurgence

Student: Allie Wickman
Faculty Sponsors: Uthman Olowa & Ellen Grimes
Institution: School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Juror Comments: "Resurgence is a considerate and sensitive design for the surrounding neighborhood. The massing of the floors provides an efficient way to maintain construction affordability. The simplicity and rationality of the design highlights the capabilities of mass timber to deliver a clean design aesthetic that draws on the prefabricated nature of the material."

Honorable Mention: bq.we

Students: Ana Bulacovschi, Ellis Donahue, Viktor Nakev & Martin Parra
Faculty Sponsor: Philippe Baumann
Institution: Pratt Institute

Juror Comments: "bq.we is a futuristic design that uses timber as city infill. This project is unique in that it highlights the importance of common infrastructure in the functionality of urban spaces and imagines how mass timber can contribute in a central way."

Honorable Mention: Home Run

Students: Andy Vo, Eli Melendez & Sara Lee
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Hamilton
Institution: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Juror Comments: "Home Run is a captivating design for using CLT to build upon an existing stadium. The marriage of modular timber stepped housing units with the large-scale form of the stadium showcases how timber can work as a key infill material in atypical spaces to create a variety of development opportunities. The overall design is a unique approach on how stadiums could be reused."