Clayton Community Centre Wins Wood Design & Building Award

Wood Design & Building magazine announces the winning projects of the 38th annual Wood Design & Building Awards program. The influential awards program recognizes and celebrates the outstanding work of visionaries around the world who achieve excellence in wood architecture.

The awards this year showcase an eclectic mix of structures. Winners include a social housing apartment in Spain, a ski club in Canada, and a flagship restaurant for a major chain fast food chain in the U.S. Also among the winners is the first Passive House–certified community center in Canada – Clayton Community Centre. This year, more than ever, it is apparent that architects and engineers are designing with sustainability in mind.

“As the global architectural community tackles critical challenges that include reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment and meeting the vast and growing need for housing, it is clear that responsible development requires buildings that consider both embodied energy and operational impact,” said Andrew Bowerbank, Vice-President of Market Development for the Canadian Wood Council. “Wood construction is an avenue for delivering the beautiful, sustainable, high-performance buildings of today and tomorrow.”

Clayton Community Centre was honoured to receive a Citation Award in recognition of the inspiration use of wood for this beautiful community building. With the building nestled within an existing park, the architectural and structural expression developed needed to reflect the unifying theme of a tree canopy draping over the diverse mix of spaces. The roof structure is a reciprocating frame composed of an assembly of “pinwheel” shaped modules of glulam beams. The two-way wood system is a truly innovative approach, allowing the wood structure to span to discrete column locations without the need for dropped beams, while achieving a unique architectural expression.

The building has achieved the Passive House energy standard and is anticipated to be one of the largest Passive House buildings of this type in North America. In order to reach Passive House energy efficiency goals, the building envelope had to be extremely tight. Close collaboration with the architectural team was essential to develop structural details with an absolute minimum of thermal bridging.

“This award is a testament to how wood contributed to the success of Clayton Community Centre. The entire design team worked together to deliver a building that the community is proud of, that showcases the beauty and sustainability of wood. We’re thrilled that hcma trusted us with their ambition” shares Meredith Anderson, Principal with RJC Engineers.