MGA | Michael Green Architecture
Michael Green, FRAIC
The Wood Innovation Design Centre (WIDC) celebrates wood as one of the most beautiful, sustainable materials for building. The WIDC serves as a gathering place for researchers, academics, design professionals and others interested in generating ideas for innovative uses of wood. The eight-storey building (six storeys with mezzanine plus penthouse), stands 29.5 metres tall — for the moment, the world’s tallest modern all-timber structure. With this project, MGA sought to demonstrate repeatable technologies for building high-rise structures with timber, in hopes of inspiring institutions, private sector developers, other architects and engineers to embrace this way of building.
Photo: Ema Peter
Photo: MGA
Photo: Ed White
Photo: Ema Peter / MGA
Photo: Ed White
"This Centre celebrates wood as a handsome and sustainable material, and demonstrates its viability for tall buildings. It is more than just a technological experiment; the project combines intelligence, beauty, and innovation in its approach to features such as the engineered wood curtain wall system, interior finishes, and modulation of sunlight. The jury applauds this exceptional structure that exhibits one of the unique contributions made to design and construction research in Canada and beyond."