Urbanarium presents Decoding Timber Towers, a competition that encourages dialogue and design exploration while promoting housing affordability and addressing climate change impacts.

The competition challenges participants to consider innovative residential and mixed-use design solutions that use mass timber.

A total of 44 submissions were submitted from six countries: Canada, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. Participating teams spanned from students to mid-sized and large-sized architecture firms.

This year’s winners are:

• First—Timber Commons by MT3, Toronto

• Second—KAPLA by Team Softwood, Canada-wide

• Third—Culture House by 637427, Vancouver

Some honourable mentions:

• Fluvial Formwork by Adjacent Brick Rows, Burnaby, B.C.
• TwoUp by DIALOG, Vancouver
• FAM-1 by familyandfriends, Vancouver
• AWR by RWA, Vancouver
• Timber Town by Studio Oh Song, Brooklyn, N.Y.

A total of $50,000 in prize money was awarded to winners from across North America.

The winners of Decoding Timber Towers were decided after a week of submissions review and during a day of deliberations by a jury of architects, planners, engineers, developers, community leaders, and sustainable and Indigenous housing experts.