TU Dublin students win Future Timber Design Awards

The Future Timber Design Awards were developed to encourage sustainable and innovative timber design and construction

(Left to right) Architecture students Anna Cochran, Grace Corrigan, and Lena Abdulrahem were named overall winners at the Forest Industries Ireland Future Timber Design Awards on Friday.

Students from TU Dublin (TUD) were crowned the winners of the Future Timber Design Awards.

Lena Abdulrahem, Grace Corrigan and Anna Cochran, TUD architectural students, were crowned the overall winners of their group projects as part of the new initiative, the ‘Future Timber Design Awards,’ created by Forest Industries Ireland (FII), and supported by the Department of Agriculture.

The awards were developed to encourage sustainable and innovative timber design and construction. The programme helps bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world application, equipping students of relevant disciplines with the latest knowledge and skills for using timber in construction.

The students' winning project took ‘as-found’ lengths of Irish-grown roundwood to create a freestanding building design, and created an abstract design generated through a system of timber elements that behave like a forest canopy, loose, irregular, and responsive. 

Using locally sourced Irish timber, the project reduces processing, material waste and embodied carbon while maintaining strong structural performance.

Congratulating the TUD winners and entrants, director of FII, Mark McAuley, said: “This awards programme highlights the enormous potential of Irish-grown timber in the future of construction. Locally sourced timber can deliver not only sustainability and strong structural performance, but also ambitious, innovative design. 

"Projects like these from our next generation of architects, engineers, manufacturing and timber processing professionals demonstrate why it is so important to cultivate skills development and to continue investing in and supporting Ireland’s forestry and timber industry.” 

The TU Dublin students were tasked with creatively exploring the potential of timber as a primary structural and architectural material. Their projects needed to focus on using homegrown timber as the main structural element, while responding to real-world constraints and design challenges.

Presenting the awards to the TU Dublin students, Des O’Toole, head of marketing and promotion at Coillte Forests, said: “By connecting education with real-world industry experience, we can provide students with stronger opportunities to grow and succeed. 

"We’re also delighted that next year the awards will expand to welcome entries from other universities, broadening the reach and impact of the programme.”

Commending the entrants and winners, programme co-ordinator of the BSc Sustainable Timber Technology and a lecturer in Timber Technologies and Wood Manufacturing at the School of Architecture, Building and Environment at TU Dublin, Dr Sameer Mehra, said: “We’re extremely proud of all the winners of the very first year of these exciting awards. 

"Their projects are powerful examples of how the next generation of architects, architectural technologists, and timber technologists are rethinking sustainability through timber design.

"By using homegrown Irish timber in creative and expressive ways, the overall winners have demonstrated how locally sourced materials can reduce environmental impact while helping to create a built environment that is both sustainable and deeply connected to place.” 

The entries were judged by TU Dublin lecturers and FII representatives. The overall winner received a Future Timber Design Awards trophy and a €600 prize, while runners-up across different categories received cash prizes, with certificates presented to all participants.

The TU Dublin Future Timber Design Awardees are:

• Overall Winner ─ architecture students Lena Abdulrahem, Grace Corrigan, and Anna Cochran.
• Best Architectural Concept ─ architecture student Iulia-Maria Chiorean.
• Best Use of Homegrown Timber ─ sustainable timber technology students Una Duffy and Cael Chanders.
• Best Technical Realisation ─ architectural technology student Aran Gahan.
• Honourable Mention 1 ─ architecture students Anna Frawley, Carlise Caffrey, and Henry Sexton.
• Honourable Mention 2 ─ sustainable timber technology students Christopher McCann and Seppyoggi Rutendo Mutetwa.
• Honourable Mention 3 ─ architecture student Conor Drinane.
• Honourable Mention 4 ─ sustainable timber technology students Padraig Lowry and Evan Farrell.
• Trophy Design – architecture student Clarenz Pedoche.