potential and advancing the science and art of wood design and building which are the goals of our awards program.” The panel of five judges included Henry Hawthorn, Architect (retired); Tom Guenther, chair - civil engineer- ing department, Okanagan College; Douglas MacLeod, chair - RAIC Centre for Architecture, Athabasca Univer- sity; Thomas Tannert, associate chair - wood building design and construction, UBC; and Dwight Yochim, ex- ecutive director -Truck Loggers Association. The Wood Champion Award was presented to Van- couver-based structural consulting engineering firm Equilibrium Consulting. Its principals, Eric Karsh and Robert Malczyk were chosen for their work on such projects as the City of North Vancouver civic centre renovation and Prince George Airport. Founded in 1998, this firm has been successfully involved in more than 800 projects world-wide, including many award- winning designs. The BC architect who nominated Equilibrium wrote: “As architects that are fascinated by structure, we ask a lot of them in pushing the limits of wood technology. They always deliver for us and have helped us create some very unique technical solutions. Their ability to resource solutions from Europe and adapt them to Canada has been exemplary for improving the wood design industry as a whole.” Equilibrium co-founder and principal Eric Karsh also received the Engineer Award for his commercial, resi- dential and institutional projects. His showcase proj- ect, North Vancouver’s civic centre renovation, “was deemed to demonstrate a highly-innovative use of wood and the jury appreciated his ability to push the envelope on the design,” the BC WOODWorks! news release said. “For many years, this engineer has chosen not to take the easy route, and has encouraged and sup- ported advances in wood design,” his award nomina- tion said. As a leader in the field of timber engineering, Eric Karsh is the engineer of record for numerous award-winning projects, including the Earth Sciences Building at UBC and North Carolina’s Raleigh- Durham Airport. In addition to finding solutions for large scale com- mercial projects, Karsh has been actively promoting solid wood construction as a viable alternative to con- The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Spring 2013 – 63