THE magnificent application of laminated plantation hoop pine panels at the Melbourne Recital Centre has won the coveted Geoffrey Sanderson Trophy for Best Use of Plywood in the 2009 Australian Timber Design Awards.

The awards class – that encompasses plywood, LVL and wood panels – and trophy were sponsored by the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia to raise awareness of innovations in the design, use and application of certified engineered products among architects, specifiers and builders.

The award winner was Vos Construction and Joinery, Hobart. Joinery manger Tim Rumney said laminated plywood was the ‘ideal wood product’ for panelling in the auditorium of the $75 million Melbourne Recital Centre.

“The design challenge was both aesthetic and technical; the plywood panels were routed to create the grain, like wooden ivy over the walls, which in turn made the architectural character of the space.”

The announcement of the trophy winner by EWPAA general manager Simon Dorries was a highlight of the association’s annual conference and industry dinner at Surfers Paradise on November 16.

Presentation of this third perpetual trophy recognises the service given to the industry by the late Geoffrey Sanderson, who was president of the Plywood Association of Australasia (PAA) 1988-89 and 1998-2003. The high standard of entries for the award judged in all regional sectors reflected a broad awareness in the design community of the structural and creative benefits of engineered wood products:

Brisbane-based Austral Plywoods Pty Ltd supplied material for the centre’s walls and ceilings – 25 mm A-C interior plywood sheets with ‘A’ grade cores laminated together to form 75 mm thick panels. The order absorbed about 10% of Austral’s plywood production for six months.

The Sanderson Trophy displays all the qualities and colours of different plywoods – from hoop to hardwoods. It rests on an LVL base and has a length of 6 mm laminated veneer running right through it to highlight what can be achieved with plywood laminates.

The creator of the $1500 trophy, master wood craftsman Robert Dunlop, threaded a “signature” strip of timber across it – a piece of river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) taken from a log drag-lined from the Murray River near Euchuca in Victoria. The wood was carbon-dated by CSIRO to be more than 7000 years old.

Simon Dorries, general manger, Engineered Woods Products Association of Australasia (second from left) presents the EWPAA Geoffrey Sanderson Trophy to Tim Rumney and Michael Vos of Vos Constructions and Joinery, Hobart, while Andrew Dunn, chief executive, Timber Development Association looks on. The award, presented for the Melbourne Recital Centre, was for Best Use of Plywood Panels.
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