TimberFever pivots to virtual competition and re-creates Gould Street in interactive virtual village

Architectural and civil engineering students from universities across Canada and the United States competed from September 24-27 in the sixth annual TimberFever Competition, presented by Moses Structural Engineers. The format of the event was changed to a virtual competition this year in order to respect non-essential travel and physical distancing protocols.

Rather than building on Toronto’s Gould Street – as is the tradition at TimberFever – the organizing committee created an interactive 3D virtual village of Gould Street.

The participating teams’ designs were displayed in the TimberFever Virtual Village for the public to interact with and explore.

Using a virtual format, TimberFever was able to expand its reach and welcome students from across Canada and, for the first time, the United States. There were 17 teams of four or five people. This year’s theme was “Timber Sculpture” – students were asked to choose an issue relating to climate change to inspire their design.

The competition kicked-off with a keynote presentation from Stacey Spiegel, CEO and Creative Director of Parallel World Labs who spoke about Artists and the Environment to help inspire the students. During the four-day event, students used different software and tools such as Rhino to model their design and RSTAB to analyze their structure. Zoom and Slack were key for everyone to communicate and collaborate virtually throughout the event. Practicing architects, engineers, and members from the Carpenters Union Local 27 joined the teams on Zoom to mentor the teams and provide guidance on their designs.

The first, second, and third place winners were selected by a panel of judges and announced during the TimberFever Virtual Awards Ceremony on October 7 via Zoom. The winner of the Public Vote Award was selected through online voting where polls closed with nearly 1200 votes. All winners received a cash prize, trophy, and award certificate.

TimberFever Virtual Competition 2020 winners:

1^st Place Winner: Rounded Cubed

2^nd Place Winner: Cedar

3^rd Place Winner: Chamber of 11 Secrets

Public Vote Award: It’s Elementary!