The 2012 Australian Timber Design Award was presented to Paul Haar Architect last night for Candlebark School Library, an earth-covered library built into the side of a hill in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges. 

The Australian Timber Design Awards are a national competition to promote and encourage outstanding timber design in the built environment professions. 

The judging panel was impressed by the expert use of engineered timber within the Candlebark building structure.

The broad-span timber roof of the library supports a 500-600 mm layer of earth - a significant engineering challenge - and is made of LVL billets and massive exposed portal frames.

The design is remarkable also for its careful detailing and timber selection. Like many of this year's finalists, Candlebark makes excellent use of recycled and salvaged timbers.

Image source: Australian Timber Design Awards

Winners across a range of building type, regional and product categories were announced at the event Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

It was the Award’s most successful year to date, with more entries received than ever before.

Click here to visit the Awards website to see all category winners and runners-up, including image galleries.