Three Irish projects in the European WoodPoP Dara Awards
The WoodPoP Dara Award
Discover Europe’s most inspiring timber projects and vote for the one that stands out to you.
The WoodPoP Dara Award is a recognition initiative, a deliberate effort to raise awareness of wood as a sustainable construction material and to spotlight the best examples of sustainable timber construction across the Pan-European region. It is not a competition in the traditional sense. The core objective is to illustrate that the construction of wooden buildings can be both aesthetically pleasing and pioneering, with a positive contribution to housing, sustainability, and innovation. They are all nationally recognised, and therefore include notable constructions across four categories.
Three Irish projects were nominated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: The Model School by Donaghy Dimond, recipient of the RIAI Gold Medal; Kinsale Library by Cork County Architects; and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Headquarters by Bucholz McEvoy Architects and ZAS Architects. The award name, Dara, is inspired by the Irish for Oak Tree.
Cast your vote for the Dara People's Choice Award 2026 here.
Three Irish projects were nominated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: The Model School by Donaghy Dimond, recipient of the RIAI Gold Medal; Kinsale Library by Cork County Architects; and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Headquarters by Bucholz McEvoy Architects and ZAS Architects. The award name, Dara, is inspired by the Irish for Oak Tree.
All projects nominated for the WoodPoP Dara Award were assessed by the NEB Academy Alliance through the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Compass framework. The review revealed a particularly strong alignment with the NEB value of Sustainability. The nominations showcase a remarkable collection of best-practice examples from 22 countries. These projects provide valuable inspiration and evidence for advancing the development and implementation of NEB principles and should be actively used to strengthen and promote the New European Bauhaus across Europe.
Further information is available here.