Decoding Timber Towers is the fourth competition presented by Urbanarium to encourage dialogue and design investigations to promote housing affordability and address the effects of climate change. The top 5 winning ideas will be featured in the Woodrise 2025 Exhibition Hall for the duration of the congress. Amy Vilis, Director, Housing Growth Innovation, DIGITAL and competition jurist Sailen Black, Senior Green Building Planner at City of Vancouver will highlight the winner of the special Digital Award for systematization and standardization. Introduction by Travis Hanks, Co-founder at Haeccity Studio Architecture and Competition Co-chair.
Amy Vilis, Director, Housing Growth Innovation, DIGITAL
Amy is a recognized leader at the intersection of technology, housing, and social impact. As Director of the Housing Growth Innovation (HGI) program at DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, she leads efforts to modernize housing production through advanced technologies. Amy is the creator and host of Blueprint for Growth: Innovation in Housing, a Quill Award–winning podcast, and a sought-after voice on housing and tech.
Sailen Black, Senior Green Building Planner, City of Vancouver
Sailen is part of the Green & Resilient Buildings team in the Sustainability division of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability, where he has worked for twenty years. His work on green buildings includes creating incentives in Planning policy, reviewing applications, as well as advising staff, consultants, and applicants. Some of the topic areas he deals with are Passive House, mass timber, Net Zero energy standards, embodied carbon, and the related sections of the zoning by-law.
Travis Hanks, Co-founder, Haeccity Studio Architecture and Competition Co-chair
Travis Hanks is Principal and Co-founder of Haeccity Studio Architecture, and serves on the Board of Urbanarium. Travis has presented housing research across BC and beyond in order to contribute to policy change around housing choice and affordability.
Sponsored by
Exhibit Hall
Amy Vilis, Sailen Black, Travis Hanks
English (Canada) 
French