The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has announced the best commercial and residential buildings of 2011, based on innovative uses of FSC-certified wood products.

The award for the best commercial project of the year went to the Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) Energy Research Lab in Kamuela, Hawaii. The best residential project of the year was awarded to zHome in Issaquah, Wash.

“These projects clearly show wood from responsibly managed forests can meet all your design and construction needs,” said Corey Brinkema, president of FSC US. “At a time when the old guards of industry are trying to make us believe that all wood is ‘green’, these projects demonstrate we can and must do better. So we applaud the award winners for pushing the envelope to incorporate as much FSC-certified wood as possible.”

While the HPA project achieved LEED Platinum, it was also certified as “Living” by the Living Building Challenge, the most ambitious measure of sustainability in the built environment, according to FSC US. The zHome project, which has received national acclaim for advancing deep-green thinking into suburban, multi-family residential development, received the highest-ever certification score by Built Green, a program of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, FSC US added.

The winning projects were selected based on the total amount of FSC-certified products used, the level of market transformation the projects achieved, as well as the creativity with which they used the products.