Announcing the AIA-COTE Top Ten Winners!

The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (AIA–COTE) has announced its Top Ten projects for 2012. Dominated by limited-budget public and institutional projects, this year’s Top Ten winners include an unusual number of adaptive reuse projects and highlight community ties, social equity, and attentiveness to water issues on par with what we’ve customarily seen for energy performance.

“These projects really demonstrate that you don’t need a client with bottomless pockets or a purely pedagogical mission related to sustainability,” wrote one juror. Another juror emphasized the enduring importance of buildings that inspire people and connect neighborhoods: “It is the true measure of sustainability—the fact that a project becomes so embraced by its community that its value far exceeds the value of a conventionally designed building.”

The winners include one building designed to Passive House standards, a number of projects striving for net-zero energy consumption, and others additionally striving for net-zero water and waste consumption.

AIA-COTE Top Ten Winners

1315 Peachtree Street | Perkins+Will

ASU Polytechnic Academic District | Lake|Flato Architects

Chandler City Hall | SmithGroupJJR

Hood River Middle School Music and Science Building | Opsis Architecture

Iowa Utilities Board Office of Consumer Advocate | BNIM

Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts | SMP Architects

Mercy Corps Headquarters | THA Architecture

Portland Community College Newburg Center | Hennebery Eddy Architects

University of California–Merced Campus | UC–Merced

University of Minnesota–Duluth Classroom Building | Salmela Architect

For more coverage on each AIA-COTE Top Ten Winner, read our article Equity, Community Featured in AIA–COTE Top Ten for 2012.

ContactMarie Jessup, Social Media Manager BuildingGreen, Inc. 802-257-7300Marie@BuildingGreen.com