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The American Institute of Architects Announces the 2008 COTE Top Ten Green Projects
Projects showcase excellence in sustainable design principles and reduced energy consumption
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For Immediate Release |
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Washington, D.C., April 22,
2008 — The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on
the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of
sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect
and enhance the environment. The projects will be honored at the
AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston.
The project descriptions highlight both the design innovations and
sustainable strategies, along with the metrics achieved in terms of
reduced carbon emissions, reduced energy consumption and improved
building functionality.
“These projects were judged against a rigorous set of criteria
to determine the best examples of sustainable design concepts and
intentions,” said Henry Siegel, FAIA, chair of the AIA
Committee on the Environment. “In addition to examining their
architectural innovation, the buildings had to have shown design
elements within their regional / community context, land use and
site ecology that benefits surrounding ecosystems, resource
conservation through bioclimatic design and the health benefits
associated with improved lighting and indoor air
quality.”
The 2008 COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates projects
that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to
architecture, natural systems and technology. They make a positive
contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building
occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such
as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems,
low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water
conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction
materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.
Siegel added, “All of the projects succeed in all the
measures. Some projects demonstrated true innovation in one or more
measures, and all of them help illustrate how much farther the
design and construction community will need to go in the coming
years to reach truly sustainable design.”
Members of the jury include: Glenn Murcutt, Hon. FAIA, Glenn
Murcutt Architecture; Jason McLennan, AIA, CEO of the Cascadia
Region Green Building Council; Susan T. Rodriguez, FAIA, Polshek
Partnership Architects; Gail Brager, PhD, University of California
at Berkeley; Marvin Malecha, FAIA, North Carolina State University;
and Rebecca Henn, AIA, PhD candidate at the University of
Michigan.
The 2008 Top Ten Green Projects (listed in alphabetical
order):
Aldo Leopold Legacy Center
The Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc., Cedarburg, WI
Completed in spring, 2007, the 12,000sf building includes office
and meeting spaces, interpretive hall, archive and workshop. The
Center was envisioned as a small complex of structures organized
around a central courtyard. This design provides flexibility in
managing energy use based on program requirements, creates outdoor
spaces for work and gathering, and reduces the scale of the
buildings on site. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is the first
building recognized by LEED as carbon-neutral in operation.
Juror Marvin Malecha said, “Through its demonstrable
energy conservation and reduced heating, cooling and operating
costs, this is an excellent example of how a building can achieve
carbon neutrality.”
Cesar Chavez Library
Line and Space, LLC, Tucson, AZ
In order to protect the outdoor and indoor space from the
sun’s radiation, the building uses extensive overhangs to
create a ‘hat’ in the desert. The scarcity of water led
to roof top rainwater collection for irrigation, while water
reducing fixtures are used indoors. Always a concern in the desert,
an area of high consumption, the building was carefully cut into
the site and the excavated material was used to berm the building
for further thermal mass. The windows are also properly shaded to
reduce solar gains.
Juror Susan T. Rodriguez said, “We saw leadership on the
part of the city here, given the selection of this site for this
building—it’s in a place where it can help solve a
problem. There’s a 37,000 square foot roofscape that is a part
of irrigating a 40-acre park. We felt this showed strong vision to
solve multiple problems at once.”
Discovery Center at South Lake Union
The Miller/Hull Partnership, Seattle, WA
A primary program element for this particular center, alongside
numerous other environmental goals, was to create a building and
core that could provide adaptable exhibit space, capable of being
reconfigured and reused for the presentation of multiple
residential neighborhoods throughout the South Lake Union Region
over a lengthy period of time. In addition to creating flexible
interior space, the building itself was designed to be demountable,
separating at three integrated joints to break into four separate
modules capable of being transported along surface streets.
Juror Jason McLennan said, “I really like the notion of
saying, ‘This building type was supposed to be temporary, and
we are going to reject that in favor of disassembly.’ This is
sustainable at the elemental level.”
Pocono Environmental Education Center
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Wilkes-Barre, PA
The building is designed to reinforce the mission of environmental
stewardship and education. Through careful site and materials
selection, analysis and design of building systems, the structure
outwardly expresses the principles of sustainable design. The
building is a flexible, multi-purpose gathering space for dining,
meetings, lectures and other environmental learning activities. As
part of the site design, native grasses were planted to provide a
landscape that is low maintenance and integrates the project into
its natural surroundings.
Rodriguez added, “This is a dramatic transformation of a
site by using the materials removed from its cleanup, to create the
exterior envelope, which is exciting to see. The use of the
recycled tires and the texture they produce are
inventive.”
Garthwaite Center for Science and Art, Cambridge
School of Weston
Architerra, Inc., Boston, MA
The facility is designed to advance sustainability, creating an
exemplar and educational tool through a design process that engaged
the entire community. This LEED Platinum design incorporates dozens
of green features that students can view as well as measure and
manipulate. The result is a compelling model for educational
institutions. Fifty-five detailed sustainability goals included
renewable energy, no water to be discharged to the local sewer,
100% storm water infiltration on-site, artificial lighting designed
to less than one watt per square foot and minimal maintenance for
20 years.
Juror Rebecca Henn said, “There is a lot of education
here; this is a true teaching tool. The students participated in
the design of the building. They treat all their wastewater, and
these strategies are integrated into the pedagogy. There are only
three small spaces that are conditioned in this building; all other
spaces are naturally ventilated.”
Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life
VJAA, Minneapolis, MN
The existing building was stripped to the concrete frame,
expanded by 33% and redesigned with a variety of environmental
systems. The hot and humid New Orleans climate is further tempered
with strategies for expanding the comfort zone; including
programming for thermal zoning, and technically innovative systems
for variable shading, moving air and radiant cooling. Despite its
high ambitions, the project had a modest budget and was completed
for $189/SF, fourteen months after Hurricane Katrina. Since then,
Tulane sees the project as a new model for sustainable design in
New Orleans.
Juror Glenn Murcott said, “One intriguing feature of this
project was that it has a Punkah, a traditional Indian system to
move air.”
Macallen Building Condominiums
Office dA Inc. and Burt Hill Inc., Boston, MA
The 140-unit condominium is a conscious and deliberate effort
by both client/developer and the architectural and engineering team
to incorporate sustainable design measures. It utilizes green
design as a way of marketing a lifestyle and concern for the
environment, while simultaneously increasing revenue from the
design project as a business strategy. The building, just completed
in South Boston, is striving for LEED Gold certification in
sustainable design. Some of the green building features include
innovative technologies that will save over 600,000 gallons of
water annually while consuming 30% less electricity than a
conventional building.
Malecha added, “This project was built on an
environmentally challenged site that was previously unused space.
So not only does in enhance the environment, but it provides
valuable inner city housing and shows a certain amount of urban
savvy.”
Queens Botanical Garden Visitor &
Administration Center
BKSK Architects, New York, NY
In looking to the future, the Garden has propelled itself into the
front ranks of its field as the first botanical garden in the
country devoted to sustainable environmental stewardship. The goal
has been to integrate a beautiful contemporary building into the
experience of its varied gardens and landscapes, heightening the
visitor experience of the natural environment and conveying the key
elements of successful sustainability. A water channel surrounds
the building and weaves through the garden, fed by rainwater that
cascades off of the sheltering roof canopy.
Juror Gail Brager said, “I especially appreciated the
focus on water—which is a critical and often overlooked aspect
of sustainable design. In addition to the project’s
significant attention to storm water management, rainwater
collection, and a graywater system, water was also used as a strong
design element to unify the building and landscape, and raise
people’s awareness of the water cycle at the site and building
scale.”
The Nueva School, Hillside Learning Complex
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, San Francisco, CA
The 33-acre campus, located in the semi-rural coastal hills of the
San Francisco Peninsula, features a thriving coast live oak
woodland ecosystem, a variety of dispersed structures and dramatic
views of San Francisco Bay. The design is grounded in the desire to
integrate straightforward, appropriate and cost-effective
sustainable design solutions within the broader language of
contemporary architectural expression. Through a variety of simple,
observable systems and strategies, reduce site energy use by at
least 65% from the national average for schools and meet the 2030
Challenge.
McLennan added, “This seemed to be a very successful
project. They did a good job of balancing design and performance;
they had particularly notable energy and water metrics.”
Yale University Sculpture Building and
Gallery
KieranTimberlake Associates LLP, Philadelphia, PA
Situated on a former brownfield site, the new complex is comprised
of three new buildings. To provide maximum daylight and exceptional
energy efficiency, a wall system was designed that incorporates
solar shading, a triple glazed low-e vision panel, 8-foot high
operable windows and a translucent double cavity spandrel panel.
Consequently, the entire skin of the building admits natural light.
The green roof on the gallery and native plant landscaping, which
includes mature trees, serves as a connective habitat patch for
avian species moving through the urban corridor between these
parks.
Brager added, “The high-performance façade is
impressive in the way it balances warm and cold season operation,
integrating shading and alternating panels of operable windows,
aerogel insulation, and ventilation aperatures in a double-skin
thermal cavity.”
Honorable Mention 2008 Top Ten Green
Project:
Internal Revenue Service - Kansas City Service
Center
BNIM / 360 Inc., Kansas City, MO
Natural light and open views of the surrounding urban fabric were
salient sustainable design features for this project. Through
architectural techniques, including clerestories, skylights,
atrium, and building orientation, an unprecedented 80 percent of
workspaces are served by natural light. Internal courtyards provide
views of vegetated environments that also serve as workday
respites. From inside the IRS processing Center one gets a sense of
being part of a bigger whole; one that represents equilibrium
between nature and the build environment, public and private,
community and government.
About the AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green
Awards
The AIA’s Committee on the Environment represents more than
8,700 AIA members committed to making sustainable or
“green” design integral to the practice of architecture.
The AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project Awards initiative was developed
by the AIA in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and
BuildingGreen.com, publishers of Environmental Building News
magazine. In 2003 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY
STAR® Program joined as an additional sponsor.
About The American Institute of
Architects
For over 150 years, members of The American Institute of Architects
have worked with each other and their communities to create more
valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and
cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people, knowledge,
and tools to create better design, and through such resources and
access, they help clients and communities make their visions real.
www.aia.org
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