Architecture News

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards

By Joann Gonchar, FAIA

The <a href='http://archrecord.construction.com/tech/techfeatures/2013/1306-bullitt-center-miller-hull.asp' target='_blank'>Bullitt Center</a> in Seattle, designed by Miller Hull, is the largest certi — The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
The Bullitt Center in Seattle, designed by Miller Hull, is the largest certified Living Building. The 52,000-square-foot structure has a remarkably low energy use intensity (EUI) of 10kBTU per square foot per year.
Photo © Nic Lehoux

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
The CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory in Hamilton, Ontario, by Diamond Schmitt, houses more than 800 pieces of customized equipment. Even so, the building uses only 30 percent of the energy of a comparable, typical laboratory.
Photo © Elizabeth Gyde

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
Oregon Health & Science University, Portland State University, and Oregon State University, partnered to create the Collaborative Life Sciences Building—an allied health, academic, and research facility. The building, a joint project of of CO Architects and SERA Architects, occupies a former brownfield site and incorporates a number of sustainable strategies including light pollution reduction, stormwater management, and atrium heat recovery.

Photo © Alene Davis photography

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
The townhouses at 226 through 232 Highland Street in Boston, were completed as part of the city’s Energy Plus (E+) Green Building Program—a pilot initiative to develop energy positive, sustainable housing. Designed by Interface Studio Architects (ISA) and Urbanica Studio, the units include both passive and active energy efficiency measures to achieve HERS ratings between 6 and 9 and LEED for Homes Platinum.
Photo © Sam Oberter

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
With its renovation of the Hughes Warehouse in San Antonio, Overland Partners transformed a nearly 100-year old former plumbing warehouse into a design studio. The scheme preserves the building’s column grid, its 18-foot tall ceilings, leaving the timber roof structure exposed.
Photo courtesy Overland Partners

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
A long trellis-canopy spans the south elevation of RTKL’s Military Medical Hospital in San Antonio. The element, along with other screening devices, humanizes the scale of the 750,000 square foot building while improving its environmental performance.
Photo courtesy RTKL

The <a href='http://archrecord.construction.com/features/gdgb/2014/1406-new-orleans-bioinnovation-center-eskew-dumez-ripple.asp' target='_blank'>New Orleans BioInnovation Center</a> (NOBIC) is an incu — The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
The New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC) is an incubator for biotech startups. Designed by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, the building reinterprets vernacular elements, such as slatted shutters and a sheltered porch.
Photo © Timothy Hursley

<a href='http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/building_types_study/multi-family-housing/2013/1307-sweetwater-spectrum-leddy-maytum-stacy-architects.asp?bts=mr' target='_blank'>Sweetwater Spectr — The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
Sweetwater Spectrum Community in Sonoma, California, offers a new model for supportive housing for adults with autism. Designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, the complex incorporates a variety of passive and active strategies, including building orientation, high-performance envelopes, and photovoltaic and solar-thermal panels, to reduce energy consumption by 88 percent compared to the project baseline.
Photo © Tim Griffith

David Baker's <a href='http://greensource.construction.com/green_building_projects/2011/1102_tassafaronga_village.asp' target='_blank'>Tassafaronga Village</a>, in Oakland, California, includes a 60-u — The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
David Baker's Tassafaronga Village, in Oakland, California, includes a 60-unit affordable apartment building, 777 affordable attached townhouses, and 20 units of supportive housing. The complex incorporates deep overhangs, fin walls, site plantings, and carefully placed windows to protect against high southern and hot western sun.
Photo © The Matthew Millman

The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
The SOM-designed University Center for the New School in New York City includes 200,000 square feet of academic space and a 600-bed dormitory. Among other conservation strategies, the facility has a black-water treatment system to reduce potable water consumption by 75 percent compared to a baseline building.
Photo © James Ewing

ZGF’s <a href='http://greensource.construction.com/green_building_projects/2014/1405-river-view.asp' target='_blank'>Federal Center South Building 1202 </a>in Seattle, is the recipient of this y — The AIA Unveils the 2015 COTE Top Ten Awards
ZGF’s Federal Center South Building 1202 in Seattle, is the recipient of this year’s COTE Top Ten +—an award that recognizes one past Top Ten winner that has quantifiable metrics. The project, which provides office space for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is performing more than 30 percent better than ASHRAE 90.1.
Photo © Benjamin Benschneider

ZGF’s Federal Center South Building 1202 in Seattle, is the recipient of this year’s COTE Top Ten +—an award that recognizes one past Top Ten winner that has quantifiable metrics. The project, which provides office space for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is performing more than 30 percent better than ASHRAE 90.1.

On Earth Day, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the winners of Committee on the Environment (COTE) awards. The goal of the program, now in its 19th year, is to recognize ten projects that protect and enhance the environment. For the third year in a row, the committee also awarded a Top Ten + building. This winner, chosen from past Top Ten honorees, must have quantifiable performance metrics. The Federal Center South Building 1202—an office building designed by ZGF for the Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle—is the 2015 Top Ten + recipient.

Click through the slideshow above to view the winning projects.

KEYWORDS: COTE Awards

Joann Gonchar, FAIA, LEED AP, is deputy editor at Architectural Record. She joined RECORD in 2006, after working for eight years at its sister publication, Engineering News-Record. Before starting her career as a journalist, Joann worked for several architecture firms and spent three years in Kobe, Japan, with the firm Team Zoo, Atelier Iruka. She earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She is licensed to practice architecture in New York State.