April 26, 2005

	Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Visual Arts Center, Sarah Lawrence College Polshek Partnership Photo:© Richard Barnes/Polshek Partnership
	Seminar II, The Evergreen State College Mahlum Architects Photo:© Lara Swimmer
	Eastern Sierra Residence Arkin Tilt Architects Photo:© Edward Caldwell Photography
	The Barn at Fallingwater Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Photo:© Mike Gwin

The AIA's annual contribution to Earth Day spilled over traditional categories, as the organization's Committee on the Environment (COTE) honored eight green building projects on April 25, and for the first time recognized a sustainable urban plan.

The institutional, residential and civic projects (new construction and adaptive reuse) address a broad range of environmental and social conditions without stinting on design, according to jury members.

The 2005 winners are: the Eastern Sierra Residence in Gardnerville, Nevada by Arkin Tilt Architects; The Barn at Fallingwater in Mill Run, Penn. by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Rinker Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville by Croxton Collaborative and Gould Evans; the Pittsburgh Glass Center by Davis Gardner Gannon Pope Architecture and Bruce Lindsey; the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless in Austin, TX by LZT Architects; the Evergreen State College Seminar II building in Olympia, WA by Mahlum Architects; Sarah Lawrence College's Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Visual Arts Center in Bronxville, New York by Polshek Partnership Architects; and the Leslie Shao-ming Sun Field Station in Woodside, Calif. by Rob Wellington Quigley. The committee also awarded a special commendation to the Lloyd Crossing Sustainable Urban Design Plan in Portland, Ore. by Mithun Architects + Designers + Planners.

While acknowledging aesthetics and innovation, the selections also reflect an expansive definition of environmentalism, including issues of equality and social responsibility, according to COTE chair Vivian Loftness, a professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. "It represents a leap beyond the checklist approach," she says.

Among individual details, the jury appreciated LZT Architects' use of a water storage tank as a sun shade on the Austin homeless shelter and Davis Gardner Gannon Pope and Bruce Lindsey's recycling of waste heat in the Pittsburgh Glass Center, according to juror Henry Siegel, founding principal of Siegel & Strain Architects in Emeryville, Calif. Overall, "it was great to see projects that were well designed and green. Both the metrics are important," he says.

Ted Smalley Bowen

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