AIA COTE Names 2017 Top Ten Award Winners

WASHINGTON — The Washington-based American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) announced the winners the 2017 COTE Top Ten Awards on April 19, and education facilities dominated the field of awardees. The Top Ten Awards — now in its 21st year — highlights projects that exemplify the integration of great design and great performance, according to the AIA COTE website, and is recognized as the industry’s best-known awards program for sustainable design excellence.

Top Ten Award hopefuls must demonstrate how the given project aligns with COTE’s rigorous criteria for social, economic and ecological value. Each year, 10 innovative projects earn the prize for setting the standard in design and sustainability, but in 2017 the organization completely revamped its measures of sustainable design and highlighted issues such as wellness, resilience and economy. The new measures and metrics emphasize the importance of actual performance in addition to design intent, according to the organization’s website.

Any US-licensed architect may enter and all submitting firms must have signed the AIA 2030 Commitment. The competition is open to completed new buildings, renovations, restorations, interior architecture and urban/regional plans located anywhere in the world; however, projects must have been completed at least three months prior to the submission deadline.

Education facilities to receive the 2017 COTE Top Ten Award include:

• Bristol Community College’s John J. Sbrega Health and Science Building in Fall River, Mass., designed by Sasaki
• Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus in Richland Township, Pa., designed by Mithun
• Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Va., designed by VMDO Architects
• George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington D.C., designed by Payette and Ayers Saint Gross​
• R.W. Kern Center at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., designed by Bruner/Cott & Associates
• Stanford University’s Central Energy Facility in Stanford, Calif., designed by ZGF Architects LLP

Other projects to receive the 2017 COTE Top Ten Award include:

• Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, Va., designed by SmithGroupJJR
• NOAA Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center in Honolulu, designed by HOK with Ferraro Choi & WSP
• Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital in Singapore, designed by HOK, USA; CPG, Singapore; and Studio 505, Australia
• Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage and Spring Street Salt Shed in New York, designed by Dattner Architects and WXY architecture + urban design

This year’s jury included Annie Chu, FAIA, IIDA, of CHU + GOODING ARCHITECTS, Woodbury University, Los Angeles; Steve Kieran, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C of Kieran Timberlake in Philadelphia; David Lake, FAIA, of Lake Flato in San Antonio; Bungane Mehlomakulu, PE LEED AP, of Integral Group in Austin, Texas; and Amanda Sturgeon, FAIA, of the Living Futures Institute in Seattle.