AIA Announces Recipients of 2018 COTE Top Ten Awards

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) announced this year’s recipients for its highest honor—the COTE Top Ten Awards.

Each year, ten innovative projects are recognized for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance. The COTE Top Ten measures and metrics were entirely revamped in 2017 and now emphasize the importance of actual performance in addition to design intent. They also highlight issues like wellness, resilience and economy that have gained importance. Any number of the ten awards may receive a Top Ten Plus designation which denotes projects with exemplary actual performance and post-occupancy lessons.

COTE presents the award to 10 design projects that have expertly integrated design excellence with cutting-edge performance in several key areas. In order to be eligible, project submissions are required to demonstrate alignment with COTE’s rigorous criteria for 10 measures that include social, economic, and ecological values. The five-member jury evaluates each project submission based on a cross-section of the 10 metrics balanced with the holistic approach to the design.

This year’s Top Ten Awards recipients are as follows:

Albion District Library; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Architect: Perkins+Will

Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building; Atlanta, Georgia
Architect: Lake|Flato in collaboration with Cooper Carry

Mundo Verde at Cook Campus; Washington
Architect: Studio Twenty Seven Architecture

Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House; San Francisco
Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects

New United States Courthouse – Los Angeles
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Washington
Architect: DLR Group

San Francisco Art Institute – Fort Mason Center Pier 2; San Francisco
Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects

Sawmill; Tehachapi, California
Architect: Olson Kundig

Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild & Commons; Santa Rosa, California
Architect: WRNS Studio

Jurors also designated one project as a Top Ten Plus recipient for its exceptional post-occupancy performance data. This year’s recipient is:

Ortlieb’s Bottling House; Philadelphia
Architect: KieranTimberlake

Award recipients will be honored in June at the AIA’s Conference on Architecture in New York City.