Today, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the winners of the 2018 COTE Top Ten Projects Awards, which are conferred by the AIA's Committee on the Environment. Each year, the program recognizes 10 projects that integrate design excellence and environmental performance, with one winner being elevated to COTE Top Ten Plus—an indication of exemplary proven energy performance and post-occupancy lessons.
The 2018 winners include nine commercial projects—ranging from an architecture office, to schools, to civic structures—and one single-family house. The projects are located in eight different cities, with a variety of climactic conditions.
The 2018 jury included Michelle Addington, School of Architecture, the University of Texas Austin, Austin, Texas; Jennifer Devlin-Herbert, FAIA, EHDD, San Francisco; Kevin Schorn, AIA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, New York; Julie Snow, FAIA, Snow Kreilich, Minneapolis; M. Susan Ubbelohde, Loisos + Ubbelohde, Alameda, Calif.
2018 COTE Top Ten Award Winners
COTE Top Ten Plus Award
Ortleib's Bottling House, Philadelphia
KieranTimberlake
Jury statement: "An exceptional example of passive strategies used in adaptive reuse of an historic urban building."
Albion District Library, Toronto
Perkins+Will Canada
Jury statement: "This project clearly demonstrates the immediate positive impact of good design. A district library that serves a diverse and newly-immigrant community, the library has a dramatically increased visitorship (with a notable 75 percent increase for teenagers) over the old facility."
Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House, San Francisco
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Jury statement: "This cost-effective building serves a community of sick children and their families while prioritizing environmental performance."
Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building, Atlanta
Lake|Flato Architects and Cooper Carry
Jury statement: "The Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building weaves a large array of active and passive strategies into a highly tuned machine for this university research laboratory."
Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School, Washington, D.C.
Studio Twenty Seven Architecture
Jury statement: "The project is a compelling example of a renovation—and an equally compelling addition—that improves the entire site. The sustainable practices, in particular, went well beyond the buildings themselves."
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Jury statement: "The design team recognized the assets of the existing structure and created a great, low-energy building with a healthy interior environment."
Sawmill, Tehachapi, Calif.
Olson Kundig
Jury statement: "The team is commended for their site-specific analysis, as evidenced by the decision to let rainwater recharge the water table rather than collect it. If a single-family dwelling is to be built in a desert climate, this is how to do it."
Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild and Commons, Sonoma, Calif.
WRNS Studio
Jury statement: "This project demonstrates that, even with an energy-heavy program that includes a commercial kitchen, a fully integrated and dedicated design team can produce a beautiful and extremely well-performing building."
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Major Renovation, Washington, D.C.
DLR Group
Jury statement: "The Renwick Gallery renovation wove complex and robust new systems while preserving the impressive historic design and collection and allowing opportunities for new works to be displayed."
United States Courthouse - Los Angeles
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Jury statement: "We were impressed with the quality of the calm, light-filled interior spaces for occupants who are often in the courthouse under difficult circumstances."
