As is tradition, The American Institute of Architects is celebrating the approach of Earth Day by announcing the winners of its 2023 COTE Top Ten Awards. Now in its 27th year, the annual program celebrates 10 projects displaying "integration of design excellence with environmental performance," according to an AIA description. Although the COTE program was created in 1997 by the AIA Committee on the Environment, the program formally shifted in 2017—rather than evaluating projects solely on "predicted performance," explains AIA, today's winners have also been judged on "post-occupancy data and narratives."
The 2023 COTE winners include affordable housing, a living laboratory, two offices, a nature center, three education projects, one infrastructure project, and a mixed-use project located across the United States. Each honoree was weighed against AIA's Framework for Design Excellence, a toolkit of 10 criteria seeking "to inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment," according to AIA.
The 2023 COTE Top Ten Winners
Casa Adelante 2060 Folsom in San Francisco, designed by Mithun with collaborating architect Y.A. Studio
Confluence Park in San Antonio, designed by Lake|Flato Architects and Matsys
DPR Sacramento Zero Net Energy Office in Sacramento, Calif., designed by SmithGroup
Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex in Cambridge, Mass., designed by Behnisch Architekten
John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield, Mass., designed by Charles Rose Architects
RIDC Mill 19: Buildings A & B in Pittsburgh, designed by MSR Design
Nueva School Science and Environmental Center in Hillsborough, Calif., designed by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
UC San Diego North Torrey Pines Living & Learning Neighborhood in San Diego, designed by HKS and Safdie Rabines Architects
Watershed in Seattle, designed by Weber Thompson
Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, Minn., designed by HGA
The jurors for the 2023 COTE Top Ten Awards comprised chair Katie Ackerly, AIA, David Baker in Oakland, Calif.; Julian Owens, Assoc. AIA, Jacobs in Arlington, Va.; Seonhee Kim, Design Collective in Baltimore; and Avinash Rajagopal in New York.
See more winners of the 2023 AIA Awards here. This is a breaking news post and will be updated.
