The AIA and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have announced the top 10 projects that exhibit sustainable architecture and green design solutions. The winning projects, selected by a six-member jury, will be honored at the AIA National Convention in San Francisco later this month.

The COTE Top 10 Green Projects program not only looks at sustainable design but also at how the projects contribute to their surrounding communities, improve comfort for building occupants, and reduce environmental impacts. The top 10 projects for 2009:

  • Charles Hostler Student Center, Beirut, Lebanon; architect: VJAA
  • Chartwell School, Seaside, Calif.; architect: EHDD Architecture
  • Gish Apartments, San Jose, Calif.; architect: OJK Architecture and Planning
  • Great River Energy Headquarters, Maple Grove, Minn.; architect: Perkins+Will
  • Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, Ill.; architect: Ross Barney Architects
  • Portola Valley Town Center, Portola Valley, Calif.; architects: Siegel & Strain Architects and Goring & Straja Architects (ARCHITECT article)
  • Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, Orange, Texas; architect: Lake|Flato Architects
  • Synergy at Dockside Green, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; architect: Busby Perkins+Will Architects
  • The Terry Thomas, Seattle; architect: Weber Thompson
  • World Headquarters for the International Fund for Animal Warfare, Yarmouth Port, Mass.; architect: designLAB architects (ARCHITECT article)

The COTE jury: Michelle Addington, Yale School of Architecture; Brandy Brooks, Community Design Resource Center of Boston; William Leddy, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects; Nadav Malin, BuildingGreen LLC; Kim Shinn, LTLC Engineering for Architecture; and James Timberlake, KieranTimberlake Associates.

For full details on each of the winning projects, visit the AIA's website for the program at aiatopten.org.