AIA Announces the 2009 COTE Top Ten Green Projects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment.

The projects will be honored at the AIA 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition in San Francisco.

The 2009 COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology.

They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.

Members of the jury include: Michelle Addington, Yale School of Architecture; Brandy Brooks, Assoc. AIA, Community Design Resource Center of Boston; William Leddy, FAIA, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects; Nadav Malin, BuildingGreen LLC; Kim Shinn, LEED AP, LTLC Engineering for Architecture; and James Timberlake, FAIA, Kieran Timberlake Associates LLP.

"In architecture, performance and aesthetics are inextricably linked.

The COTE Top Ten is one of the very few awards that evaluates performance and design," said jury members.

"Other awards and organizations look strictly at performance without care for how a building looks."