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AIA Names Top Ten Green Buildings

Winners integrated architectural design with technology and natural elements.

Dave Platter -- Interior Design, 5/20/2004 12:00:00 AM

The American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Environment has named what it considers to be the nation's top 10 examples of environmentally friendly design. Projects were selected for tackling environmental challenges and integrating architectural design with technology and natural systems, such as sunlight and wind.

Winners included internationally known architects such as Cesar Pelli & Associates, which designed an ecologically-minded rental apartment building in New York City, as well as regional firms such as Miller/Hull Partnership of Seattle, which designed the Pierce County, Washington Environmental Services Building. The building is sited on a former gravel pit that was more than 900 acres in area. Several winning projects were built on sites known as brownfields, areas that became environmentally degraded.

Another winning project, the Factor 10 House in Chicago, designed by EHDD Architecture , cleverly uses cross ventilation that keeps the structure so cool during summertime that air conditioning was not even installed. In the winter, a wall of water bottles absorbs and stores solar heat, then radiates it's back into the room after nightfall.

AIA’s criteria favored projects that reuse existing structures, are linked to transit systems, had a minimum impact on their site, conserve energy and water, and use environmentally friendly construction materials.

The seventh annual AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects initiative was developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Building News magazine, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. Prizes will be awarded in June at the AIA National Convention in Chicago.

For more information and images on the winning projects, visit www.aia.org.