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AIA Awards Green Buildings

Winning firms include the Kubala Washatko Architects, Line and Space, and the Miller/Hull Partnership.

by Mairi Beautyman

Interior Design · April 24, 2008

An education center with walls built from recycled tires is one of the winners in the American Institute of Architects 2008 COTE Top Ten Green Projects. The annual awards program recognizes sustainable design innovation, reduced carbon emissions and energy consumption, and improved building functionality.

The Pocono Environmental Education Center by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson also includes a low-maintenance landscape, planted with natural grasses. Other winners include the carbon neutral Aldo Leopold Legacy Center by Kubala Washatko Architects; the Yale University Sculpture Building and Gallery by KieranTimberlake Associates, which offers solar shading with a unique wall system; and the Cesar Chavez Library, with a hat-shaped roof for rainwater collection, by Line and Space.



"In addition to examining their architectural innovation, the buildings had to have shown design elements within their regional and community context, land use and site ecology that benefits surrounding ecosystems, resource conservation through bioclimatic design and the health benefits associated with improved lighting and indoor air quality," says Henry Siegel, chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment.

The jury consisted of: Glenn Murcutt, Glenn Murcutt Architecture; Jason McLennan, CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council; Susan T. Rodriguez, Polshek Partnership Architects; Gail Brager, University of California at Berkeley; Marvin Malecha, North Carolina State University; and Rebecca Henn, PhD candidate at the University of Michigan.

A complete list of winners is online.

Winners will be toasted at the AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston.

From top: The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life by VJAA. The Cesar Chavez Library by Line and Space.

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