Committee on the Environment

As the Institute focuses on climate action, the COTE Top Ten Measures have been adopted as the AIA Framework for Design Excellence.

Early this month, the AIA Board of Directors ratified the member-passed resolution to focus in the Institute on climate action and adopted the COTE Top Ten Measures as the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. This is an historic moment for the organization, and not a moment too soon. Climate impact is escalating for every client and community that architects serve.

The Committee on the Environment, founded nearly 30 years ago, has always been driven by the belief that sustainability is a design topic that involves the integration of a number of considerations including energy, water, health, equity, community, and ecology. In 1997, COTE launched the Top Ten Awards to celebrate projects that achieved excellence defined in this broad, holistic way. In 2002, COTE refined the criteria for that Award by creating the Top Ten Measures (and associated metrics). These were updated over time and revised three years ago (this evolution was documented on AIA.org as well as in an Architect magazine article).

The Measures:

• Measure 1: Design for Integration: What’s the big idea? How does the project demonstrate the intersection of design excellence and sustainable performance? 
• Measure 2: Design for Community: How does this project promote equity, make the most of its surrounding community, integrate with it, and give back?
• Measure 3: Design for Ecology. How does this project respond, connect, and contribute to the surrounding ecosystem?
• Measure 4: Design for Water: How does the project use water wisely and handle rainfall responsibly?
• Measure 5: Design for Economy: How does the design show that higher performance can be cost-effective?
• Measure 6: Design for Energy: How much energy does the project use, is any of that energy generated on-site from renewable sources, and what's the net carbon impact?
• Measure 7: Design for Wellness: How does the design promote the comfort and health of those who spend time in it?
• Measure 8:Design for Resources: How were the decisions about the materials used based on an understanding of their impact. especially carbon impact?
• Measure 9: Design for Change: How does the project design anticipate adapting to new uses, adapt to climate change, and support resilient recovery from disasters?
• Measure 10: Design for Discovery: What lessons for better design have been learned through the process of project design, construction, and occupancy?

These measures offer a framework to guide the design process that can be adapted to any firm regardless of size or location and  regardless of project type, budget, or region of the country or world. AIA COTE has developed the Top Ten Toolkit for just this purpose, and it’s a terrific way to apply these Measures -- the AIA Framework for Design Excellence -- right now.

As Tate Walker, AIA, and Corey Squire, AIA, wrote in the introduction to the Toolkit, “The COTE Measures provide the construct for an open ended dialog that facilities a more deeply integrated, visually rich, design solution. They lead the project with vision instead of a checklist, mandating design teams to address nuanced concepts of culture and place. They are accessible to a lay audience, in a language which they understand and can contribute. These questions not only illuminate opportunities to integrate sustainability, but to further a deeper understanding of our clients, future building inhabitants and communities in which they reside.”

image credit: AIA COTE

Kira Gould, Allied AIA, is a communications strategist, writer, and principal of Kira Gould CONNECT, a consultancy serving people and organizations designing, developing, and building the sustainable future.