New COTE Leadership: Elaine Gallagher Adams
By Bridget Cogley
Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEED AP, is an architecture professor at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and also serves as the Sustainability Director for architecture and interiors firm LS3P, which has offices across the Southeast. As a full-time teacher, Elaine is passionate about teaching her students about sustainability, and one of her missions as a new Advisory Group Member is to leverage AIA COTE Top Ten for Students Competition and push its image further.
For the past six years, the architect has worked hard to prepare her students for the competition, which she believes “is almost as big as the AIA Gold Medal” for them but that it needs more awareness and support.
As part of this academic approach to AIA COTE, she also hopes to help faculty with the competition and provide tools for them to teach the 10 measures for studio more easily. “There are so many requirements to submit,” she added while noting that it is hard to understand and implement everything.
“With nine years left to our 2030 goals, we must increase momentum toward climate neutrality, reduce apathy, and change how we design buildings and cities right now,” Elaine says. “I have one foot in academia and one foot in a large-scale practice, and I feel like I’m influencing architecture for the next 50 years.”
Outside of the classroom, Elaine is known being a huge supporter of sustainability and for practicing what she preaches. She is an energetic, mindful and experienced architect who sees real potential for climate action in the industry. In 2018 she did a TedTalk about the net-positive home she designed for herself in South Carolina, and she plans to build off this media experience and broaden AIA COTE’s recognition by getting involved with global climate initiatives and talks. “I want to represent the architecture community at the global climate table,” she added. “To date, we have had little to no input in these national and international conversations.”
“The Green New Deal outlined valid measures and initiatives already underway but that need help at a larger scale,” she explains. “Many in media acted like these ideas were pie in the sky, but we’re already doing them. That message needs to get out there, the success stories need to be shared with broader audiences, and we do need to remove barriers and create momentum toward greener healthier buildings and cities.”
Bridget Cogley is a freelance writer and journalist based in Brooklyn and specializes in architecture, design, and sustainability. For three years she was a reporter at Dezeen. She is presently available for writing commissions and enjoys working with small studios on communications and strategy.