Sponsor Editorial
TerraPass on Counting Carbon and Quality Offsets
Read More

COTE Top Ten Green Projects: Now Accepting Submissions for 2009
Tell the stories and share the metrics behind your firm’s best work—which one of your projects will be one of the elite group, the 2009 COTE Top Ten? Register here by January 19, and review past winners. The superb jury for 2009 includes James Timberlake, Kieran Timberlake Associates (a 2008 winner for the Yale Sculpture Building); Bill Leddy, FAIA, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (a 2008 winner for the Nueva School, shown here); Brandy Brooks, Assoc. AIA, of the Community Design Resource Center; Nadav Malin of BuildingGreen; Michelle Addington, associate professor at Yale’s School of Architecture; and Kim Shinn of LTLC Engineering for Architecture—read more about them here! 2009 will be the COTE flagship program’s 13th year. Photo: © Tim Griffith

Seen & Heard at Greenbuild
by Kira Gould, Assoc. AIA

The International Forum on Tuesday was well attended—reports from Canada, the Middle East, and Asia were inspiring. On Wednesday, Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us to recognize that we are part of a revolution. He also said: You are one of the craziest countries I know. What happened on November 4 marks a change—for the world. The green movement, he said, is changing the world, too. "On behalf of the world," he said (noting the presumption), "thank you."

Thoughts on LEED 2009 from Vivian Loftness, of Carnegie Mellon (and on the cover of this month's Architect mag): there are 100 points and 1 is for daylight—! "Daylight," she says, "is a heroic activity." Indeed.

There was a great panel on biophilic design, with Yale’s Stephen Kellert, environmental psychologist Judi Heerwagen, UVA’s Tim Beatley, and Robin Moore from NCSU. Heerwagen proposed a reframing of value—beyond the economics. "We don't have enough delight in our buildings," she says. Beatley is focused on what a biophilic city might be, including neighborhoods that would allow for "free range kids” (and homeowner associations that do not rule out treehouses!).

Our founding chair Bob Berkebile, FAIA, and the other founders of AIA COTE were honored with USGBC Leadership Awards; Bill Browning nominated and there were many past COTE chairs there, plus Pliny Fisk, Randy Croxton, and others were on hand. They honored the fact that USGBC was virtually hatched within AIA; this was a great honor for COTE and a powerful illustration of the fact that these organizations are finally playing nice at the national level (when they’ve been friend at the local and state level for years). We hope that the AIA and COTE presence at Greenbuild 2009 in Phoenix will be stronger still …

Two young poets from Youth Speaks wowed us with vibrant, powerful recitations. Amazing!

On Friday morning, Bill McKibben talked about his 350 initiative, designed to raise awareness about the parts per million threshold that we’re hurtling toward. You can check out that organization’s site here.

Check out the link to a video of Obama at his November 17 meeting with governors, wherein he commits to action on climate change). Quotes of notes: “When I am president, any governor who is willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that’s willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. Any nation that is willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.” Ahh.

Greenbuild attendees got two for the price of one on the closing keynote on Friday—presentations and a conversation between biologist and author E.O. Wilson and Biomimicry author Janine Benyus—with NPR’s Kevin Klose. READ MORE

Sustainability is an AIA Education Priority
The AIA Board of Directors modified the AIA member continuing education requirement to include four hours of education in sustainable design as part of the existing 18-hour annual requirement. This sustainable design requirement goes into effect in calendar year 2009 and extends through 2012. Check out the new requirements and gear up for 2009!

Federal Snapshot: GSA Makes the Case for Sustainabiltiy
The country’s largest landlord is pushing green. They have a new book out and it’s available on their web site. Read more here.

Sustainable Leadership Awards
Nominations are being accepted for the Sustainable Leadership Awards for Design and Development. These honor outstanding contributions to sustainable design and development leadership, and winners will be featured in global outreach. The awards are sponsored by: CoreNet Global, The International Interior Design Association (IIDA), and the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Committee on Interior Design. Sponsors include: Johnson Controls, HOK, Liberty Mutual, PeopleCube, and Tandus. Online submissions accepted until February 9, 2009.