Top Ten Winner: New Occupant Survey
COTE commissioned occupant surveys of three Top Ten recipients. The Center for the Built Environment at UC-Berkeley performed the surveys and the third is now available. It is a study of the Benjamin Franklin Elemntary School in Kirkland, Wash., by Mahlum Architects. This project was a COTE Top Ten recipient in 2007. Complete Survey.

Advocacy: Recovery, Stimulus, and Towards a Greener Economy...
The Advocacy department at AIA has been in overdrive since before GRassroots in February, and if you haven't been to their site lately, check it out. The Rebuild and Renew campaign is in full swing and is looking to knit together many of the broad sustainability goals with the bills and initiatives on the Hill.

COTE Events at AIA Convention
Don't miss the AIA COTE Celebration and Top Ten Toast on Thursday evening and a host of COTE educational sessions and other events. Check out this lineup and see the guide for more.

SBSE's Carbon Neutral Design Collaboration with AIA/COTE...
is racing towards the roll out of a resource rich website at the National AIA Convention in April. According to project leader James Wasley of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: "This will include two groups of case studies - one of high performance buildings and one of design studio pedagogy on the design of such buildings. It will also include several web-based tools: A 'Carbon Target FInder', developed by Professor Harvey Bryan at Arizona State Univeristy, which will allow an architect to determine appopriate target energy consumption values given various regional fuel source considerations in order for a project to meet the 2030 Challenge. The CND Case Study Protocol developed by Professor Michael Utzinger at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee allows architects to benchmark the design metrics of their own built work or projects on the boards against a growing body of case studies. And an anlaysis of existing web-based carbon calculator tools by Professor Pablo LaRoche at Cal Poly Pomona will expose the relative merits and pitfalls of many different tools. Plus an annotated bibliography of software tools useful in pondering CND issues."

VIEWPOINT: The Downturn is a Collaboration Imperative for a Green Economy Engine
by Kira Gould, Assoc. AIA, Ken Scalf, AIA and Dennis Andrejko, FAIA
Full Story

Report from Moscone: The Greenest Convention Hall in the Country?
This may be the greenest AIA National Convention yet, thanks to its site and the efforts of the AIA national staff to move in this direction. Full Story

The 2030 Coalition: Uniting Toward Progress
A look at how larger organziations are collaborating to gain momentum in the green building movement. Full Story

Five Steps to a Net Zero Home Energy Remodel
by Dan Johnson, AIA, reprinted from Arch News, AIA East Bay Chapter
Full Story

NEWS from Active COTE Chapters
AIA Seattle Launches a Sustainable Design Education Series
A Report from the Building Code Front Lines in Minnesota
Read More

VIEWPOINT: Architect as a Sustainable Development Leader: Integrating Appraisers
by Grant Austin
How can we step up architect relevance? Pay attention to integrating the appraisers in the IPD and BIM processes.
Read More

R/UDAT in Staten Island
Peter Hind, AIA reports on the R/UDAT experience in Staten Island -- a story about possibility and hidden promise.
Full Story

Check out the green calendar at Environmental Building News, published by BuildingGreen, an AIA partner. AIA members get a discount on subscriptions.

AIA/COTE was honored at Greenbuild with a Leadership award; Bill Browning, Hon, AIA, narrated a video telling the story.

Metropolis offers an interesting look as some recent schools and how they are designing for new modes of learning; this piece includes Leddy Maytum Stacy’s Top Ten winner, the Nueva school.

Worldchanging on new designs and tools—check out the Design with Intent tool. And here’s Grist on adaptive reuse as the greenest practice of all. There’s a missive from Bill McKibben and Wendell Berry on moving away from coal.

Check out Vivian Loftness, FAIA, in GreenSource expounds on “free-rolling buildings.” And more from Worldchanging on the food / fuel / fiber debate and a great one on recession and innovation. NPR’s Marketplace hosted a fascinating discussion on greenwash, and the discussion continues online.

From the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, some interesting reports summarizing NREL research on six buildings. And check out their Zero Energy Database. Additionally, you can find studies from the Heschong-Mahone Group here.

Join the COTE Forum list-serve, an open discussion about sustainable design issues that matter to architects and their allied professionals. Send an email to lyris@lyris.aia.org and and type “subscribe coteforum” in the subject line. You will receive an auto-reply; you must confirm to join. Your confirmation email will have instructions on how to adjust their preferences and more.

If you received this from a friend, join our list. To be added to the lists to receive COTEnotes, AIA members should send an email to Kelly Pickard; non members should send the request to Filo Castore.