AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects 2016

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the Top Ten Green Projects 2016. Architecture that stands out for sustainability that goes beyond being just a green building. We're showcasing the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) by The Design Alliance Architects.



Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the greenest design of them all? The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) has been responding to this for twenty years, with a selection of ten projects as examples of sustainable architecture aiming to protect and improve the surroundings.



We're starting our showcase of the AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects 2016 with the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) in Pittsburgh (PA), designed by The Design Alliance Architects. This is the first facility in the world to meet all four of the world's highest green construction standards: it was awarded The Living Building Challenge™, the WELL Building Platinum, the Four-Stars Sustainable Sites Initiatives™ (SITES™) certification for landscapes, and LEED® Platinum.





The Design Alliance Architects designed the Centre for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) as an education, research and administration facility at the historical Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in the larger Schenley Park, Pittsburgh. For 120 years a green oasis in the district of Oakland, attracting more than 400,000 visitors a year and that has had this new facility since 2012.



Already in itself, it was a challenge to fit the building into the natural setting, and this was made even tougher by the desire to come up with both aesthetic responses and real responses to the environmental demands. Thanks to integrated design based on the International Living Future Institute guidelines, CSL generates all the power needed for it to operate, and treats and reuses all the water harvested onsite, including both stormwater and sanitary water.



In addition, the bioclimatic building with a green roof and reclaimed wood skin stands on almost 12,000 square metres of former asphalt; the project has turned more than half of that into a green area with more than 100 native plant species.



Therefore, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) is a virtuous example of the feasible connection between natural and built environment and of the effectiveness of sustainable systems.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: The Design Alliance Architects
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Year: 2012 
Images: Walter Tien/The Design Alliance Architects; Denmarsh Photography Inc. - see key
Prize: AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects 2016
Find out more: http://www.aiatopten.org/node/507