On the first Wednesday of every month the AIA hosts a Tweet Chat to discuss industry issues, trends and ideas. This week the AIA is focusing on the 2016 COTE Top Ten Awards. COTE stands for the Committee On The Environment (COTE), which works to advance, disseminate and advocate design practices that integrate built and natural systems and enhance both the design quality and environmental performance of the built environment. The Top Ten Awards focus on highlighting teams that show true integration of design and sustainability. This month’s chat will focus on this year’s award recipients and the variety of strategies represented by those projects.
As a proud recipient of a 2016 COTE Top Ten Award, members of our design team will have an active role in the conversation and we want to hear from you, so join us (5/4) 3 – 4 pm EST using the hashtag #aiachat.
Cape Cod Community College’s Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center is a net-positive energy building designed to transform the heart of campus.
The project approaches sustainability through a holistic and global approach, implementing a range of moves including passive solar shading overhangs, air-source heat pumps, high performance materials with low embodied carbon and the expansion of the range of thermal comfort and lighting power density. Combined with on-site photovoltaics, the project achieves net-positive energy use.
The project’s thermally modified wood rainscreen façade is a study of the modern expression of vernacular Cape Cod architecture while reducing embodied carbon. Early lifecycle assessments identified the immense carbon savings of wood over fiber cement. The design team did not stop there, furthering reductions by peeling back unnecessary finishes like carpet and ceilings. Together, these decisions enabled a 19% reduction in embodied carbon.
#earthweek #designalways #buildingscience #performalism #netpositive #capecodmodernism #capecod #newengland