Andrea Love – Juror for AIA COTE Awards 2020

With a strong commitment to sustainability, PAYETTE is no stranger to the AIA’s Committee On The Environment (COTE) award program, having won four awards in as many years. This year, Andrea Love, our Director of Building Science, served on the jury. Submissions for the COTE Award are rigorous, and include ten measures that consider social, economic and ecological values. The jury not only weighs the merit of the design solution, but also considers how the project addresses each of the ten measures. Andrea shares her experience:

It was a fascinating process to review the design, performance information, and narratives about so many fantastic projects. While more traditional values like energy were important to the jury, this year’s jury had a particular focus on embodied carbon and community. Because of this focus on embodied carbon, the jury choice to recognize four adaptive reuse projects and three projects that utilized mass timber. Additionally, almost all the projects had a significant community engagement and benefit, creating humane and healthy spaces for occupants. The projects also represent diverse areas of the country and a large range of building types, demonstrating how beautiful, high performance buildings can and should be achieved anywhere.

Congratulations to all of this year’s COTE Award recipients. Well done!