AIA CALIFORNIA COUNCIL COTE
All Aboard the California Legislative Advocacy Coalition: A
Unified Voice in the Making!
A unified voice promoting green legislation in California seemed
to be a pipe dream. With the population growth and
development pressures in California pushing in all directions
coupled with the exponential growth in the green building market a
multitude of opportunities to create a sustainable future were
presenting themselves in rapid fire succession to fragmented
stakeholders scrambling to find their voice and place as advocates
in the legislative arena. As the USGBC California
Chapters became aware of the potential to effect change in the
largest US green market, they were not only struggling to organize
themselves to respond most effectively to this challenge with a
unified voice but needed to do so with unprecedented speed to meet
the challenge of the fast-paced California legislative
agendas.
Paul Poirier, in his dual role as the current AIACC-COTE chair
as well as President of the newly emerging USGBC California Central
Coast Chapter (C4), was in an ideal position to create an advocacy
collaboration to bring a unified green voice to the California
legislative table. In its first six months, this
unprecedented collaboration has involved the California Chapter of
AIACOTE, utilizing the AIA's Sacramento lobbyist to identify and
cull the potential green legislative items on the legislative
agenda, populating a wiki discussion with the synopsis of each
piece of legislation and soliciting input and review comments from
a multitude of California USGBC Chapters, as well as other
interested stakeholders such as local environmental organizations,
utility company representatives, and planners. This
collaborative dialog reviewed legislative bills and crafted a
unified voice to inform legislators as these bills move through the
legislative process, sometimes with a two week turn-around window
of opportunity.
-Marilyn Farmer, AIA, LEED AP
BOSTON SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS COTE
Boston is the site of the latest COTE-supported workshop:
Biomimicry for a Sustainable Built Environment. Based upon Janine
Benyus's book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature,
this new science is now being applied to architecture, product
design, engineering, software development, communication systems
and organizational evolution.
Dayna Baumeister, PhD, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, and a
team of biologists introduces this concept at an evening lecture on
Wednesday, September 24. On the following two days, she and her
team lead a two part design workshop examining how "our designs
should create conditions conducive to life." The lecture, held at
the Boston Public Library, begins at 6:00 pm and is free and open
to the public.
On September 25 and 26 a group of biologists and designers will
lead a workshop on applying the theories of Biomimicry to
architecture and design. Up to 30 participants will
experience a visual journey of the world of Biomimicry with real
world case studies exemplifying the practice of learning from
nature in the realm of architecture.
For complete details and registration forms for the workshop,
visit www.architects.org/workshops.
This program is sponsored in part by InterfaceFLOR.
AIA IOWA COTE
Following the flooding this summer, the AIA Iowa COTE has been
developing a guide to integrating sustainability in disaster
recovery efforts in that region. Iowa's COTE chapter is interested
in talking with other chapters who have similar efforts afoot, and
we will be asking the COTE Regional Team to help make these links,
as well as links with other AIA groups which interest and
activities in this realm, such as the Center for Communities by
Design and AIA Government Affairs.
The group has also been writing letters to the editor around
this topic. This letter ran in the Cedar Rapids Gazette in
July:
City needs to consider sustainable design, too
I commend The Gazette's July 10 cover story regarding recent
efforts to build sustainably in Eastern Iowa. The article wisely
focuses on the positive long-term economic benefits gained from
pursuing such "green" strategies.
However, in light of recent flooding and the massive rebuilding
effort required in our state, we should move this discussion one
important step forward. I ask our civic leaders and community
members to engage in a conversation that considers sustainable
design as a cornerstone of the planning and rebuilding
effort.
At its heart, the practice of sustainable design requires holistic,
long-term thinking that always attempts to balance economic, social
and environmental concerns. Embracing such a strategy will have
enormous benefits.
First, this strategy will allow us to be better stewards of our
environment, while at the same time improving our long-term
economic and social well-being. This recovery effort will take
years, and we need a positive and consistent vision to guide us.
Second, it will provide a framework for decision-making both within
and across the many affected communities. Finally, it will
challenge us to imagine our communities in ways we haven't
before.
Thinking sustainably provides us with the opportunity to create
a better future for Iowa.
Jonathan Ramsey Chairman, AIA Iowa Committee on the Environment
Des Moines
AIA District of Columbia COTE
The AIA DC COTE is a very active chapter, and this year, they
have evolved one of their most popular annual events, the Summer
Solstice reception. This used to be a social networking event, and
this year it also featured a Forum component, the subject of which
was research and the federal government. Rick Harlan Schneider of
Envision Design moderated the panel, which included Earle Kennett
of the National Institute of Building Sciences, Drury Crawley of
DOE, and Kevin Kampschroer of GSA. The event was held at the
National Association of Realtors Headquarters (the first new
building in DC to gain LEED certification).
AIA Denver COTE
We continue to enjoy good attendance, broad representation from
allied organizations and strong volunteer efforts. The model of our
meetings may be worth sharing with other chapters:
We meet once a month for an hour and a half. The agenda
includes subcommittee updates, AIA news, regional and board
reports, and a 45-minute presentation with topics ranging
from specific projects to energy metrics, government advocacy,
travels, etc. We have recently begun to extend these presentations
earn CEU credits. To close the meeting, there are breakout sessions
for the subcommittees that also meet once a month:
Advocacy: legislative and lobbying efforts, local codes
revisions, and ties to GreenPrint, a city plan regarding
sustainability
Education: lunch series speakers, lectures, tours, joint
programs with USGBC. Currently planning a tour of sustainable
architecture in Aspen and the Roaring Fork valley
Outreach: "hands on" community involvement such as tree
plantings, design events, recycling kiosk competition and social
events; currently planning a presentation with Education on the
recent NREL design competition for a new "beyond LEED" project
We are currently evaluating the possibility of becoming a state
wide group rather than just a Denver chapter and encouraging
members to be considered for board positions at the local and state
AIA board levels to advocate for alignment with the 2008-2010
National Strategic Plan.
AIA SAN ANTONIO COTE
In 2007 AIA San Antonio COTE started partnering with the local
USGBC Advocacy Committee and the AIA Government Affairs Committee
to advocate sustainable building and development policies in our
city and county. This coalition of committees was successful in
ensuring the passage of a strong Green Building Resolution in April
of 2007 stating that all newly constructed city owned facilities
must achieve LEED Silver Certification. The county followed with a
similar resolution in October of 2007. After these successes it was
decided that we would start to have quarterly Advocacy Meetings
that brought this broad spectrum of participants together to ensure
that our efforts in 2007 were not fruitless and that we continued
to be a resource to local municipalities as they develop
sustainable building and development policies.
This summer the city presented their San Antonio Sustainability
Plan. Although the city did not use us as a resource in developing
this initial plan, we are happy to say that our local AIA COTE
Committee will have at least one, if not multiple, member(s) on the
Green Building Task Force which is charged with greening our
building codes and developing green building incentives by February
of 2009.
AIA MIDDLE TENNESSEE COTE
This new chapter has been very active already, and has a great
program lineup for the fall, including presentations on
high-performance mechanical systems, materials and resources, IEQ,
and more.
Cumberland Region Tomorrow Partners with AIA Middle TN and AIA
Knowledge Communities to Bring National Experts and Sustainability Workshop to
Nashville. Workshop dates are August 28 & 29, as well as
October 10, 2008. For more information please visit the AIA Middle
Tennessee website.
This chapter is also experimenting with communications tools, and
hosts a googlegroups site:
The email address for this group is: aia-midtn-cote@googlegroups.com
Join/ register here: http://groups.google.com/group/aia-midtn-cote
AIA MICHIGAN COTE
This chapter is participating in the development of sustainable
outreach and education. We are proud to have influenced
the theme for the 16th annual Michigan AIA Educational Facilities
Conference "Green, Sustainable Design... It's the Smart Thing to
DO." September 18-19, 2008 being held in
the beautiful Traverse City, Michigan. http://educationalfacilitiesconference.com/
The Michigan AIA COTE members are actively supporting the
WARM Training Center's successful application for a
2008 AIA SDAT "Detroit Motorcity - Infrastructure Now,
Southwest Detroit, a Model for the 21st Century". The SDAT
was kicked-off during the first week of July and will build
momentum as the initiative progresses over the coming
year. http://aia.org/liv_sdat_cities/
Our longer range plans include assistance in developing the
sustainable programming content, design competitions, and
Legacy projects for the U.S. Green Building Council, Detroit
Regional Chapter's "Greening the Heartland" Conference scheduled
for May 31 - June 2, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. http://chapters.usgbc.org/detroit.com/
Other Michigan AIA COTE initiatives include reaching out to
AIAS, updating the Michigan AIA green website
content, and the advocation of sustainability
through interacting with the general public at local
community events.
AIA SEATTLE COTE
To date, COTE has hosted its regular Case Study tours, and the
annual What Makes It Green? program, which evolved into a Regional
Top Ten Green Awards and Exhibit program in 2008 in honor of its
10th anniversary. WMIG? was hosted within a
day-long conference called "ReGeneration" a collaboration with IIDA
and ASID which will evolve into a series of shared events in order
to maintain a multi-disciplinary dialogue through 2009. The
Regional Top Ten Green Awards Exhibit will be toured in Oregon,
Idaho, Montana and be featured at AIA's Pacific Region conference
in Hawaii in October.
Leadership in sustainability was identified as one of AIA
Seattle's overall strategic priorities for 2008 and COTE, in
addition to continuing its regular events, has been called upon to
advise other education-based programming committees on content
development.
COTE's influence on AIA Seattle's regular educational
programming can be seen within AIA Seattle's annual Residential
Design Forum on October 8th which will focus on "High
design, Low Impact: residential design for a small footprint"
featuring James Timberlake, passive and solar design and innovative
land use configurations for the single-family home.
COTE is also in collaboration with AIA Seattle, ASHRAE and
BetterBricks, to develop a new education series that aims to
activate AIA's 50>>50 document through intermediate-level
interactive education sessions that aim to deliver practical
lessons that can be applied by participants as soon as they get
back to the office.
AIA UTAH COMMITTEE ON DESIGN AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
This year the chapter voted to change the name of the committee
to the CDE, the Committee on Design and the Environment. The
chapter feels strongly that good architectural design and
environmentally sustainable design are absolutely necessary for any
project to be successful.
The AIA Utah CDE has conducted a number of educational programs,
some of which include a forum with local municipal mayors to
discuss the sustainable policies their cities are currently
adhering to, and future plans to provide incentives for sustainable
development and growth. They hosted a program on energy modeling
explaining the different standards being used such as ANSI 90.1,
CBECS, LEED, and Energy Star. Guest speaker Brenda Morawa
clarified the differences of each program and discussed their
benefits.
Future programs we are planning include a forum w/ state energy
providers and policy makers to help identify barriers to renewable
energy and other sustainable strategies and what our communities
can do to develop job growth and in turn economic growth for our
state in the sustainable industry.
The CDE has been striving to develop a plan in cooperation with
the AIA Utah Government Affairs Committee to help guide the Utah
Legislature toward enacting laws that will encourage development
for renewable energy and sustainable building practices.
Also AIA Utah CDE is developing a competition to be held among
Utah AIA members to encourage the reduction of their firm's carbon
footprint. This competition will raise awareness within the
architectural community of our industries potential to become
carbon neutral.
AIA NEW JERSEY COTE
AIA-NJ COTE recently held its annual High Performance Design
Workshop July 14th at the Stateroom on Long Beach
Island, NJ. This workshop provides cutting edge information,
training, and guidance to our members on the issues of sustainable
design and how they affect the practice of architecture. This
recent workshop had 150+ attendees and offered two tracks. Track
one was a full day LEED accreditation training workshop. Track two
was a full day of sessions on topics including the following: NJ
Rebate Programs; Renewable Energy in New Jersey; Wholisitic Design;
Contractor's View of Sustainable Construction; Material
Conservation & Historic Preservation; and Contractual ins &
outs of Sustainability today. This series has become a revolving
program for AIA-NJ and one where our members who have attended have
walked away with invaluable information and training to meet the
challenges of tomorrows needs today.
