COTE® Top Ten for Students
Recognizing the best green projects that seamlessly integrate innovative, regenerative strategies within their broader design concepts.
Celebrating student sustainable design excellence
The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (COTE®), in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), is pleased to announce the tenth annual AIA COTE® Top Ten for Students competition. The program challenges students, working individually or in teams, to submit projects that use a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology to provide architectural solutions that protect and enhance the environment.
Please see the ASCA website for the competition overview, prizes, criteria, as well as a complete list of the registration requirements and competition rules.
Questions? Contact us >
Overview
The COTE Top Ten for Students competition offers architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories. Students may not enter both categories.
Category I: FOUNDATION LEVEL
This category is open to students enrolled in first-year and second-year design studios, or related classes; in 2-year, 4-year, and undergraduate programs from any ACSA member school, including international member schools. Faculty will be required to confirm satisfaction of this requirement upon registration in this category.
Category II: UPPER LEVEL
This category is open to upper-level students (third year or above, including graduate students) from any ACSA member schools, including international member schools. Faculty will be required to confirm satisfaction of this requirement upon registration in this category.
Category I: FOUNDATION LEVEL
RE.SERV.OIR - Students: Allen Chen & Zihe Huang | Faculty: Jongwan Kwon | Carnegie Mellon University
Interwoven Pathways - Students: Shirley Xie & Victor Teng | Faculty: Bea Spolidoro | Carnegie Mellon University
Category I: FOUNDATION LEVEL
Honorable Mention
Blue Green Red - Student: Sam Hendrickson Biwaki | Faculty: Margaret Ikeda & Brian Price | California College of the Arts
Civic Fabrics of Ecology: Bankhead Community Hub - Student: Eliana Gebreegziabhar | Faculty: Mahsa Hedayati | Georgia Institute of Technology
Learning The Living Ground - Student: Katelyn Wodek | Faculty: Gina Fernandes & Randy Damico | Ferris State University
The Watersheds - Student: Stephan Waldstrom | Faculty: Margaret Ikeda & Brian Price | California College of the Arts
Category II: UPPER LEVEL
Medicine of Place - Student: Gabriella Urso | Faculty: Ryan Bacha | Savannah College of Art and Design
Right to Stay - Students: Fernando Mijares & Brian Nguyen | Faculty: David Franco, Amy Trick & Dennis Chiessa | University of Texas at Arlington
Arid Futures Pavilion - Student: Reef Townsend | Faculty: Laura Carr & Michael Kothke | University of Arizona
Junction 52 - Student: Abril Rodriguez | Faculty: Daniel Brown | Savannah College of Art and Design
Cultivating Cycles - Students: Kailing Mai & Lora Tarassov | Faculty: Jaliya Fonseka | University of Waterloo
Aguán - Student: Ella Parsons | Faculty: Morgan Oster & Michael Kothke | University of Arizona
Living Nexus - Student: Mohammed Chowdhury | Faculty: Ulrike Passe | Iowa State University
The First Step - Student: Addison McClary | Faculty: Ryan Bacha | Savannah College of Art and Design
Category II: FOUNDATION LEVEL
Honorable Mention
Tapestry of Place: Lakota Wool & Design Center - Students: Abigail Rose Anderson & Cassandra Didelot | Faculty: Ulrike Heine, Andreea Mihalache & Brandon Pass | Clemson University
Keystone Station - Student: Kieran Kane | Faculty: Cas Esbach | Savannah College of Art and Design
Past winners
COTE Top Ten for Students 2025 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2024 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2023 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2022 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2021 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2020 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2019 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2018 >
COTE Top Ten for Students 2017 >
Category I: Foundation Level Jury
Joel D. Hall, Lewis and Clark Community College
Marilyn Specht, SmithGroup
Bunny Tucker, Shape Architecture Studio
Category II: Upper Level Jury
Nicole Cao, University of Waterloo
Pamela Conrad, Climate Positive Design
Susan King, IIT/HED
Vincent Martinez, Architecture 2030
The COTE® Top Ten awards are the industry’s best-known awards program for sustainable design excellence. The COTE® Top Ten for Students recognizes the best green projects by students—ten exceptional studio projects that seamlessly integrate innovative, regenerative strategies within their broader design concepts.
The competition is open to all students attending Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Member Schools in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
- Projects must demonstrate innovation and meet the ten principles of the Framework of Design Excellence detailed in the submission guidelines.
- Projects should demonstrate creative and innovative integration of daylight, materials, ecosystems, economy, well-being, change, equitable communities, water, energy, resources, and discovery.
- Each entry must include abstracts, metrics, program briefs, and no more than two 24”x36” digital boards (submitted as PDF or JPEG files).
- Projects must be submitted through the ACSA website.
The COTE® Top Ten Award is the industry’s best-known award program recognizing innovative projects integrating exemplary performance with compelling design.