2020 COTE® Top Ten Awards
Setting the standard in design excellence

View of Roof garden at John W. Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The 2020 COTE® Top Ten program highlights projects that meet the AIA Committee on the Environment's rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value. The COTE® Top Ten Plus designation denotes projects with exemplary performance data and post occupancy lessons.
To view previous recipients since 2017, visit the award program page. For program years prior to 2017, visit aiatopten.org.
Austin Central Library
The Library is a model for sustainable resource use and library efficiency while promoting visceral connections to collections, history, culture, and place.
U.S. Land Port of Entry, Columbus, New Mexico
This port of entry design aspires to welcome travelers to America with architecture that inspires and conveys our country’s better virtues.
Environmental Nature Center and Preschool
This Top Ten Plus recipient focuses on passive, efficient design and serves as a living laboratory and educational tool for smart green design and conservation.
Etsy Headquarters
Blurring the lines between workplace and habitat, this headquarters is one of the largest Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal-Certified building in NYC.
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice
The holistic renovation transforms the Foundation’s work and public spaces in a manifestation of its mission: to promote the inherent dignity of all people.
John W. Olver Design Building
This project fosters multidisciplinary collaboration and expressively integrates building, landscape architecture, and building technology.
Keller Center - Harris School of Public Policy
Educational in function and composition, the Keller Center serves as a learning laboratory to witness real-world challenges and solutions through design.
Marine Education Center at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
The Center exemplifies sustainable coastal building techniques in harmony with the marine environment.
The Six
Offering shelter and comfort, The SIX breaks the prescriptive mold of the traditional shelter.
UPCycle
UPCycle transforms the former Balcones Recycling Center into a unique creative office building in the historic community of East Austin.
Image credits

Ngoc Doan / STIMSON