During the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2024 in Washington, DC, we learned that the U.S. Department of Energy announced a National Definition of a Zero Emissions Building. It seemed fitting that on the same day as this landmark announcement, the National AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) hosted the COTE Open Forum: Climate Advocacy and Market Transformation.
The COTE Open Forum was a packed session that allowed attendees to connect and explore the implementation of COTE’s mission on a multitude of scales through a series of speakers and curated conversations with other attendees.
On the federal policy scale, Lindsey Falasca, Director for Net Zero Federal Buildings at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, shared insight into the current administration’s goals including cutting energy use in federal buildings as well as electrifying the federal fleet. Robin Z. Puttock, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, our 2025 National AIA COTE Chair, brought us down to the scale of the AIA and COTE, setting the stage for the aspirations and plans for COTE in the coming year, including deepening connections between academia and the profession. And finally, Dan Stine, AIA, IES, CSI, CDT, WELL AP, Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato, demonstrated how the city of San Antonio is fostering and enabling creative material reuse through policy. The broad ranging policy examples from the federal down to a local case study really set the stage for rich, small group conversations that mirrored this broad-ranging, scalar context.
Energized with perspectives at all scales from the speakers, the curated, tabletop discussions allowed for comprehensive discussions about translating and implementing advocacy strategies throughout the profession. The topics ranged from advocacy at the federal, state and local levels to how to run and organize a COTE chapter to application of ideas of resilience and adaptation into practice to using the AIA Framework for Design Excellence as part of the design process.
As a first time attendee and table moderator in the COTE Open Forum, I was struck by the energy and excitement in the room. As an academic, I was personally eager to learn about what’s happening across the country at other architecture schools and how they are integrating and reinforcing environmental stewardship into architectural curricula. At the Students / Academic focused tables, faculty members, recent graduates, current students and practicing architects shared ways that the AIA Design Excellence Framework and the AIA COTE Top Ten for Students competition shape the academic experience and ideas for how they can lead and permeate architectural pedagogy even further. The groups also discussed strategies for making the principles of COTE “stick” and how to ensure that climate action and climate justice aren’t just add-ons within academia. The optimism carried forward into potential collaborations and business cards exchanged. The conversations left me feeling inspired to explore how I can continue to evolve my own pedagogy and curriculum.
With new connections made and existing ones strengthened, I’m looking forward to the continued conversations over the next year about climate action and advocacy. I’m grateful for being included in this energizing event and I’m excited to engage in this national conversation again at the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2025 in Boston!
Brittany L Williams, AIA LEED AP is an Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland and a practicing architect at Gardner Architects LLC in Silver Spring, Maryland.