Committee on the Environment

 View Only

New Year, New Faces: Meet Your Incoming COTE Leadership

  

The Committee on the Environment (COTE) is thrilled to introduce three new members of the Leadership Group, each of whom offers their unique expertise, passion, and perspective in support of design excellence. Let’s meet them and hear a bit about their reasons for joining COTE, a project they’re particularly proud of, and a design resource they love. (Pictured from left to right above: Katie Ackerly, Lindsey Falasca, and Alyssa Manypenny Murphy.)

Katie Ackerly, AIA, LEED AP, CPHC, is a Principal at David Baker Architects, a top urban housing design firm based in San Francisco. Katie is DBA’s Sustainable Design Director, an industry thought leader, and an advocate for building decarbonization and housing resilience. Katie draws on a background in building science and energy-efficiency policy, including graduate studies with the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley. She brings DBA into critical conversations about multi-family building performance within the firm and beyond, guided by the belief that good housing design is essential to a successful, resilient future.

Why COTE?
“It's a nail-biting honor to join COTE in the milestone year 2025, as we continue to figure out how to support architects as they design the future. I’m looking forward to discussing how can we make measurement tools accessible on the one hand, while letting loose visionary transformation on the other!”

Spotlight Project:
Blue Oak Landing sets a new bar for performance, resourcefulness, and connection to place for permanent supportive housing in the Bay Area.

Recommended Design Resource:
“Gail Brager and Mark DeKay's book Experiential Design Schemas gives architects a napkin-sketch language for designing sensory experiences.”

Lindsey Falasca works for the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and supports implementation of the Biden Administration’s efforts to achieve a net-zero emissions Federal building portfolio by 2045, including a 50% reduction by 2032. Prior to joining CEQ, Lindsey was the inaugural Director of Washington DC's Building Innovation Hub, a program of the Institute for Market Transformation, overseeing the strategic vision and execution of the Hub’s mission. Previously, she spent over a decade working as a commercial architect in and around DC and is a Registered Architect and LEED BD+C Accredited.

Why COTE?
“Architects have both the training and critical-thinking skills to solve the problem of how to efficiently decarbonize buildings. I’m excited to bring my experience from both the public and private sectors to the COTE Leadership Group in order to advance climate action across the profession and demonstrate how climate goals can and should be embedded into business-as-usual practices.”

Spotlight Project:
The American Geophysical Union Headquarters renovation serves as a beacon for progress in embracing science and collaboration to achieve ambitious sustainability goals.

Recommended Design Resource:
“The annual sustainability reports that real estate companies publish every year provide a window into current and emerging trends and outline sustainable design priorities in a broader context.”

Alyssa Manypenny Murphy is a founding partner at Placework, based in Portsmouth, NH. Placework is a Certified B Corporation with a mission to create transformative design for the benefit of people and planet. Alyssa’s work includes projects for higher education, municipalities, and cultural institutions. As the founding editor of Forum, the quarterly magazine of AIA New Hampshire, she aspires to educate and engage the public about current issues in design and elevate the conversation around ethics, resiliency, and equity within the profession. Alyssa served as the President of AIANH in 2018 and as New Hampshire representative to the AIA Strategic Council 2022-2024. 

Why COTE?
I have long admired the work of COTE and the Framework for Design Excellence, which has been transformative in my own practice. I hope to build on my experience with the AIA Strategic Council, reinforcing communications between aligned groups within the Institute to move necessary resources and education forward faster. As a voice from a small firm outside a major city, I also look forward to reaching out to peers that may have yet to engage in climate action work within their firms.”

Spotlight Project:
The Gregory J. Grappone Humanities Institute brings vibrant adaptive reuse into the heart of campus for Saint Aselm College.

Recommended Design Resource:
Flourish by Sarah Ichioka and Michael Pawlyn has had a profound influence on my thinking and has been a useful resource for our team as well.”

Please join us in welcoming these new members and thanking them for their continued commitment to sustainability leadership!

Author bio: Katie Nordenson is the Communications Manager for BWBR, a firm specializing in commercial architecture, interior design, and planning for over 100 years. With publishing experience online and off, she specializes in getting the right message to the right people at the right time. She joined the COTE communications team in 2024.

0 comments
32 views

Permalink