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COTE Network Corner: Q3 Call

By Roshni Krishnan, Intl. Assoc. AIA posted 2 days ago
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COTE Network Corner: Q3 Call How do we make conscious decisions towards decarbonization as an industry? Join the COTE Quarter 3 call on August 11th to hear about carbon tracking tools to support design. We can improve only what we can measure. Architecture 2030 founder Ed Mazria, FAIA, examined a 2022 U.S. Energy Information Administration study and highlighted promising decarbonization trends in the built environment, including the decoupling of emissions and building sector growth through data driven decarbonization decisions. What tools for tracking and sharing carbon data can help us make early decisions to reduce both embodied and operational ...
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Voices of Advocacy – Interview with Arathi Gowda, FAIA

By Joyce Raybuck, AIA posted 8 days ago
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We continue our Voices of Advocacy series where we interview leaders from the COTE community who are advocating for important policy change. By sharing the stories of those doing substantive work, we hope to de-mystify the process. Throughout the series, you will hear stories from across the country that speak to varying advocacy issues and their local nuances. An interview with Arathi Gowda, Principal, FAIA, LEED BD+C, AICP, LFA about being a citizen architect, the importance of building coalitions, and why architects should lift and raise Joyce Raybuck and Hope Schmelzle Arathi Gowda leads Perkins & Will’s East Coast Regional ...
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Follow COTE on LinkedIn!

By Alyssa Murphy, AIA posted 21 days ago
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Did you know that COTE now has its own LinkedIn Page? The COTE community has a number of ways to connect - here on the AIA Community Hub, though the AIA COTE® LinkedIn Group, - and now through a dedicated AIA COTE® "spotlight" page on LinkedIn. This allows the AIA Climate Action staff and our own COTE Leadership Group to share news and information more readily and connect with a broader audience. Give us a follow, and invite your connections to do so, too! https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/aia-cote-committee-on-the-environment
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From Process to Practice: Sustainability in El Paso, TX

By Ellen Mitchell, AIA posted 28 days ago
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Ellen Mitchell, AIA, interviews Laura Foster, AIA, about what sustainability in West Texas can tell us. Mitchell is the 2026 chair of the Committee on the Environment . This article is part of a series that she hopes will bring more voices to the sustainability conversation. Texas is too large—and too environmentally varied—for a single sustainability narrative to make sense. The questions that shape design in Austin or Houston don’t land the same way in El Paso, where the landscape is desert, the time zone is Mountain, and the proximity is closer to Phoenix than to Dallas. This fact became apparent in speaking with Laura Foster, an architect ...
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May 2026 AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: James Hardie

By Ellie Falcon posted 04-30-2026
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Building Resilience with Fiber Cement Siding: Insights from James Hardie Discover how fiber cement siding—drawing on practices from James Hardie—enhances building resilience and sustainability. Explore practical design strategies and key benefits for architects and designers seeking durable, long-term solutions. Building Resilience: Sustainable Strategies with Fiber Cement Extreme weather and shifting climate patterns are driving a new era in building design — one where architects and designers must deliver structures that remain durable, resource-efficient, and resilient. Sustainability now demands more than just energy efficiency ...
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What it means to save a brick: Sustainability in Texoma

By Ellen Mitchell, AIA posted 04-24-2026
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Ellen Mitchell, AIA, interviews Joe Ross, AIA, about what sustainability in rural Texas can tell us. Mitchell is the 2026 chair of the Committee on the Environment . This article is part of a series that she hopes will bring more voices to the sustainability conversation. In some parts of the country, the renewable energy revolution can be very abstract and invisible. Not so along the Red River, which is the dividing line between Texas and Oklahoma. In this area, there are wind turbines as far as the eye can see, and solar arrays spread across pastureland. Small, rural school districts receive new tax revenue while neighbors debate what development ...
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Climate Action at AIA26 | The COTE Guide to the AIA Conference

By bruce boul posted 04-22-2026
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COTE’s Climate Action Guide to AIA26 Climate Action, Community, and Connection in San Diego June 10–13, 2026 | San Diego The AIA Conference on Architecture returns to San Diego June 10–13, and the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership Group—alongside many COTE volunteers, members, and allied groups across the COTE Network—is looking forward to gathering once again. Each year, the conference offers more than CE credits and keynote moments. It is a chance for the COTE community to reconnect, exchange ideas, celebrate design leadership, and continue advancing our shared work around climate action, resilience, and ...
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Earth Day: COTE Network Spotlight

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 04-12-2026
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By: Lindsey Falasca, AIA (Incoming COTE Chair, 2027) Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement, advancing resilience and sustainability in the built environment. In celebration of Earth Day, this spotlight highlights a range of initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. Advocacy COTE groups are influencing policy at the local and state levels. Their efforts include advancing building performance standards, expanding decarbonization initiatives, ...
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COTE Books: Design for Resilience / Details and Materials for Resilient Sites by Meg Calkins / reviewed by Shawn Swisher

By Kira Gould, Hon. AIA posted 04-06-2026
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COTE Books Please consider joining the COTE Book Talk with Meg Calkins and Shawn Swisher on June 18, 2026, 1-2pm ET: Register here . Thank you to AIA Minnesota COTE for hosting. Get 20% off the book with the code 26AEV1 at the Routledge site through June 2026. Design for Resilience Details and Materials for Resilient Sites: A Climate Positive Approach by Meg Calki ns Book Review by Shawn Swisher, AIA, LEED AP BD+C In daily practice, detail drawings are too frequently deferred to the final stages of design, the product of many months of conceptualizing, scrutinizing, negotiating, and, finally, documenting. Under the constraints ...
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Happy April - Earth Month – so many great events happening!

By Lisa Ferretto, AIA posted 04-06-2026
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Happy April - Earth Month – so many great events happening! 4/8 Registration Deadline - AIA / ACSA COTE® Top Ten for Students Competition 4/10 Early bird rates end - AIA26- Conference on Architecture & Design 4/12-18 AIA Architecture week 4/13-17 National Healthy Schools Day / Week 4/14 AIA 2030 Commitment: Participating as a Small Firm (AIA SFx, 2030, COTE, AIA NJ) 4/14-4/17 Living Future Conference 4/15 Architect’s ...
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What's this COTE Top Ten button in the DDx?

By Michelle Amt, FAIA posted 03-02-2026
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The COTE® Super Spreadsheet has been a useful tool for architects seeking to measure and communicate design excellence. Developed in 2016 as part of the COTE Top Ten Toolkit, the spreadsheet provided a structured, quantitative way to standardize and evaluate project performance across the COTE Top Ten Measures. COTE created the toolkit--a combination of narratives, clear metrics, and a handy calculator to make those conversions--with the hope of not only making the process of submitting to and reviewing the COTE Top Ten Awards easier, but also to build the case for the real, quantifiable impact these winning projects had. When the AIA adopted the COTE Top ...
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March 2026 AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: Kingspan

By Ellie Falcon posted 02-27-2026
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Why site-specific EPDs matter for carbon-smart design decisions By Brent Trenga, director of sustainability, Kingspan Insulated Panels North America As architects work to meet increasingly ambitious climate goals, the conversation around embodied carbon has moved from abstract targets to material-level decision-making. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) play a critical role in that shift. Much like a nutrition label, an EPD transparently communicates the environmental impacts of a product across its life cycle, from raw material extraction through manufacturing, use, and end of life. But for architects trying to meaningfully reduce ...
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CAE Spring Conference 2026—Designing Belonging: Reciprocity, Resilience, and Regeneration

By Alison Karfeld posted 02-25-2026
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April 28–May 1 | Seattle | The Alexis Royal Sonesta Hotel Seattle Join us for the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education Spring Conference 2026! Set in a region defined by dramatic natural context, vibrant international trade, industrial innovation, ecological stewardship, and cultural diversity, this year’s program explores and builds on designing for belonging. Curated bus tours guided by architects, educators, clients, and community partners will highlight outstanding AIA award-winning and other projects across the learning continuum. Over four days, you'll gain place-based insight into how Seattle’s design community is advancing equity, ...
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Architects as Translators, not Evangelists: Sustainability in the Texas Hill Country

By Ellen Mitchell, AIA posted 02-20-2026
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Located deep in the heart of Texas where prairies begin to give way to rugged limestone cliffs and clear rivers cut through dry land, the Texas Hill Country is easy to romanticize. But practicing architecture here means respecting limits – water is not guaranteed and heat is not theoretical. Often, the gap between what a client wants and what a project can afford can be as expansive as the wide-open sky. When sustainability leaders like me talk about opportunities in the built environment, we often start with things like EUI targets, decarbonization strategies and building performance metrics. But in the Texas Hill Country, sustainability doesn’t show up ...
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COTE Network Corner: Q2 call

By Roshni Krishnan, Intl. Assoc. AIA posted 02-17-2026
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COTE Network Corner: Q2 Call There has never been a more important time to share initiatives and cheer our peer chapters leaders from across the country steering climate action and sustainability initiatives. On our first call, we got to celebrate your committee’s accomplishments and hear what others have been working on across the network. We got to hear from COTE chapters across the country about their 2026 plans ranging from energy codes to carbon conversations. We’re excited to invite you to the second COTE Network call of 2026 , taking place on April 21st . We will have local COTE Spotlight Recognition. This new initiative of the COTE ...
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COTE Book Series: Upcoming & Past Reviews & Talks (including recording links)

By Kira Gould, Hon. AIA posted 02-11-2026
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COTE Books: A Series of Reviews & Talks we typically review & host talks about 2-3 books per year; virtual events are hosted by local or state COTE groups interested in being a host or suggesting a book? email Kira Gould at kiragould@kiragould.com 10 December 2026 / 12-1pm ET A Moratorium on New Construction ( Sternberg Press Critical Practice Series, 2025) + available from Bookshop and MIT Press Register to join: link coming in October Author: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, architect, urban designer, and Assistant Professor of Architectural and Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne ...
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Q1 Cote Network Reminder

By Sean Costello posted 01-30-2026
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COTE Chapter Leaders, Happy Friday! This is a friendly reminder that our Q1 AIA COTE Network Call is scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd at 2:00 PM ET . We’re looking forward to connecting and hearing updates from your chapter! Action Required: Please update your chapter’s slide in the shared Google Slides deck with the following: Highlights from 2025 : Key accomplishments, initiatives, or events. Goals for 2026 : What your chapter is planning or aiming to achieve. Google slide Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OB5zhFl2_fo5MdPLadWR6M1nUB919RqO/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117172739344110297076&rtpof=true&sd=true ...
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Missed It Live? Watch the 2025 AIA COTE Top Ten Showcase On-Demand!

By bruce boul posted 01-29-2026
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If you weren’t able to join us live, we’ve got you covered. Yesterday’s AIA COTE Top Ten 2025 Showcase brought together project teams from across the country to share the thinking, rigor, and outcomes behind last year’s Top Ten Award–winning projects—each demonstrating what’s possible when sustainability, equity, and performance are treated as foundational design drivers, not add-ons. Hosted by HMC Architects on behalf of the AIA COTE Communications Committee, the webinar offered a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how these projects respond to climate action, community needs, and real-world constraints—while still delivering inspiring architecture. ...
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Voices of Advocacy: Chris Hellstern

By Lisa Richmond, Hon. AIA posted 01-23-2026
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An interview with Chris Hellstern, AIA, about Washington’s Buy Clean Buy Fair, the importance of alliances, and why architects make great advocates. Lisa Richmond and Joyce Raybuck A Career Built Around Sustainability “I’ve been working in sustainability for about 20 years. I’m a licensed architect, but my role at Miller Hull is primarily as our Living Building Challenge and Sustainability Director, which lets me touch many projects. To make broader change, I also serve on AIA CCADE, AIA COTE , AIA Washington and other committees, with a strong policy focus on embodied carbon.” Washington’s Policy ...
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