Blogs

Q4 COTE Network Reminder

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 30 days ago
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Dear COTE Chapter Leaders, Happy Friday! This is a friendly reminder that our Q4 AIA COTE Network Call is scheduled for Tuesday, November 18th 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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November 2025 AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: ROCKWOOL

By Ellie Falcon posted 11-03-2025
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A systemic approach to retrofits: The benefits of incorporating stone wool How to choose the right approach and materials for retrofits, from AIA partner Rockwool. ROCKWOOL North America Each retrofit project is a unique and complex undertaking with its own history, conditions, and performance challenges. Taking a holistic approach that accounts for not only the project's goals, but also how all building systems will work together over the long term, will ensure it meets and exceeds modern energy efficiency and fire performance standards, and offers durability for decades. And choosing the right materials, like stone wool insulation, is a critical ...
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In Memory of Ganesh Nayak, AIA

By Ellen Mitchell, AIA posted 10-27-2025
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If we’re lucky, we have people who come into our lives in big and small ways that leave deep and lasting imprints on who we are and how we view the world. Ganesh Nayak, AIA was one such person for me. I will be forever grateful for the time we spent together on the COTE Climate Action–Climate Justice working group, which was the force behind Climate Justice in Architecture . To this effort, Ganesh brought a spirit of generosity, a clarity of purpose, and an infectious joy. He could see the big picture, recognizing that good design must not only be sustainable but also equitable and just. Going into this, I thought I knew what terms like justice and equity ...
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Letter from the Chair: November / December 2025

By Robin Puttock, AIA posted 10-21-2025
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The 2025 COTE goals that we drafted back in January are strikingly similar to the goals I have for my students. Collaboration. Transformation. Excellence. It has been my distinct honor and privilege to lead this remarkable group of professionals this year and to amplify the voices at the local level and those in academia. As I look forward to the inspirational and astute leadership of COTE’s incoming chair, Ellen Mitchell, I would like to take a moment and reflect on what we all have achieved this season, which coincidentally, is also a practice that I try to instill in my students. At COTE , our mission is simple: to leverage design to improve life for current ...
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Share Your Stories – COTE Network Spotlight Program

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 10-16-2025
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COTE is excited to launch a new COTE Network Spotlight Program and is seeking compelling examples of programs, initiatives, and advocacy efforts led by local, regional, or state COTE groups that have made a meaningful impact in advancing sustainable design excellence. We want to hear from you! Share your stories HERE . Submissions should highlight tangible results from programs implemented during calendar year 2025 and clearly demonstrate how these efforts align with one or more of the Framework for Design Excellence measures. This initiative aims to elevate and amplify the impactful work of local COTE groups. Submissions will be featured throughout ...
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Local COTE Spotlight: A Decade of Climate Dialogue in Western North Carolina

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 10-13-2025
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Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. — When AIA Western North Carolina (WNC) Committee on the Environment (COTE) launched its first Climate Symposium in 2014, it set out to answer a timely question: How can architects design in harmony with a changing climate ? The event’s tagline, Climate Adaptive Design: ...
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Local COTE Spotlight: Advancing Building Energy Leadership in New Orleans

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 10-13-2025
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Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. — For more than a decade, the City of New Orleans has sought to strengthen its building energy policies, an effort long championed by members of the AIA New Orleans Committee on the Environment (COTE). In 2025, those efforts came to fruition with the passage of the city’s ...
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COTE Book Review: Architectural Epidemiology

By Kira Gould, Hon. AIA posted 10-07-2025
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COTE Book Review: Architectural Epidemiology: Architecture as a Mechanism for Designing a Healthier, More Sustainable and Resilient World by Adele Houghton, FAIA, and Carlos Castillo-Salgado Review by Theresa Mark and Z Smith, FAIA Architects know that buildings can affect the health of those who spend time in them. Of course, good design always adapts to the particulars of each site and the needs of the occupants. But there's a whole field of study that looks at the impact of location, demographics, and policy on health and disease: "epidemiology." What if architects (and building owners and developers) spoke with public health experts ...
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COTE Network Update: Q4 Call

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 10-07-2025
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The COTE Network will host its last call of the year on November 18 th ! We’re excited to invite you to the final COTE Network call of 2025, taking place on November 18th . Following a similar format to last year, COTE group leaders will share key highlights and progress from their 2024 initiatives, along with plans for the year ahead. This Q4 call will spotlight half of the COTE components , with the remaining groups continuing the conversation during our Q1 2026 call . Cote Chapters to present: Q4 2025: AIA Arkansas – AIA Minnesota Q1 2026: AIA Monterey Bay – Texas Society of Architects We hope you’ll join us to celebrate ...
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AIA COTE® Top Ten for Students Competition: Winners Announced

By Ellie Falcon posted 09-19-2025
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The American Institute of Architects, Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE®) , in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) , have selected the recipients of the 2025 AIA COTE Top Ten for Students Competition in two categories: Foundation Level and Upper Level. The competition recognizes ten outstanding projects, along with one honorable mention, that meaningfully address the impacts of climate change. These creative designs imagine a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. The winning projects emphasize achieving net-zero emissions, adapting to resilient climate impacts, and addressing social and environmental inequities. ...
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Voices of Advocacy - "Louisiana Leap" Interview with Z Smith, FAIA

By Joyce Raybuck, AIA posted 08-30-2025
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This is the first in a series of interviews with a leader from the COTE community who has successfully lobbied for important policy change. We celebrate this success so that we can learn from the ways these individuals, in concert with a larger collective, enacted change. Our first interview is with Z Smith, FAIA, about the “Louisiana Leap” and this citizen architect’s role in advancing Louisiana’s statewide energy code. Z is a Principal and Director of Sustainability and Building Performance at Eskew Dumez Ripple in New Orleans. By sharing the stories of those doing substantive work, we hope to de-mystify the process. Throughout the series, you ...
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Local COTE Spotlight: Creating Space for Climate Dialogue in Westchester Hudson Valley

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 08-07-2025
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Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. --- When the AIA Westchester Hudson Valley (WHV) Committee on the Environment (COTE) was founded, the goal was simple but ambitious: to raise awareness of sustainability strategies across the region and connect local action to the broader mission of the AIA. That vision came ...
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Local COTE Spotlight: Energy Code Advocacy in Oklahoma

By Lindsey Falasca, AIA posted 08-07-2025
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Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities. --- In Oklahoma, where the state’s energy code had not been updated in over a decade, members of AIA Central Oklahoma’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) saw an opportunity to push for the adoption of a more modern and efficient version of the International Energy Conservation ...
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Reunited! Bringing Metrics Back to the Framework for Design Excellence

By Lori Ferriss, AIA posted 08-07-2025
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In 2019, the AIA passed the Resolution for Urgent and Sustained Climate Action. A key outcome of this resolution was the adoption of the COTE Top Ten Measures as the AIA Framework for Design Excellence to “transform the day-to-day practice of architects to achieve a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient and healthy built environment.” The elevation of the Framework was a milestone for our profession, declaring that good design must also be good for the planet and the people and other species who inhabit it. However, one critical component of the COTE Top Ten Measures was left behind in the creation of the Framework – the ...
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Q3 Cote Network Call Update

By Sean Costello, AIA posted 08-07-2025
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Thank you to everyone who joined the COTE Q3 Call on August 5th! We had a rich and inspiring dialogue focused on the vital work being carried out by COTE groups at both the local and state levels. Your leadership, advocacy, and shared experiences are instrumental in advancing sustainable design and strengthening our communities through environmental stewardship During the call, we explored several key topics, including: Resilience Green & Energy Codes Upcycling, Reconstruction & Reuse Healthy Materials If you weren’t able to join us live—or if you’d like to revisit the conversation—you can access the recording ...
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Letter from the Chair: September / October 2025

By Robin Puttock, AIA posted 08-07-2025
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As I write this chair letter, I am also actively planning my three fall semester architecture classes: Environmental Technologies 1: Systems Selection & Materials (2 nd year students), Integrated Design Studio (4 th year students) and Well-being Thesis Research (5 th year students). I find myself conflicted. Part of me is super-energized to plan my engagement with 60+ students over the course of 16 weeks, attempting to inspire and prepare them to drive meaningful climate action. I am grateful to be able to address a seemingly infinite number of topics (construction joints, MEP coordination, biophilia) using a diverse array of methodologies (scavenger ...
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AIA & the Road to COP30 – Share Your Successes

By Lisa Ferretto, AIA posted 08-01-2025
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AIA & the Road to COP30 – Share Your Successes The start of August means we are only three months away from COP30, the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Belem, Brazil. AIA will be there to showcase how architects are reducing emissions to minimize global warming and are designing more resilient communities to ensure a safer future. AIA’s Advocacy Team wants to hear about how you are doing this in your community, so we can share how architects are leading the way with policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society organizations from around the world. Fill out this brief survey to share how you, your firm, or your AIA chapter ...
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