AIA/ACSA announce 2023 COTE Top Ten for Students winners

The AIA Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) have announced this year’s winners of the 2023 AIA COTE Top Ten for Students Competition.

Organizers share: “The competition recognizes 10 exceptional studio projects that integrate creative and innovative design strategies. These projects are designed to achieve carbon-neutral operations through daylighting, passive heating and cooling systems, sustainable materials, water conservation, energy generation, and other sustainable systems.”

A panel of jurists that included Pennsylvania State University’s Rahman Azari, Nithyashree Balachandar Iyer of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Page’s Jull Kurz, Sarah Mathews of Jacobs, and Georgia Tech’s Julie Ju-Youn Kim selected a group whose proposals demonstrated an ability to both protect and enhance their chosen environments.

The winners of the 2023 competition can be viewed below.

ABOVE THE MARSH
Students: Lucas Schindler & Mia Walker - Clemson University 
Faculty: Ulrike Heine, David Franco, & George Schafer 

Jury comments: "Above the Marsh is an excellent design through the programming and strong illustrations. The design carefully creates a model that can be repeated in other marsh and coastal lands. The clear sections and renderings bring forth a proposal on how to operate on a larger urban infrastructural scale for a sustainable future."

SOUTHERN BASTION – PROTECTING THE MARSHES
Students: Denzyl Ye Teo Denzyl & Gineva Zhang - Savannah College of Art and Design
Faculty: Alice Guess | Collaborator: David Thompson Architect, David Thompson Studio 

Jury comments: "Southern Bastion – Protecting the Marshes is an outside-the-box innovative design, not only on the building form but also on the skin and materiality. The PTFE cushion technology in the envelope brings a level of depth and richness of the form and function. The systematic approach to the design shows an understanding of the environmental solutions."

RESTORING A HAVEN
Students: William Scott & Connor Smith - Clemson University
Faculty: Ulrich Heine, David Franco & George Schafer

Jury comments: "Restoring a Haven is an intriguing design with beautiful drawings, which clearly address the 10 Framework for Design Excellence measures. The combination of design and quantitative information is compelling and a thorough environmental solution." 

WIINGAASHK: A CULTURAL AND ECOLOGICAL PATH TO HEALING
Students:  Isabelle Cassidy - The Catholic University of America
Faculty: Patricia Andrasik | Collaborator: Jim Lutz 

Jury comments: "Wiingaashk: A Cultural and Ecological Path to Healing is an impressive design by the technical skills and expertise that the project employs. The diagrams are laid out in a way to show a broader context of the whole site. Using the experimentation of Hydrothermal analysis and limited embodied carbon modeling executes the solution elegantly."

HUNTING ISLAND STATE PARK CENTER FOR OCEANOGRAPHY
Students: Joanna Frauca - Savannah College of Art and Design
Faculty: Michael Hill | Collaborator: Matt Barnett, LS3P

Jury comments: Hunting Island State Park Center for Oceanography stands-out through the thoughtful response to the environmental condition and the island site. The rigor presented in the submission boards demonstrates the students clear understanding of the buildings design, analysis and presentation. The student understands the site and how the buildings fit into the ecological environment.

GREEN LIGHTHOUSE
Students: YunIn Jeung - Louisiana Tech University
Faculty: Kevin Singh 

Jury comments: "Green Lighthouse exposes sustainable design strategies to the public by inviting them into a building working on healthy living in the downtown core. The quality of the diagrams and the amount of information that is communicated on the boards is impressive. Overall, a thought-provoking and comprehensive project that hits all the environmental marks."

RELINQUETUR RESEARCH CENTER
Students: Gabriel Cachapuz Velasco - Savannah College of Art and Design
Faculty: Alice Guess | Collaborator: David Thompson Architect, David Thompson Studio

Jury comments: "Relinquetur Research Center is a compelling design through a range of sophisticated renderings and well-executed drawings. The incorporation of different types of media, such as hand sketches, using a digital tool and physical study model is masterfully achieved. The simplicity of the design communicates the performance of the site with clear and accurate metrics focused on the sustainable response."

THE CRAFT, THE TRADITION, THE CELEBRATION OF CULTURE
Students: Angela Kraus & Olivia Wideman - Clemson University
Faculty: Ulrike Heine, David Franco & and George Schafer

Jury comments: "The Craft, The Tradition, The Celebration of Culture is a well-executed design with a beautiful façade. The drawings use innovative means to demonstrate the site plan through the axon and pull-apart renderings. The jury appreciates the ambition, cultural and social sensibility that is interwoven throughout the project, while also addressing the environmental and ecological response. Enjoyable take on spaces in the sections within the context of the overall design."

WATERSHED
Students: Eric Luth & Andrew Baltimore - University of Washington
Faculty: Gundula Proksch & Christopher Meek 

Jury comments: "Watershed is an enthralling design with robust information, well executed graphics and clear data. Effectively utilizing the boards to show the quantitative data-driven measures, the project represents a system thinking approach to the design, which clearly shows a rigor of understanding of analysis and environmental metrics."

TIMBR | TIMBER INTEGRATIVE MEANS + BIOPHILIC RESILIENCE
Students: Marcus Puste, Farah Ossimee & Dolin Dias - University of Detroit Mercy
Faculty: Kristin Nelson & James Leach

Jury comments: "TIMBR | Timber Integrative Means + Biophilic Resilience delivers an impeccable project with urban design analysis creating an equitable community. The wall section drawings beautifully communicate the details of the double-skin envelope. The project is a strong, elegant design with impressive renderings and graphics, which greats an overall strong sustainable architecture."