D.C.’s Milken Institute School of Public Health wins AIA COTE Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) selected this year’s 10 recipients of the Top Ten Awards, the industry’s premier program celebrating sustainable design excellence.

The awarded projects ranged from SmithGroupJJR’s Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to HOK and Ferraro Choi & WSP’s NOAA Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

There was one project, though, that was located in Washington, D.C., and that project was George Washington University’s (GWU) Milken Institute School of Public Health. By winning one of COTE’s Top Ten Awards, that means that GWU’s building exemplifies the integration of great design and great performance, while following COTE’s rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value.

The $60 million, 161,000-square-foot building in Foggy Bottom was completed in 2014 with a LEED Platinum certification. In the jury comments, it read:

"As an urban scale project in the District of Columbia, this project focused on addressing stormwater on-site through a green roof and rainwater collection, achieving LEED Platinum certification. An innovative atrium design brings daylight into all floors of the building, which has a complex mix of labs and meeting/office spaces, encourages connections, and offers views."

This isn’t the first AIA award ever given to the Milken Institute School of Public Health. In January 2017, the AIA announced the winners of the 2017 Institute Honor Awards, which are “the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design.”

GWU’s building was complimented for making the most out of its challenging site location, while offering design highlights like a skylit atrium and pod-like classroom spaces.

The jury for this year’s Top Ten Awards consisted of Annie Chu of IIDA, CHU + GOODING ARCHITECTS, Steve Kieran of Kieran Timberlake, David Lake of Lake Flato, Bungane Mehlomakulu of Integral Group, and Amanda Sturgeon of Living Futures Institute.

• Milken Institute School of Public Health [AIA / 2017 COTE Top Ten]

• D.C. school building wins AIA Institute Honor Award [Curbed DC]