The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named its top ten sustainable, green buildings for 2010.
The shortlisted developments include the new Research Support Facility at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a school in Greensburg, Kansas rebuilt after a tornado and an addition to Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin.
The AIA judging panel said the NREL facility, which aims to be net zero-energy, is both a ‘challenge to the building industry’ and a ‘blueprint’ for future low-energy developments.
Also making it onto the rankings is the world’s first LEED Platinum convention centre in Vancouver, Canada, which boasts the country’s largest green roof spanning 6 acres and comprising around 400,000 indigenous plants.
The building also features a heating and cooling system supplied by sea water heat pumps, which are powered by hydroelectricity.
Other ranked projects include two housing projects and a school in California, a dilapidated warehouse in Austin, Texas transformed into office space, a waste water treatment plant in Olympia, Washington and an LEED Platinum house in Racine on the edge of Lake Michigan.
For further information:
www.aia.org/
www.nrel.gov/
www.vancouverconventioncentre.com/
Related stories:
US architects name top ten green buildings (21-Apr 2009)
Top 10 US green buildings named (7-May 2008)
Source: Energyefficiencynews.com
