College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.

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AIA picks this region's top 10 greenest projects

Wednesday April 2008

Ten winners and three honorable mentions were announced at the ReGeneration 2008 Conference last Monday out of 56 entries from the Northwest and Pacific regions. Judges included Nancy Rottle, director of the Green Futures Lab, and former Seattle City Council member, and last quarter's department of Architecture part-time lecturer, Peter Steinbrueck. One of the themes of this year's contest was moving away from LEED certification, and considering how "regenerative" projects are. One of the local project winners is the Lake Sammamish State Park Boathouse in Issaquah slated for completion in 2010, because it's design features not only a green roof and solar panels that may generate enough energy to be sold back to the grid, but because this design is also easily replicable. Judges also considered project designs that solved unique site problems, and one of the exemplary projects that does this is Home on the Range, a 9,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project by High Plains Architects of Billings, Montana. What made this project particulalry attractive for an award was the high diversion rate. Originally a 1940s grocery store with few windows, architects daylighted the space, used recycled materials, and recycled 96 percent of the construction and demolition waste. Because the project was a renovation of a pre-existing structure, the cost was also 75 percent less than that of a new structure. The space has now become the headquarters for the Northern Plains Resource Council. Two of the 10 winners are in Seattle; the Bertschi School, and Mosler Lofts, and one of the three honorbale mentions went to the Shoreline Transfer Station.

The list of winners includes:

  • Bertschi School, a completed project designed by Miller Hull.
  • Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, un unbuilt project designed by Perkins + Will.
  • Corvallis Cohousing in Corvallis, Ore., a completed project designed by Sera Architects.
  • Home on the Range in Billings, Mont., a completed project designed by High Plains Architects.
  • Kitsap Seed Project in Bremerton, unbuilt and designed by Mithun.
  • Mosler Lofts in Seattle, completed and designed by Mithun.
  • Portland City Storage in Portland, unbuilt and designed by Mulvanny G2 Architecture.
  • Pringle Creek Cottage in Salem, Ore., completed and designed by Opsis Architecture.
  • Staley-Vidas Residence in Bend, Ore., designed by Mary Louise Staley.