This year, the AIA Committee on the Environment’s (COTE’s) Top Ten award winners spans geography, building type, and scale. Honorees range from an exquisite, vernacular-inspired pavilion standing in long-grass prairie to a 300,000-square-foot science museum on San Francisco’s historic waterfront. The contrast suggests just how much Top Ten has evolved since its launch 20 years ago, when small rural projects, mostly with programs focused on environmental learning, dominated the submission pool.

The Top Ten, announced today, also stands out for energy performance. “The average energy reduction for the new crop of winners is 76 percent below baseline,” observes Lance Hosey, chief sustainability officer of Perkins Eastman. He also points out that this year’s figure beats the average energy reduction of all Top Ten projects by 20 percentage points.