The AIANY COTE Awards recognizes results-oriented achievements in the urban context. Winning submissions demonstrate processes that culminate in beautiful, timeless, and measurable design.

The awards will further sustainable design in the architectural profession, make transparent lessons learned, and reveal the process behind true innovation in an urban context.

Established in 2014 by the New York Chapter of AIA’s Committee on the Environment, the program seeks to redefine how design excellence is evaluated. By honoring innovative projects, we seek to provide a collective resource to all firms looking to achieve socially and environmentally responsible design.

Connecting the individual experience to a greater context and purpose has always been the role of architecture. Climate change, political stability, energy and water independence, and human health are all responsibilities of the design community. These challenges present new opportunities to enrich the profession — to generate positive impact in the world we build. The AIANY COTE Awards recognize design that brings us closer to solving critical issues facing our communities as achieving the highest level of intention possible in the field of architecture.

“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims. [The challenge is] to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time, with spontaneous cooperation and without ecological damage or disadvantage of anyone.” - Buckminster Fuller