Design Professionals Observe Earth Day 2003
In recognition of Earth Day 2003, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) announced the Top Ten Green Projects for 2003 - including Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, by The Miller|Hull Partnership.

As fate would have it, the AIA Seattle Committee on the Environment and IIDA of Washington will hold the local Earth Day observance - What Makes It GREEN?/GreenWorld, a Collaborative Forum on Sustainable Design - at Fisher Pavilion on April 24, continuing on April 25 with tours of local projects exhibiting achievement in sustainable design and building techniques.

Several hundred design professionals will attend Conference events at Fisher Pavilion, beginning Thursday morning with opening remarks by David Orr, Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College, continuing with remarks by Rob Bennett, who established Portland's Green Building Program as Director of that city's Office of Sustainable Development. The program showcases sustainability-focused guest speakers, concurrent educational programs, GreenWorldT Product Exhibits, as well as display and discussion of projects presented in the What Makes it GREEN? Exhibit. A keynote address by Gifford Pinchot III, cofounder of the Bainbridge Island Graduate Institute, will close the day's events.

The AIA Top Ten Green jury highlighted design achievements at Fisher Pavilion - one of the first buildings in Seattle designed and constructed under City policy requiring all public facilities over $5 million to achieve a LEED Silver Rating - especially its "careful sit[ing] within Seattle Center, where it serves more than a quarter million people for events and cultural festivals throughout the year, while retrieving valuable urban land for a public plaza. Fisher Pavilion exhibits careful attention to lighting efficiency and quality while providing significant daylight for exhibitions." The design achieved energy goals by use of 'burying' the building and use of a high-mass roof to decrease envelop loads on the building, resulting in extensive energy and heating savings.

AIA's national COTE Chair Daniel Williams FAIA, a Seattle-based architect, will join colleagues in presenting the jury selections in the sixth annual Top Ten Green Projects program May 1 at the National Building Museum. AIA COTE developed this initiative in partnership with the US Department of Energy and Environmental Building News magazine.

Including Miller|Hull's Fisher Pavilion, this year's Top Ten Green Projects include 7 by West Coast architects.