Can a building be as easy on the environment as it is on the eyes? Without a doubt, says The American Institute of Architects (AIA), a professional association based in Washington, D.C. To prove it, for the past 12 years, the organization and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have awarded the top 10 green projects across the globe.

At the same time, science is providing new ways to build green buildings—from using paints with low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) to high-efficiency ventilation—as well as revealing just how important a pleasing and healthy environment is to our interiors.

Of course, the devil is in the details, and as Scientific American Mind reported in its April issue, neuroscience is shedding new light on how constructed environments impact health and well-being. As it turns out, green buildings don't always put the humans who will be using them first. For instance, they're often, as we reported last week, downright noisy.

As a host of organizations and publications have created their own rankings of buildings based purely on eco-standards, the AIA has created a list of green buildings that also meet the aesthetic and functional needs of the people and communities that encounter and inhabit them. From a low-income apartment building situated by a light rail line to a new town center that reused materials from its old municipal buildings for construction, these projects are putting Earth and its residents on equal footing.

View a slideshow of AIA's top 10 green architectural projects worldwide

6 Comments

1. 1. J'Carlin 01:49 PM 5/27/09

   How could you miss the Cal Academy building in Golden Gate Park. Yeah the displays are energy intensive, but that is the nature of the beast. But the building itself is almost lost on its site from everywhere but the plaza in front and even there it blends well into the park.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. CoraEvans 07:18 PM 5/27/09

   The new U.S. Census Bureau building is the first green Fed. govt building. It sits next to its old buiding. The ground dug up for the old building will be use to fill in the hole created when the old building is torn down. It has won a number of smart environment/sustainability awards. I was surprised that it was not part of the list.
   
   http://www.som.com/content.cfm/us_census_bureau_headquarters

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. Eureka 02:34 PM 5/28/09

   nice

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. orcasmac 07:55 PM 6/2/09

   Too bad that at least some of the examples still are surrounded by so much concrete and paving, rather than open earth and plants. Providing non-paved open space would make these structures even more people-friendly!

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. amiran 01:37 AM 6/5/09

   User friendly and climate aware buildings have always been fundamental issues of good architecture. It is the green fuss that ruined it!!
   Ami Ran - Architecture of Israel Quartely
   www.aiq.co.il

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. verdai 08:25 PM 6/29/09

   how beautiful,
   with stone and glass
   and the spaces of harmony.
   
   
   (Down with the reproduction farmhouses gutting our cities!)

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this