Our newly completed Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center at Lafayette College recently received 3 major national awards including an AIA COTE® Top Ten, AIA Education Facility Design Award in the category of Excellence and a SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture, New Building in the category of Honor.
![](https://payette.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lafayette-college_robert-benson_-42-cropped-1024x738.jpg)
Photo Credit: Robert Benson Photography
As a LEED Platinum certified and high-performance building, being recognized by AIA COTE® Top Ten, the industry’s best-known awards program for sustainable design excellence, is a strong confirmation of our commitment to design buildings that are both sustainable and beautiful, while being accessible by all.
![](https://payette.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/aiau-1024x382.png)
Invited by AIAU, the AIA’s online education center for architects and designers, we were pleased to join this year’s course Performing Beautifully: Lessons from 2021 COTE® Top Ten Award-winning Teams and share our lessons learned, feedback and insights. Safely produced in-house about our entry, this course is free and available to all. Principal-in-Charge Bob Schaeffner, FAIA, Design Principal Mark Oldham, AIA and Principal and Building Scientist Andrea Love, AIA, LEED Fellow participated and covered 3 main areas:
Design for Integration:
- What is the big idea or innovative thinking that propelled this project to Design Excellence?
- What did you learn on this project that could inform or influence your future projects that you’d like to share with other design professionals?
- How did life-cycle thinking affect specific design decisions and drive a more climate-responsive design?
Our project is listed under the Climate chapter with commentary from Julie Hiromoto, AIA, and Michelle Amt, AIA.
![](https://payette.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/img_1478-1024x1365.jpg)
This project reads right and does a lot of good data and process sharing. Great job with ventilation and air monitoring. Good example for how you introduce the modern into the more historical campuses. Glazing is good; placement, daylighting, bird safety were all pretty seamlessly crafted in.
Juror Comment
More than a Science Center, the Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center is an exciting campus-wide destination that enlivens a formerly neglected quadrangle. This cleverly sited, unassuming and beautifully crafted building with a deeply engaging interior is both a respectful neighbor and an inviting beacon within its cherished campus setting.
![](https://payette.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lafayette-college_robert-benson_-30-1024x683.jpg)
Photo Credit: Robert Benson Photography
We hope this course offers useful content and inspires you at many levels.
Watch it today at https://aiau.aia.org/courses/performing-beautifully-2021-cote-top-10