2020 COTE Competition

The COTE Top Ten for Students Competition seeks compelling design submissions that meaningfully address the future impacts of climate change well into the second half of this century. Emphasis is to be placed on achieving zero emissions, adapting to projected climate impacts, and designing for resilience.

The ten sustainability measures shall serve to inform the design process and guide the required graphics and written narratives/abstract. Students or student teams must submit the following materials online:

1. Graphics: No more than four (4) digital boards at 20” x 20” (JPEG files, no more than 20MB each), to include the following:

Documentation must adequately convey the project’s relationship to topography and physical context, formal and programmatic organization, circulation patterns, and experiential qualities. All drawings should be labeled; indicate scale and orientation where necessary. At minimum, include the following:

•   Site or context plan

•   Floor plans

•   Building / site sections

•   Perspective or isometric view (digital rendering or model photograph)

Present diagrams or images that best display how the project meets the three design criteria by considering the ten measures of sustainability. Some measures may require a specific graphic or calculation; others are open-ended. Where applicable, provide labels and notes on how calculated metrics are obtained (basis, method, program used, and assumptions).

2. Abstract/Narrative: (100 words maximum for each sustainability measure for a total of 1,000 word maximum). Project/concept statement (approach/program/intentions/strategies). The narratives should answer questions posed in the ten measures. The specific questions for each measure are meant to be a guide; each one does not need to be answered. *During submission, simply copy/paste this text into the “Abstract” text field.

3. Program Brief: (500 words maximum)  Submissions should include a brief description the building type, gross square footage, project location & climate zone.
*During submission, simply copy/paste this text into the “Program” text field.

Incomplete or undocumented entries will be disqualified. All drawings should be presented at a scale appropriate to the design solution and include a graphic scale and north arrow.

Project authorship must remain anonymous. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on the boards, abstract/narrative, program or studio brief. If authorship is revealed on any submission materials the entry will be disqualified.

All metrics should include a short description of key assumptions used in the analysis and where the numbers came from and reliability.

The administration of the competition at each institution is left to the discretion of the faculty within the guidelines set forth in this document. Work should have been completed in a design studio or related class within the 2019 calendar year. Design work completed before 2019 will not be accepted.

Each faculty sponsor may develop an internal system to evaluate the students’ work using the criteria set forth in this Competition Program and the Curriculum Addendum. The evaluation process should be an integral part of the design process, encouraging students to scrutinize their work in a manner similar to that of the jury. The final result of the design process will be a submission of four presentation boards and a narrative describing the design solution and approach to the each of the ten sustainability measures.