Announcing the Winners of the 2023 METROPOLIS Planet Positive Awards

Sections

Workplace & Education

Through adaptive reuse, mass timber construction, and a host of other sustainable strategies, workplace and education projects are hitting ambitious milestones for planet-positive design. Many organizations are also using these projects to engage communities—whether that is staff, students, local groups, or the broader public.

Judges: Drew Shula, Founder and CEO, Verdical Group and The Net Zero Conference; Jen Masengarb, Executive Director, AIA Chicago; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Workplace | Corporate Headquarters Winner

Perkins&Will & McLennan Design
HMTX World Headquarters

Workplace | Commercial Building Winner

ZGF
PAE Living Building

Workplace Honorable Mention

Houser Walker Architecture & McLennan Design
ASHRAE NetZero Headquarters

Education | Higher Education Winner

Re:Vision
Fahy Commons

Education | K-12 Winner

Perkins Eastman DC
John Lewis Elementary School

Education Honorable Mention

KPMB Architects
Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences

Civic & Cultural

Cultural projects are typically focussed on the needs and behaviors of guests and visitors—which makes them unique opportunities to inform and excite people about the possibilities of planet positive design.

Judges: Ingrid Spencer, Executive Director, AIA Austin; Kyle Picket, Co-founder & Board Vice-President, The William J. Worthen Foundation; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Civic & Cultural Winner

Valerio Dewalt Train
Ford Calumet Environmental Center

Civic & Cultural Honorable Mention

Perkins&Will
Oak Park Community Recreation Center

Multifamily & Mixed-Use

Through a direct interface with citizens, mixed use and multifamily projects often combine private amenities and public benefits. Sensitive programs, deep ecological study, and stakeholder engagement, can help these projects transform urban life for the better.

Judges: Ingrid Spencer, Executive Director, AIA Austin; Kyle Picket, Co-founder & Board Vice-President, The William J. Worthen Foundation; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Multifamily & Mixed-Use Winner

Dattner Architects
Chestnut Commons Passive House Development

Single Family Home

Housing is a huge challenge across the world—from designing homes for resilience to building healthy homes at the scale needed for resource-efficient and nurturing communities. Successful projects meet those challenges without contributing to the climate crisis.

Judges: Ingrid Spencer, Executive Director, AIA Austin; Kyle Picket, Co-founder & Board Vice-President, The William J. Worthen Foundation; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Single Family Home Winner

hb+a Architects
Box Factory

Landscape

Parks, plazas, waterfronts, gardens, and other outdoor work are vital in enhancing the quality of life in cities and communities. With deep ecological study and thoughtful development of low-impact techniques, these projects also transform public spaces into sustainable environments.

Judges: Ingrid Spencer, Executive Director, AIA Austin; Kyle Picket, Co-founder & Board Vice-President, The William J. Worthen Foundation; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Landscape Winner

OJB Landscape Architecture
Revitalizing the Riverfront: Omaha’s Green Investment in the Downtown Core

Landscape Honorable Mention

HDR
Rodney Cook Sr Park

Innovation

Sustainability certifications aren’t the only markers of Planet-Positive design. Creative carbon reduction strategies, meaningful engagement with communities, and designing for health and wellness often yield innovative projects.

Judges: James Wasley, Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Paula Melton, Editorial Director, BuildingGreen, Inc

Products

No building project today would be able to achieve a high level of performance on energy, carbon, or health without the right building blocks. Architectural and interior products today represent the cutting edge of sustainable innovation, in the built environment and beyond, taking fresh and holistic approaches on all fronts—aesthetics, material innovation, and impacts on human health and wellbeing.

Judges: Verda Alexander, Editor at Large, Metropolis and Co-Founder, Studio O+A; Lona Rerick, Principal, ZGF Architects; Kelly Beamon, Deputy Editor, METROPOLIS; Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, METROPOLIS

Architectural Systems and Facades Winner

WOW Design
Icon Series

Flooring | Hard Winner

Shaw Contract
Dappled Light

Flooring | Soft (Carpet) Winner

Mohawk Group
Wild Dyer

Furniture | Office Winner

Boss Design
Sia Task Chair

Furniture | Outdoor Winner

Division Twelve
Twigz

Furniture | Other Indoor Winner

Andreu World
Tamara

Lighting Winner

LightArt
Ocean Coil Marina

Surfaces, Tiles, Materials Winner

Crossville Inc.
Native Metal Porcelain Tile Collection

Technology and Tools Winner

cove.tool
revgen.tool

Technology and Tools Honorable Mention

Reseat
Enterprise Tool

Textiles Winner

Luum
Super Natural

Textiles Honorable Mention

HBF Textiles
CrumpledPaper

Walls + Ceilings Winner

PurOptima
Glass Wall Partitions Manufactured with the Lowest Embodied Carbon Aluminum

Walls + Ceilings Honorable Mention

Garden on the Wall
Garden on the Wall @ BNA

People

These budding talents, established firms, and educators are leaders in sustainable, equitable, healthy, and resilient design. Their rigorous and visionary work offers creative approaches for today and the challenges of the future.

Firm of the Year

The Miller Hull Partnership

Rising Star

Christopher Wingate, MSR Design

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