The AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) bestowed GSA Federal Center South with the 2015 Top Ten Plus Award, among the most esteemed awards in sustainable design. Top Ten Plus recognizes buildings named to a previous year’s AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects that have since demonstrated continued outstanding performance in energy efficiency. Preceding this award, the AIA selected GSA Federal Center South as a Top Ten Green Project in 2013. The 2015 Top Ten Plus jury reviewed a comprehensive energy performance analysis of each submitted project, including an examination of construction, water cycle, energy flows and materials.

Describing why they selected the 209,000 SF, LEED Platinum-certified building as a 2015 winner, jury members wrote: “We admired ZGF Architects for their persistence over time to improve both their understanding of the planned performance of the building and its actual performance; they were genuinely curious about how the building was working out. There are signs of science and research in the relationship between daylighting and employee performance, along with evidence that the building has caused an enhanced environmental culture amongst its occupants.”