COA Academic Hub Wins National Award for Green Design
BAR HARBOR—The College of the Atlantic Davis Center for Human Ecology is recognized as one of the most sustainable and forward-thinking buildings in the country by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
The center, which blends innovation with ecological responsibility, is the winner of a 2025 AIA COTE Top Ten Award, which celebrates design excellence in sustainability, resilience, and innovation.
The 29,000-square-foot building was designed by architects Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture · Design and OPAL, and officially opened in fall 2021, ushering in the college’s 50th academic year.
“The Davis Center for Human Ecology reinforces a heightened awareness of the unique ecology of the site and surrounding island community,” the AIA Committee on the Environment writes. “Weaving together the interdisciplinary study of human ecology with Passive House standards and biogenic materials, the building forms a dynamic new academic environment that amplifies an immersive and sustainable learning experience at the intersection of land and sea.”
Perched on a rocky promontory along Frenchman Bay, the Center for Human Ecology is COA’s newest, greenest academic space on campus. Design highlights include:
The building meets the newly released national definition for Zero Emissions Buildings, or ZEB, a Biden-Harris Administration initiative which OPAL Management Partner, Timothy Lock, collaborated on and helped facilitate.
Designed to the stringent German Passive House standard of energy efficiency and indoor air quality, it consumes 90 percent less energy than a comparable code-compliant building.
Passive solar gain from south-facing glass mitigates heating demand during Maine’s long, cold winters. A high-capacity energy recovery ventilation system provides a constant flow of tempered fresh air.
The design extensively uses low-embodied carbon and locally sourced materials—including a nearly all-wood structure and wood fiber insulation—which radically reduce its lifecycle carbon footprint, effectively neutralizing the environmental impact of its construction.
The building accommodates art studios, offices, teaching and collaboration spaces, science labs, and a greenhouse for programming in zoology, botany, chemistry, geology, general science, fine art, and media.
The building design maximizes views of the ocean and frames an open green used for ceremonies and outdoor activities.
The 2025 COTE Top Ten program is in its 28th year and highlights projects that meet the AIA Committee on the Environment’s rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value. The program was founded on the idea that sustainability is essential to design excellence and vice versa. The COTE Top Ten has become the industry’s best-known award program recognizing innovative projects integrating exemplary performance with compelling design.
Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture · Design was founded in 2017, combining more than 30 years of design leadership with a passionate belief in the power of architecture to affect change and improve the quality of life for all. The studio, a New York City certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise and federally certified Women-Owned Small Business, builds upon an award-winning body of work recognized internationally for design excellence and contributing to the vitality of cities, landscapes and the communities and institutions it serves. Central to the practice is an emphasis on addressing pressing issues in contemporary society through design that promotes the wellbeing of communities and the long-term sustainability of the environment.
OPAL was founded in 2008, as the architecture half of a groundbreaking design/build company, and launched as an independent architecture firm in 2019. Based in Belfast, OPAL is one of only 15 firms nationwide to meet AIA’s 2030 Challenge which requires a 80% reduction of operational carbon from baseline across all projects. OPAL has spearheaded the Passive House movement in North America.
The center has now received both of the top honors offered by the AIA—the 2025 COTE Top Ten Award and the 2024 Architecture Award.