By Jay Fox
Winners of the 2025 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award were announced last week. The Top Ten Awards program is the profession’s best-known recognition program for sustainable design excellence, and for the first time in the program’s 28-year history a Passive House certified project, The Bush School New Upper School in Seattle, was among the award recipients.
Designed by Mithun—an integrated design firm with offices in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles—the project is the largest Passive House certified school building in the Western United States, and first Salmon Safe certified school in the country with stormwater systems that enhance the watershed and protect salmon habitats. The new school building expands the capacity of the Bush School, an independent K-12 school founded in 1924, and features healthy materials, natural light, and flexible spaces that serve as a learning laboratory for students in grades 9-12.
“Over my years at Mithun, I have been fortunate and am deeply grateful to have had various roles now on a handful of projects honored with an AIA COTE Top Ten award,” said Mithun Associate Principal Mike Fowler. “Each one of them is special, but this latest one for the Bush School stands out and holds a unique place in my heart. On a project with a list of firsts, becoming the first certified Passive House project to receive this prestigious award recognition marks a groundbreaking moment—not just for the project but for the entire Passive House community.”