Third Round of Buildings of Excellence Award Winners Announced

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) awarded $13.5 million to 14 projects during the third round of the State’s Buildings of Excellence competition. The award ceremony was held on Tuesday, March 21, at the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architect's Center for Architecture in lower Manhattan. Speakers included Doreen Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA; Rory M. Christian, Chairman of the New York State Public Service Commission; Sara Bayer, Director of Sustainability at Magnusson Architecture and Planning PC; Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director for the Architecture League of New York; and Illya Azaroff, founding principal of +LAB architect.

Since being launched in 2019, the Competition has awarded more than $48 million to innovative low- or zero-carbon multifamily buildings that are clean, resilient, affordable, and replicable. The Competition is a large part of New York State's ambitious plan to cut statewide carbon emissions, of which buildings play an oversized role. Winners came from four different regions across the Empire State, the Capital Region (3), the Finger Lakes (1), the Mid-Hudson (1), and New York City (9).

While previous award recipients included new construction and retrofits, the winners in the Competition’s third round were entirely new construction. The majority of these buildings will include an affordable component. At the event, Ms. Harris said, $8 million of the $13.5 million has been allocated to award recipients who are building affordable housing. Moreover, ten of the 14 winners will pursue Passive House certification, while others will utilize Passive House design features to significantly improve performance and reduce energy use. Ms. Harris noted that this is proof positive that affordable housing can be clean, resilient, and efficient.

"The entire world is looking for these solution sets," Mr. Azaroff said. "We're showing those today."

The Recipients

Ms. Genevro of the Architecture League of New York announced that four Building of Excellence award recipients also received Blue Ribbon for Design Excellence awards. This year’s winners included Highbridge, Parcel 7, Magnolia Gardens, and Livonia C3. Details for these four projects, as well as the 10 other award recipients, can be found below.

An additional seven projects, three of which also won Building of Excellence awards, have been selected to receive Early-Stage Design funding. In total, $1.1 million will be distributed to these projects to assist with carbon neutral-ready design, research, modeling, third-party certification applications, and more. A list of these recipients can also be found below.