Field House Wins AIA/VT Top Honor

The Putney School and Maclay Architects won an AIA-Vermont Honor Award for the school’s net-zero energy Field House last night. The award is for “a sustainable project that represents exceptional value beyond a single category and is worthy of special recognition.” The building, designed by Maclay Architects (Waitsfield, VT) and built by DEW Construction Corp. (Williston, VT) is super insulated and solar powered so that its net energy use per year is zero.

The Honor Award is the highest offered by AIA-Vermont. The Putney School Field House was one of three so honored this year. Entries were juried by AIA-Western Massachusetts. According to Lisa Sawin, an architect for Maclay, the judges were impressed with the Field House’s ascetic appearance and form, the process by which the school and the architects solicited input from the school community in the design process, the energy performance, and how the building is being used as a teaching tool for anyone else interested in sustainable architecture.