Oberlin’s Lewis Center tops Architect magazine’s “G-list”

Perhaps you saw the Vanity Fair list of “greatest buildings of the last 30 years.” 52 of the 90 people they surveyed produced a list topped by the Bilbao Guggenheim. Conspicuously absent? Buildings known for their sustainable / green / high performance characteristics (even though some architects with green cred made the list). In response to this survey, architect Lance Hosey, who writes a column and blog for Architect magazine, launched a survey of green designers to see what their list would turn up. The William McDonough + Partners-designed Lewis Center at Oberlin College tops the “G list”! This project was our collaboration with an amazing thinker and special client: David Orr, who still leads the environmental studies program at Oberlin today, and used that project success as a springboard for progressive activities through design, community connections, and more. He embodies the notion of holistic sustainability. We are enormously proud of this pioneering project, and delighted with this recognition. Check out the Architect magazine G-list here: http://www.architectmagazine.com/green-building/web-exclusive-the-g-list-survey-of-architecture.aspx. The Vanity Fair (which profiled Bill in 2008, http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/05/mcdonough200805) response is here: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/07/the-green-response-to-vfs-architecture-survey.html. Metropolis magazine’s Susan Szenasy chimes in here: http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20100728/the-g-list-the-a-list.