PORTOLA VALLEY TOWN CENTER When Portola Valley, California sought an updated, seismically safer civic complex, the existing mid-20th-century wood-and-concrete-block campus was deconstructed and its parts repurposed, along with other salvaged components, to create a sustainable new facility on another portion of the site. The resulting Portola Valley Town Center is targeted for LEED Platinum certification and was named one of the Top Ten Green Projects for 2009 by the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE). — Published 2009.1007
	CATHEDRAL OF LIGHT The soaring Cathedral of Christ the Light designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has transformed an old retail and commercial district in Oakland, California, into a vital sacred and civic gathering place. The all-new 224,000-square-foot (20,800-square-meter) complex for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland brims with amenities, including a public plaza and garden, health clinic, conference center, gift shop, and cafe, as well as clergy living quarters. — Published 2008.1105
	CAREFUL CONSERVANCY The Trustees of Reservations, one of the oldest land conservancies in the United States, is in the business of improving and preserving scenic landscapes in Massachusetts. When it came time to design an administrative center, the largest capital project in its 113-year history, the statewide nonprofit organization took pains to apply its own tenets of environmental stewardship. — Published 2005.0810
	GREEN BUILDING SCHOOL At the University of Florida in Gainesville, the new home for the School of Building Construction is setting an example for sustainability on campus. Rinker Hall has achieved a "gold" LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Its success has raised the bar for this university's new buildings which will now be expected to meet or exceed LEED silver standards. — Published 2005.0309

Lauri Puchall