Pago Pago, AMAERICAN SAMOA — Lively & Associates of Honolulu, HI who carried out the architectural and civil work for the $4.6 million American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) Operations Center building in Tafuna, was recognized last week in the Aloha State with the Sustainable Design Award, during the 60th Annual Design Awards ceremony hosted annually by the Honolulu chapter of the American Institute of Architects, or AIA Honolulu.

The Sustainable Design Award is being presented for the very first time, according to AIA Honolulu in information released during the voting process, which was held Sept. 19 to Oct. 3, 2018. 

In collaboration with the US Green Building Council Hawaiʻi, it recognizes the project that best integrates design excellence with environmental performance.

As previously reported by Samoa News, the new building, for which the US Federal Emergency Management Agency provided $3.73 million in funding while ASPA provided $873,000 replaces the one in Satala that was destroyed by the Sept. 29, 2009 tsunami.

Early this year, the building was given LEED platinum status, making it one of only two buildings in the territory to be certified as such. The American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency building in Utulei is the other.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a rating system devised by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage market transformation towards sustainable design.

The building is described by AIA Honolulu, as the new operations center, merging engineering, administration and executive departments, constructed at the Tafuna site with resilient and sustainable design goals, to serve as an example of climate adaption building strategies. The building incorporates elements of local arts and traditional motifs to inspire a sense of place.