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Stay on top of the industry’s latest topics and trends with free courses from ARCHITECT U (formerly Hanley Wood University), brought to you by the team behind ARCHITECT magazine. Our online courses are created for architects, designers, engineers, builders, and other industry professionals, and are accredited by: AIA, AIA/HSW, ASLA,
GBCI, IDCEC, NAHB, NARI, and NKBA. We report AIA and IDCEC credits on your behalf, as well as provide a certificate of completion.
Over the past decade, the architectural, construction and engineering (AEC) sector has grappled with unprecedented technological and socioeconomic changes along with an unprecedented confluence of challenges to the health of our communities, our cities and our planet. Climate change is accelerating—the 10 years leading up to 2020 was the warmest decade on record. Buildings and their construction account for 39% of global carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, the built environment is growing at a record pace in the United States.
It is estimated that 2.5 million new housing units are needed to make up for the nation’s housing shortage, a trend that has not abated in the face of a global pandemic. Economically, the price of housing has eclipsed the income of many Americans—precipitating a critical housing crisis in some regions—and adding to inequality and a rising homeless population across the nation. Amidst this, we spend as much as 90% of our time indoors, often cut off from nature. While these challenges are daunting, thought leaders in the AEC industry increasingly see it as an opportunity to be at the forefront of change, with examples of design leadership across the country and around the world.
Technological gains within the built environment are making zero-carbon construction attainable, dramatic energy savings achievable and taller mass timber construction possible. Industry research, along with bold demonstration projects, is expanding the sector’s understanding of carbon sequestration, life cycle assessment (LCA), Passive House principles, and biophilic and health-centered design. In this course you’ll learn from design teams who are embracing these strategies and delivering solutions that begin to address some of the most pressing global challenges of our times.
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Are we able to dive deeper into these numbers to find ways to reduce a building’s carbon footprint in meaningful ways? What are the methods used to measure building material carbon footprint and do they tell the whole story? Are there simple tools to assess material choices? This course seeks to address these and other questions by explaining the principal methods and tools that are used to assess carbon footprint in the context of building materials.
It includes a primer on product terminology, including life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPDs), carbon footprint, embodied carbon, and whole building LCA (WBLCA) tools. It explains how biogenic carbon is treated in standard LCA methodology and dives into the forest side of the equation, explaining basics of the sustainable forestry cycle. This course also highlights some ways to track and assure wood comes from sustainable forests in North America and why demand for wood products supports investment in forest management.
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Making good decisions about improving an existing home's energy efficiency and lowering its energy costs can be challenging for a consumer. Homeowners, builders, contractors, and weatherization agencies have a wide range of energy efficiency upgrades to choose from, each with different benefits and costs.
This course compares the popular upgrades and systems available to help you make the best choice for your projects and is intended to serve as a guide to answer questions about prioritizing energy efficiency investments for existing homes. By closely examining a study commissioned by the Propane Education and Resource Council, the “Analysis of Energy Efficiency Upgrades for Existing Homes,” this course will provide objective information about the most effective measures and/or equipment choices across five climate regions in the United States.
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Brick is a resilient and sustainable material used in high-performance buildings, a key aspect of sustainable design. Sustainable design considers the health and well-being of building occupants and the concept of resilience, which is to withstand extreme weather events, then quickly repair and re-occupy.
The learning objectives explore the age old material, which has gained traction in resilient design and discusses how buildings constructed of the material provide occupant comfort in terms of thermal, acoustic, and non-VOC emissions.
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Biophilic design has solidified itself as a staple of modern building design, quickly moving from a trend to an established design principle. An increasing number of building owners and tenants are interested in incorporating biophilic design into their commercial spaces, and because biophilic design IS the future of design, architects and designers are stepping up to meet the need. This course will help architects and designers understand the core concepts of biophilic design and why it’s an essential component of the current interior built environment, as well as the future of commercial spaces.
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Resilience has become a central idea for assessing how our social, economic, technical, constructed, engineered, and ecological systems can withstand and bounce back from a man-made or weather- and climate-related disaster. Globally, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, high winds, hail, coastal and valley flooding, sea level rise, heat waves, seismic activity, extreme cold, ice storms, and snow melt have destroyed ecosystems, caused loss of life, damaged property, disrupted healthcare and financial networks, and in some cases, brought essential services to a halt. During this presentation, we’ll discuss the composition, performance, and application of engineered polymer siding and trim and capped polymer cladding to illustrate the benefits to home and building owners when construction materials are selected with resilience and sustainability in mind.
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Wood, in its natural state, is a highly sustainable material. But there are many factors that can either diminish or improve its sustainability, including how and where it’s harvested, how end products are treated and finished, and the lifecycle of the material.
This course will explore the sustainability of wood wall and ceiling systems, and considerations for specifying wood products that are sustainably sourced. We will cover different manufacturing and treatment processes, and environmental factors affecting wood, its lifecycle, reuse, and salvageability. We will also discuss applications for wood ceilings and walls, certifications available for projects specifying these materials, and insight into the world of sustainable wood systems.
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Achieving carbon neutrality and protecting the world's water supply are vital to the AEC industry because of the significant impact buildings have on the environment and occupant health. The structures that we live, work, and commune in use a vast amount of the energy and water consumed on the planet for building operations and maintenance.
Over the past two decades more and more organizations, from private companies to federal governments, have taken steps to minimize their impact on the environment and, more recently, on society's wellbeing as a whole. This has been accomplished through sustainable building design, social accountability, and ethical economic practices. This course will discuss a Net Positive approach to design and business operations.
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There is a misconception that zero net energy (ZNE) means all-electric, but in fact, propane has the ability to provide a clean, efficient, and affordable energy solution for both builders and their customers. This course will discuss how ZNE fits into the country’s energy landscape and how mixed-fuel homes featuring propane can be leveraged to meet ZNE homeowners’ energy and lifestyle demands.
The course will explore design strategies architects can use to achieve zero net energy homes and case studies where propane’s versatility and low-carbon output were harnessed to achieve resiliency, sustainability, and performance in ZNE builds.
EnrollThis course will examine Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) through the lens of the A/E/C industry and building product manufacturers. It will review the evolution of ESG from the 1980s when organizations began to regulate and manage pollution, improve labor and safety standards, and improve other negative outcomes of economic growth. The three pillars of ESG will be discussed generally, then from the perspective of the A/E/C industry, and finally through the lens of a window and door manufacturer and their specific ESG agenda. The course will conclude with a case study that achieved Living Building Challenge certification and helped both an architecture firm and window and door manufacturer achieve ESG goals.
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