Considering that 90–95% of our time is spent indoors and that 28% of the energy demand in commercial buildings comes from lighting, proper daylighting strategies are more essential than ever. This course describes how to best harness the benefits of natural light without causing occupant discomfort, discusses how to calculate daylighting accurately, and presents case studies on the performance of daylight redirecting films.

Prerequisites:No

Course Level:Introductory

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

In addition to being an effective alternative to artificial lighting options, daylighting provides a wide range of other benefits for the building and the health and comfort of its occupants. This course addresses achieving daylighting in building design using skylights and translucent wall systems. This program includes discussions on the basics of daylighting, glazing options, daylighting methods, creative design, and the environmental benefits of daylighting systems.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Plantable permeable paving systems continue to grow in scope and practicality as we search for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, improve water quality, diminish flooding and erosion, reduce the urban heat island from reradiated heat in our cities and environment, and add attractive open space to building sites and neighborhoods. This course looks at plantable permeable pavement system types, their use, and how they can help achieve sustainability goals.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Aluminum Full View (AFV) doors are a fast growing segment within the building product industry. They have a wide range of applications in a variety of building types. This course will look at potential applications and building types, options for installation, and custom options in design when specifying AFV doors.

An undercounter refrigeration appliance is neither just a box to keep things cold nor a standby, compact appliance selected on price alone. Undercounter refrigeration provides creative design opportunities to add refrigeration in almost every area of a home. Today’s undercounter refrigeration options include beverage centers, wine cellars, freezers, ice machines, and beverage dispensers and can offer varying degrees of cooling performance, flexible storage configurations, and a wide range of styles and finishes. This course examines the cooling technologies used in undercounter refrigeration and reviews the essential features to consider before buying undercounter refrigeration.

Today’s buildings are evolving from independently-functioning structures to intelligent buildings that interact with occupants and surrounding buildings. This trend has impacted the design, operation, and maintenance of data centers around the globe due to the increased demand of data and digital communication, and has resulted in more high-performance data centers. This presentation addresses the specific needs of data centers and presents high-performance design solutions that support sustainable design.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Redwood Timbers are a safe, strong, and sustainable option for exterior and interior building projects where natural wood is desired. This course provides an overview of the properties of Redwood Timbers including insulation properties, grades, dimensions, fasteners, finishing options, and strength. It concludes with numerous case studies exploring the use of Redwood Timbers for post and beam construction, decorative elements, deck posts, and outdoor living structures.

Masonry is an ideal sustainable building construction material as it is extremely durable, recyclable, and reusable. It allows for extraordinary design versatility so it can meet both aesthetic and functional requirements. This course looks at the design elements, components, and construction techniques that characterize sustainable masonry cavity wall building envelopes.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

A completely waterproof shower with curb appeal is gratifying to design, easy to install, and offers peace of mind to both the designer and client. This course examines one-piece shower bases and accessories and includes discussions on methods of waterproofing shower floors and walls, shower design, and installation and tiling guidelines for shower pans and accessories.

Custom window products include a range of products, from truly one-of-a-kind fabrications to customizable components. This course takes a detailed look at what design options are available to the architect in premium and luxury window products. Installation and performance issues pertaining to large window combinations are also discussed, as well as recommended solutions and mitigation strategies for structural and water infiltration challenges.

Prerequisites:No

Course Level:Introductory

When designing a steel mesh fence, there are three steel mesh options to consider: chain link fabric, expanded metal, and welded wire mesh. Although mesh choice may be the primary focus when designing fence, an understanding of the application and material specifications should be key considerations as well. This course provides a review of the material specifications, installation, and standards related to the design of steel mesh fence systems.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Due to advancements in architectural decorative glass technology, the number of design options available to help designers and architects achieve the specific aesthetics and performance requirements they desire has dramatically increased. This course provides a review of architectural decorative glass including product options, applications, features, and specification considerations. Also discussed is how decorative glass can contribute to sustainable design and LEED® initiatives.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

With faster build speeds, superior environmental control performance, and exceptional design flexibility, insulated metal panels (IMPs) offer many advantages over other conventional building envelope systems. This course details these and other aspects of IMPs and why they can be considered the key component of “the perfect wall.”

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Insulated metal wall panels (IMPs) offer a sleek, modern, and light-weight envelope system that is highly customizable. This course explores the characteristics of IMPs, including how they can offer a five-in-one design solution that provides the exterior finish, as well as the air, vapor, water, and thermal control layers. Discussions will also include design options, installation processes, code compliance, sustainability, and available warranties.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Insulated metal panels (IMPs) are lightweight composite exterior wall and roof panels with superior insulating properties. Commercial and industrial buildings benefit from their energy efficient insulation, lightweight construction, durability, and cost-effective, timely installation. This course discusses IMPs in terms of their design options, appropriate support structure, installation, function, code compliance, and warranties.

Lightweight, pre-finished, and factory-fabricated insulated metal panels (IMPs) offer building owners a cost-efficient and easy-to-install roofing system that provides an air barrier, vapor barrier, and insulation all in one product. This course discusses the characteristics of IMPs and the installation process, and explains why IMPs are ideally suited for pre-engineered and structural steel buildings. The role of IMPs in a building’s hygrothermal control layers and IMP code compliance are reviewed.

Typically specified for pavements because of its strength, durability, and life-cycle value, concrete is increasingly being specified for a variety of exterior and interior projects because of its aesthetic potential. This course explores colored concrete including coloring methods, pigments, color consistency, and maintenance. It examines the specification considerations of cast-in-place and precast concrete and looks at a range of interior applications and concrete finishes.

Modular metal panel (MMP) systems allow for an array of different building designs due to their wide range of panel sizes, planes, and layout configurations. This program covers the history and attributes of MMPs including the available substrates and their ease of installation. Through comparisons to other building products used in rainscreen walls and project case studies, the customizable design concepts of MMP systems are illustrated.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

The architectural uses for perforated metal span a wide variety of interior and exterior applications for residential, industrial, and commercial projects. Reviewed in this course are the applications and the specification considerations of standard and custom perforated metal, along with a discussion on how it is used to sculpt light, control sound, and compose views.

To fully assess the benefits of spray foam and its importance to today’s building industry requires taking a closer look at one of the main goals of architects and building engineers—to create sustainable structures that allow maximum design creativity. With an ability to contour into any space or shape and adhere to any surface, spray foam allows such creativity. This course examines the performance properties of spray foam products and discusses advanced design concepts using spray foam.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Without a doubt, the human-nature connection contributes to well-being and improves our mood. Water features are one way to extend this connection to the indoors. In this course we’ll review the components of indoor water features, design options and considerations and look at a few case studies.

While architects and designers have many choices for specifying dynamic architectural surfaces in their projects, the result of using photography in such applications has historically presented challenges. This course explores typical digital images used in glass installations, gigapixel photography, guidelines for glass transparency, and the impacts of luminosity and reflectivity. Finally, it looks at potential applications for gigapixel images in large- or small-scale architectural surfaces.

Custom architectural glass solutions are tools designers can use to execute their design vision. Over the years, technology has evolved and provided additional options that are cost-effective and can be produced in record times. Digital printing is one of those solutions; this course looks at digital printing technology, the variety of options available, and how they can be applied to achieve a desired result.

Prerequisites: No

Course Level: Introductory

Good acoustic and aesthetic environments are important to the health, safety, comfort, satisfaction, productivity, and general well-being of all building users. This course outlines the benefits of and methodologies for simultaneously creating both with wall and ceiling acoustic treatments. The highly illustrated course includes detailed descriptions of the many acoustic wall and ceiling treatment options available, as well as sample installations.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...

Aesthetics, durability, and environmental performance are key considerations for architectural metal finishes. This course will help you identify long-lasting and sustainable aluminum extrusion coatings and includes discussions on the aluminum extrusion process; a comparison of powder and liquid coatings; an overview of the chrome and the chrome-free pretreatment processes; and the performance objectives of AAMA testing standards.

 This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details...