While natural stone veneer has a timeless popularity in commercial and residential applications, its cost, weight, and availability can make it prohibitive for some projects. Natural-looking manufactured stone veneer alleviates those concerns but still requires time and experience in mortared stone installation. This course explores these options and then introduces the latest manufactured stone product, a panelized, mortarless veneer that installs with the ease, speed, and all-weather flexibility of siding. Application examples and case studies present the many options that offer a real stone aesthetic without the time, skill, and constraints required for mortared applications.

Outdoor living space has become an important residential design consideration in the last several years. Decks create welcoming spaces to relax and entertain with family and friends, and a well-built deck can add more living space and value to a home. This course discusses deck surfaces, maintenance, and costs and explores porcelain tile as an alternative to wood and composite deck surfaces that is well suited to exterior environments. Also discussed is how porcelain tile can be used with a new pultruded fiberglass and composite underlayment, called structural ribbed self-supporting boards, and the sustainable features of this technology.

Bathrooms can be dangerous for people with and without physical limitations. The prevalence of bathroom falls amongst persons of all age groups.

Concrete-faced insulated products are composite prefinished panels that are used to construct walls and roofing assemblies to maximize the energy efficiency, durability, and performance of a building envelope. This course discusses the design criteria used in designing energy-efficient buildings using concrete-faced continuous insulation systems for low-slope roofing, walls, and foundations. The functional and physical features of protective membrane roof (PMR) systems, concrete-faced insulated panels for walls and foundations, and concrete structural insulated panels (CSIPs) are evaluated.

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.

This course is designed to give all attendees a basic knowledge and understanding of Entrance Flooring Systems. Entrance Flooring has a very important role in keeping building entrances clean, safe, and creating a great first impression, yet it can often be overlooked throughout the design process. This course aims to teach the importance and benefits of using these systems and the potential hazards that can take place if they are not.

The proposal is a critical part of the client onboarding process. While there are multiple types of proposals, there is never just one that works for every project. In this course, we review what is included in the proposal, the difference between a proposal and contract, and terms and conditions to turn your proposal into a contract. We also highlight the importance of linking to your project setup and the valuable benefits of using AIA agreements.

One hour seminar detailing the use of Expansion Joint Covers. Designed to broaden knowledge of joint movement and proper joint sizing to ensure there is no structural damage or life safety issue. Contains an overview of both interior and exterior Expansion Joint Covers and which are most appropriate for certain conditions. Fire barriers are discussed and what's important to know regarding current testing requirements and how to specify them to meet current building codes.

The average days to collect cash in the AEC industry is between 60 to 120 days. In this training, we will examine the complete project lifecycle to understand how cashflow can be increased or decreased. Participants will gain valuable tips to improve cashflow by improving timesheet practices, reducing the billing cycle, and improving client relationships and collection practices.

Understand how different types of commercial operators are used in various applications.

Instruction regarding codes and standards relevant to pressure relief venting. International Fire Code, NFPA 68 and FM 1-44 all discussed for design of pressure resisting and pressure relieving elements.

As architecture professionals, we are trained in the craft of architecture, but never formally taught how to explain our value in the way that clients understand. As a result, there is often misalignment between a client’s expectation of fees and what firms require to produce high-quality work. When value is not captured by a design firm, firms are forced to produce the same level of quality for less compensation. Are you being compensated both in recognition and money for the enormous value you bring to the table as an architect? Do your clients clearly recognize your value? Can they articulate it? Can YOU articulate it? Often there is a misalignment between the perception of architects and their clients in terms of value. As a result, it isn’t uncommon for design firms to have their fees questioned and examined by clients, be price-shopped, and compete with other firms on fee alone. This creates a working pressure that decreases the quality of work and creative innovation, not to mention stress and business problems for practitioners. In this session, you’ll discover how to apply the findings of 70+ years of research in behavioral economics to maximize the value you capture for your design work.

Discuss daylighting strategies including the relevance of daylight factor calculation and fabric characteristics and identify the impact of shading on LEED certification.

This course will highlight the pitfalls of traditional doorways and doorway protection as well as provide design solutions to minimize health and safety issues, benefit patient well-being, and extend the life of interior doorways.

Successful AE firms rely on technology to collect and store information related to their clients, projects, and employees. However, once you have this vast amount of complex data, do you know how to leverage it to improve productivity? Or do you feel like your firm is drowning in a sea of meaningless information? Join Steven Burns, FAIA, Founder of The Well-Designed Firm, as he walks you through how smart technology can help you save time on repetitive tasks and unlock the meaning to your valuable stream of data. During the webinar, Steven will share the lessons he’s learned while working with over 1,300 AE firms and demonstrate how your firm can leverage this mine of precious data to achieve greater organization, efficiency, and profitability by adopting best practices and taking advantage of modern, user-friendly, and affordable computing technologies.

With energy codes calling for continuous insulation and a substantial increase of architects and builders using insulated concrete sandwich panels in many diverse applications, we would like to present a course that defines not just what an insulated concrete sandwich panel is but review load bearing and non-load bearing panels as well as composite and non-composite wall panels. The course would also go into depth on the importance of choosing the right wythe connector, insulation and the energy saving advantages of using low or non-conductive connections in the panels. Lastly we would be reviewing the overall sustainability of insulated concrete structures.

Concrete is a foundational building material in every industry – and on every project. Understanding the fundamentals of what concrete is, how it performs, and how to select the right mix for specific project applications is often taken for granted, but is critical to the success of every project. This course will introduce specifiers to the basics of concrete, including its manufacture, specifications, performance and applications. While the course is focused on bagged mixes ideal for small- to medium-sized construction and repairs, the insights will prove invaluable for pros working with large-scale pours like those seen in foundations, footings, columns, precast panels and more.