Sustainable Design Courses

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Displaying 51 - 75 of 412 results.

FIRST PREV [1-25] [26-50] [51-75] [76-100] [101-125] NEXT LAST

  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    Stone has long been valued for its durability, reliability, and beauty. Today, natural thin stone veneer offers these benefits with reduced weight, cost, and environmental impact. This course explores its applications in commercial and residential settings, covering aesthetics, performance, and key specification standards. It also examines the sustainability profile of thin stone veneer compared to full natural and manufactured stone, highlighting an industry-wide LCA, responsible quarrying and processing, and how collaboration with fabricators can reduce environmental impact while preserving quality and design integrity.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Incorporating sustainable building materials into design practices is essential for creating environmentally responsible, healthy, and resilient built environments. Thermal modification is a tested and proven chemical-free process for increasing the dimensional stability and long-term performance of wood while preserving its natural beauty. Presented are the thermal modification process, the attributes, applications, and favorable environmental impacts of thermally modified wood, and how thermally modified wood can contribute to achieving certification in LEED® v4.1 Building Design and Construction and Interior Design and Construction, Sustainable SITES Initiative® v2, the WELL Building Standard™ version 2, and the Living Building Challenge (LBC).

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  • ( ~ 15 minutes ) 

    Policies targeting the reduction of carbon emissions associated with building products require the disclosure of embodied carbon data to inform those policies and verify whether reduction targets or incentive requirements have been met. This course aims to provide a guide to collecting high-quality embodied carbon data.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Lighting is one of the most influential elements of the indoor environment, with far-reaching effects on the human body, mind, and spirit. For architects, designing spaces prioritizing natural light is critical to fostering comfort, productivity, and well-being. This course explores the health and wellness benefits of tubular daylighting systems and their role in creating healthier, more sustainable indoor environments. Also noted are applicable credits in the LEED® v5 Building Design and Construction and Interior Design and Construction rating systems and features in the WELL Building Standard™ version 2. The course concludes with a review of several case studies.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    Saunas that exude authentic Nordic minimalism and elegance promote wellness, relaxation, meditation, and socialization. There are many different types of saunas for private or public purposes, but a few unique features and finishing options set some sauna designs apart. This course explains why the sauna has a much deeper tradition than wellness and discusses the considerations for selecting a ready-made or tailor-made sauna solution.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    As the market continues to transform the way sustainable buildings are designed, single-skin metal roof and siding products are at the forefront of contributing to healthier built environments. This course breaks down the material inputs and sustainable attributes of single-skin metal roof and siding panels and includes an overview of how the panels can contribute toward earning several LEED ® for Building Design and Construction credits in v4.1.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Designers increasingly focus on creating environments that improve the health, welfare, and productivity of occupants. This includes providing the benefits of daylight, fresh air, and access to the outdoors. This course explores how retractable roofs can extend the use of outdoor spaces year-round by converting them to daylit indoor spaces seasonally or with sudden weather changes. It explains the economic benefits, structure, and operation of various retractable roof types and how they can be customized to suit multiple site sizes and types, including rooftops. The course concludes with a series of case studies.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Deck railing systems provide the finishing touch to an outdoor area, as well as safety and improved accessibility. Choosing a system that suits a deck project’s needs depends on a variety of factors, including cost, durability, style, customization, maintenance, and eco-friendliness. This course explores the many railing materials that are available, with a focus on aluminum, composite, and aluminum and composite railing systems, whose characteristics are ideal for most projects. 

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Stormwater management is a critical component in any municipality to retain and infiltrate increased runoff volumes and flow rates from developed land that creates increased impervious cover (roofs and pavements). The course discusses the hydrologic and structural design fundamentals of permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) and why it is an excellent choice to help meet stormwater management goals. Discussions include the benefits of using PICP, components of PICP, design and construction considerations and how use of PICP can help earn LEED® credits.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    A properly designed roof is a building’s primary shield, safeguarding everything beneath it. Presented are metal roofing substrates, their advantages and drawbacks, and material compatibility. Also discussed are metal roofing configurations, finishes and coatings, and roofing system components. Design considerations, including expansion and contraction, fasteners, climate/regional weather, fire resistance, cool roof designs, and structural weight, are reviewed.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    From home offices to gyms to entertaining, homes have become multifunctional spaces. The use of smart technology provides innovative options for people to control and manage their homes for comfort and well-being on a daily basis. Smart home technology allows people to customize their homes. This course discusses how smart technology can interconnect household spaces to increase comfort, cleanliness, and well-being.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    The building envelope is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building and provides resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer. As a thermal barrier, spray polyurethane foam (SPF) offers numerous opportunities to contribute to building envelope performance and indoor air quality in several project types. This course presents the sustainable aspects of SPF, SPF fire and strength testing, and the benefits of SPF in below- and above-grade and rooftop applications.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Undesirable acoustics in educational spaces adversely affect the learning and teaching processes. The impact on students’ academic achievement, social adaptation, and mental health can be profound and long lasting. This course examines the impact of different sound problems and presents solutions that create synergy between the architecture and the classroom environment to optimize student learning and engagement and teacher retention.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    Increased energy efficiency in both new and existing construction continues to be a large factor behind the design decisions we make and the materials we choose to integrate into our buildings. Concrete masonry construction can provide a wide range of benefits. This course illustrates how building envelopes constructed with concrete masonry create high-performance buildings that can exceed energy code requirements.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Originally developed to reduce solar heat gain from entering through a pane of glass, window films in today’s market provide UV protection, reduce glare, reduce fading, increase occupant comfort, offer safety and security, and yield energy savings. This course evaluates the performance of different types of solar control window films and offers daylighting strategies for commercial, retail, and residential building and architectural applications.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    The construction industry has experienced a significant increase in moisture-related problems in exterior walls. This presentation explains how a rainscreen wall system prevents moisture accumulation within walls by providing a means for drainage and ventilation, thereby prolonging the life of buildings. Discussion topics include air and moisture movement in the building envelope, building code and water-resistive barriers, and stucco and thin veneers in rainscreen systems.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    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 for 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.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    Critical to concrete waterproofing are the products used in combination to create a system that ensures complete control of moisture migration. Presented here are effective concrete waterproofing technologies and how they improve the durability and lifespan of structures. Discussions include water penetration, system selection, membrane protection, and cementitious waterproofing.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    The planet is currently in a water scarcity crisis, which is significantly affected by toilet water usage. This course examines the current plumbing codes, standards, and regulations that address toilet water usage, the need for and benefits of going beyond current standards, and the goals of a variety of beyond-the-code voluntary standards and rating systems, such as LEED v4 BD+C and ICC 700 National Green Building Standard®. It explains the various types of low-flow and ultra-low-flow toilets, their pros and cons, and their selection criteria. It concludes with a sampling of successful cost- and water-saving installations.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Universal hot water availability is generally taken for granted. At a time when energy prices and sources, environmental concerns, and water shortages are increasing in significance, it is important to produce hot water in a manner that addresses all these issues. This course explains how electric tankless water heaters (ETWHs) do this while also improving health and safety conditions and reducing costs. The examination includes detailed descriptions of many types of ETWHs and the basic calculations and selection criteria for the most suitable system.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    With the ever-increasing focus on the sustainable built environment, building owners, architects, engineers, and contractors are incorporating structural steel into their designs. Presented here is a comprehensive view of the cradle-to-cradle structural steel supply chain from a sustainability perspective. Also discussed are steel production and design, steel’s potential contribution to LEED v4 credits, thermal capacity, and the environmental and life cycle benefits of prefabricated fireproof steel columns.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    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.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    Concrete is an essential part of modern buildings. As net zero energy buildings become more common, it is crucial to find ways to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint without losing the performance characteristics that make it valuable to the building team. This course explains the sources of concrete’s carbon footprint and explores strategies for reducing embodied carbon and operational carbon in precast sandwich wall panels and insulated architectural cladding.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour ) 

    High-performance, fully composite insulated wall panels deliver all the benefits of factory precasting with load-bearing and energy efficiency performance from the lightest, thinnest panels possible. This course describes the makeup and cost efficiencies of composite precast panels, their benefits when made with carbon fiber grid shear trusses, and considerations for selecting among the insulation options. The majority of the course focuses on case studies of successful precast enclosure projects in a wide variety of building types across a range of markets.

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  • ( ~ 1 hour, 15 minutes ) 

    As part of a well-designed rainscreen system, single-skin metal panels offer unique aesthetic options combined with the assurance that the building envelope will withstand the effects of long-term exposure to the elements. This course compares common cladding types; presents single-skin metal panel materials, coatings, finishes, and design options; and examines using single-skin metal panels with a single-component barrier wall to form a complete rainscreen assembly. This course is one of two identical courses titled Single-Skin Metal Panel Building Envelope Solutions . You will receive credit for taking only one of these courses.

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Displaying 51 - 75 of 412 results.

FIRST PREV [1-25] [26-50] [51-75] [76-100] [101-125] NEXT LAST