In this course, you’ll explore foundational concepts of prefabricated construction, along with its potential advantages. Materials cover the unique benefits of prefabricated light wood-frame and mass timber construction, including types of prefabricated timber systems, assemblies, and wood products used in offsite manufacturing.
Case studies throughout demonstrate a wide range of sustainable prefabricated building examples using advanced light-frame and mass timber construction.
Vinyl flooring products have a long history and have evolved into technologically advanced flooring options over the past decade. Today, vinyl flooring is available in several formats ranging from sheet vinyl to vinyl composition tile and luxury vinyl tiles and planks. The most recent innovation is eco-resilient flooring, which can be used to meet green building standards because it is manufactured without PVC.
This course will explore the evolution of vinyl flooring and the different products available today, including their performance benefits, residential and commercial applications, and installation considerations.
When planning and designing homes, architects should know that more than 12.6 million U.S. households rely on propane for their primary energy needs. Propane has many advantages such as offering heat for water, outdoor spaces, and inside the home. In addition, propane provides clean fuel for comforting fireplaces, cooking food, and drying clothing.
Propane can be stored above ground or in underground propane tanks, an option many builders are choosing in order to fuel homes off the natural gas mains. This course will cover important considerations when planning for propane use in residential construction.
This course will explore how propane-fueled hydronic heating technologies such as radiant hydronic and forced-air hydronic can improve the sustainability of buildings and the health and comfort of occupants.
We will examine how these technologies work, the advantages of each type, and how building owners can overcome space-heating challenges with hydronic heating systems. Finally, the course will explore several case studies where hydronic heating systems were used to save money, maximize energy efficiency, and improve thermal comfort.
This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation with ARCHITECT's Editor in Chief. Specifying wood in building design has a multitude of benefits, including elevating the design of the project, enhancing sustainable initiatives, and incorporating mixed materials for innovative buildings.
In this session, ARCHITECT explores the work and research of several firms using wood for innovative designs.
Thermal bridging is a common occurrence—and has been overlooked for a long time. Most building scientists knew thermal bridging was influencing energy consumption, but did not know how to measure it. There was also not a standard or method of addressing it. Today, thermal bridging is widely recognized as a significant factor in energy efficiency, and advanced building modeling techniques allow for detailed analysis of thermal bridging’s impact on building design. This course will cover the basics of thermal bridging, as well as how thermal breaks can reduce energy loss and ways to avoid conditions that allow condensation to occur. It will also discuss codes, standards, and incentives to make buildings more energy-efficient.
Slate has been used for centuries as a long-lasting building material, and its natural beauty is unsurpassed. Today, rainscreen cladding systems have been developed to adapt natural slate to new architectural demands for sustainable building design approaches.
This course explores the energy efficiency and moisture management benefits of a rainscreen system in combination with the durability and versatility of slate. The different designs and fastening systems are reviewed, and case studies demonstrate the advantages and possibilities for sustainable and beautiful slate projects.
This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. We live in a world of limited resources, and the AEC industry not only has a large impact on the use of those resources, but also the overall health of our planet. As designers, it is important to consider the impact of the project not only on the environment, but also on the health of its occupants.
In this course, we’ll discuss how to better identify and reduce a design’s carbon footprint using Building Information Modeling (BIM). Specifying high-quality, sustainable materials for interiors can not only lead to longer product life cycles and better energy management, but also benefit the overall health of the occupant by limiting the use of toxic substances and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We’ll demonstrate how BIM gives the designer more control over a building’s level of sustainability – such as generating embodied carbon calculations – and gives the designer more opportunities to enhance the aesthetics and occupant comfort by using a systems approach.
Creating spaces that embrace nature have both physical and mental health benefits. These benefits enhance the occupants experience in an indoor space creating the ambiance of outdoor living. In this course, we will discuss how the exposure to nature through living green walls contribute to LEED, WELL, and other green rating systems. We will cover common places where you might find living green walls, and where exposure to nature can make a dramatic difference, including offices, hotels, retail shops, and healthcare. This course will examine different types of living green walls available, how systems are designed, installed, and maintained. In addition, the course will look at the latest large scale green wall technology and how it can be applicable to a variety of applications.
This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. The use of metal roofing and wall cladding can help lower operating carbon emissions and make a building more energy efficient, which will positively affect the health, safety, and welfare of a building’s occupants.
There are many ways to achieve this, including the use of cool roof paint technology and above sheathing ventilation for metal roofing, metal roofing panels as a solar ready platform for photovoltaic systems, and solar air heating metal wall cladding.