Innovating Beauty: New Solutions in Steel Siding for Architecture & Design

A new high performance architectural steel siding is giving the design community an opportunity to deliver an authentic wood look - without the maintenance.

Read more about these siding options and how one luxury condominium project achieved this aesthetic.

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Exploring the Connection Between Net Positive, Carbon Neutrality, and the Water-Energy Nexus (Print Course)

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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Innovating Beauty: Sophisticated New Solutions in Architectural Steel Siding

A new high performance architectural steel siding is giving builders and developers the opportunity to deliver an authentic wood look - without the maintenance.

Read more about these siding options and how one luxury condominium project achieved this aesthetic.

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Exploring How Open Web Floor Trusses Optimize Construction

Floor trusses are the ideal structural system for single family, multi-family, and other commercial builds due to their inherent design flexibilities, optimized construction advantages, and exceptional strength. Each floor truss is designed and engineered for the unique and specific project. Open-web floor trusses create downstream value through faster and safer on-site installation, efficient MEP installations, and additional opportunities for reduced material costs.


This course will demonstrate project benefits when utilizing open web floor trusses and discuss how they can improve your next project.

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Leveraging High-Efficiency Propane Systems in Zero Net Energy Homes

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.

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Planning Considerations for Community Propane Systems in Large Residential Developments (Print Course)

Gas appliances like ranges, fireplaces, and furnaces are important amenities that many home buyers want in a new home. However, in some residential developments, natural gas access may not be feasible and on-site propane storage may also have challenges. Community propane systems offer an innovative method for supplying propane to every home in a community through a centralized delivery system. Community propane systems allow developers to offer gas access to builders, who in turn can sell gas amenities to buyers. In the end, both benefit and homeowners reap the rewards of gas appliances and other desired technologies in their home.


This course discusses how community propane systems work; use cases for these systems; value propositions for developers, builders, and owners; and common propane applications for residences and community buildings.

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10 KPIs Your Architecture Firm Needs to Track for Maximum Project Profitability

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Projects are the core of your architecture firm. Not only do they generate profits, but they are also at the center of your firm’s business operations. As such, doing everything you can to ensure their success should be one of your top priorities.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) track project success by measuring how your projects (or team, clients, and so on) are performing. Because each architecture firm has different goals and ways of working, your vital KPIs will vary from project to project.

Effective KPIs, regardless of project type, are:

*Well-defined and quantifiable
*Communicated thoroughly to every employee
*Crucial measurements for tracking the progress of your goals
*Applicable to your firm and industry

Within the world of project performance and finance, certain KPIs should always be used to monitor and improve your success.

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The Environmental Impacts of Building Materials – Comparing Concrete, Wood, and Steel

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. The impact of building materials on the environment continues to grow in importance within the construction industry. In addition to performance, budget and aesthetics, design professionals are now being asked to evaluate the environmental burdens of their design choices. Measuring the impacts of buildings, assemblies and products can be complex. Every design decision, from material and product selection to envelope design and construction can have an impact on the environment and the methods used to evaluate those decisions are still not widely understood.


This presentation will address critical issues the design professional should consider when evaluating the environmental impacts of building materials to maximize performance and deliver lasting value.

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Architectural Polymers: Best Practices for Architectural Specifications

Presented by Fernando Pages, this presentation serves as a resource and primer for product specification and complements the book Architectural Design for Traditional Neighborhoods published by the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) in 2019.


This course aims to provide design professionals full control of the design’s aesthetic outcome with polymeric sidings, trim, and ornamentation, respecting the architectural style, target market, and project budget. These specifications will refer to traditional architectural features in the language of art.


This effort aims to put the power of good design details and recommended installation practices within the architectural designer’s easy reach.

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Steel - Timber Hybrid High-Rise Buildings: Trends, Drivers, Challenges

This presentation will examine the recent trend toward steel-timber hybrids – as a subset of the wider trend toward mass timber – in high rise buildings.

It will overview where this is happening, and what the advantages and challenges are, focusing on some of the key case studies employing such systems.

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