Upcoming live courses
A Pragmatic Approach to AI in Architecture
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 | 3-4pm ET
AI is all the rage in today’s design firms, but many jump into the deep end without regard for the security and veracity of their source data. Further, many firms still separate their design technology and IT teams—despite their sharing of critical data. In this session, we will explore today’s cloud, cybersecurity, and AI landscape in AEC, highlight the risks of inadequate preparation for AI, provide guidelines for establishing a firm-wide digital foundation, and share a simple framework for evaluating AI tools and platforms you may be considering for your practice.
Communities by Design: Building a Global Urban Design Movement
Thursday, February 5, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
Communities by Design (CxD) brings together volunteer professionals and citizens to build strategies that solve the most pressing issues facing the places we call home. CxD represents one of the most impactful investments ever made in communities by the profession and one of the largest sustained investments ever made in urbanism. The program has a five-decade track record of demonstrated success with tens of thousands of volunteers and citizens working hand in hand to benefit communities. Today, the initiative encompasses direct work in over a dozen countries across 5 continents, including communities in 47 US states. The outcomes have created international renown for places like the Pearl District in Portland, Santa Fe’s Railyard District and East Nashville. Several Kemper Award winners have emerged from the program as well. It has profoundly impacted how our profession approaches communities, with its methodology widely adapted to fuel thousands of additional processes and a global participatory urban movement in recent decades. Along the way, the program has influenced future Presidents and Kings, the Olympic Games and a spectrum of institutions. This session will focus on the core elements of the methodology that have made the program so impactful.
Optimizing Healthcare Design: Insights from Discrete Event Simulation in Emergency and Multi-Clinic Projects
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
As healthcare systems face increasing demands for high-quality, efficient care, facility design is crucial in meeting operational and patient-centered goals. Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is a cutting-edge tool that enables architects, planners, and healthcare professionals to visualize and optimize complex patient flows and resource utilization. This session showcases how DES was applied in two emergency departments and two multi-clinic buildings, addressing critical operational challenges and offering long-term design solutions. The speakers will discuss how across all four projects, DES provided a data-driven framework to test scenarios, evaluate performance metrics, and implement evidence-based design improvements. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for incorporating DES into future healthcare facility design projects, ensuring operational efficiency and patient-centered care.
Emergency Department Projects:
- Importance: DES was instrumental in modeling patient triage, treatment times, and discharge processes to accommodate current and future patient volumes.
- Challenges: Handling unpredictable patient influx, managing resource allocation, and reducing care delays in high-stakes environments.
- Lessons Learned: Simulation uncovered inefficiencies, prompting design adjustments that reduced congestion and improved patient flow.
Multi-Clinic Building Projects:
- Importance: In multi-specialty clinics, DES helped optimize spatial layouts and resource sharing (e.g., imaging, labs) to streamline patient flows.
- Challenges: Predicting and coordinating department interactions and managing complex, overlapping patient journeys.
- Lessons Learned: Early DES integration allowed for flexible space planning and workflow improvements, enhancing staff efficiency and patient throughput.
DIY Design Leadership: The Urban Charrette Story
Thursday, February 12, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
In April 2007, two graduate architects founded The Urban Charrette as a response to what they saw as disappointing city leadership around the built environment in Tampa. The organization convened emerging professionals across the city to discuss its future. The Urban Charrette was described as “a guerrilla movement in its approach to influencing urban development,” because it utilized innovative tactical urbanism, social networking and unconventional formats and interventions to push change. Its impact on the city over time was undeniable. The volunteerism and public service work also helped launch careers and gave voice and then influence to its core members, who have become civic leaders across the city and points beyond. The Urban Charrette provides a quintessential example of grassroots design leadership and creative problem-solving where new civic mechanisms can provide breakthrough ideas for positive change.
New on demand courses
Becoming an Empowered Mentee in Architecture
Becoming a mentee is one of the most powerful ways to shape your professional growth in architecture. This course equips you with the knowledge and skills to engage effectively and confidently in mentorship programs.
Drawing on the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice, proven research, and national models, you’ll explore the purpose and benefits of mentorship, distinguish mentoring from coaching and sponsorship, and learn how to set clear goals, communicate effectively, and build a professional network. Emphasizing inclusive practices, this course helps mentees recognize bias, build trust across differences, and take ownership of their professional development.
Through real-world scenarios and guided reflection, you’ll develop strategies for active engagement, self-assessment, and problem-solving strategies—ensuring your readiness to maximize the value of mentorship relationships.
Becoming an Inclusive Mentor in Architecture
Becoming an architecture mentor is one of the most meaningful ways to support the next generation of design professionals. This interactive course prepares you to become the best mentor possible by building the skills needed for effective, inclusive, and sustainable mentoring relationships.
Drawing on the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice, proven research, and national models, you’ll explore the purpose and impact of mentorship, distinguish between mentoring, coaching, and sponsoring, and learn how to set clear goals and boundaries. Emphasizing inclusive practices, this course helps mentors recognize bias, build trust across differences, and foster equitable growth for mentees.
Through real-world scenarios and guided reflection, you’ll develop strategies for navigating common mentoring challenges and assess your readiness to mentor with confidence, empathy, and intentionality.
Water Access as Wellness Touchpoints: Beyond Hydration in Human-Centered Design
This course explores how access to clean, well-designed drinking water access points can support human health, behavior, and wellness in the built environment. Architects and designers are increasingly asked to go beyond code compliance – to shape spaces that promote hydration, trust in water quality, and equitable access. This course equips design professionals with the latest thinking on how water access points can serve as visible, functional wellness touchpoints across commercial, institutional, and public settings.
This session was recorded live on August 27, 2025.
The Corporate Wellness Equation: How Water Quality Factors into Employee Health Programs
Workplace wellness encompasses the intentional design, implementation, and operation of built environments that holistically support occupant health, wellbeing, and performance. It includes architectural elements, spatial configurations, material selections, and environmental systems that promote physical health, mental wellbeing, social connection, and productivity while minimizing harmful contaminant exposure and encouraging healthy behaviors.​