Resilience in Practice: Mitigating Hazards, Protecting Communities
AIAU25-RA-S
6 Courses
Course expires on: 12/10/2028
Description
As climate hazards grow more frequent and resilience standards evolve, architects are uniquely positioned to design buildings that protect people, preserve function, and create lasting value.
This six-course series equips design professionals to anticipate risk, apply hazard mitigation strategies, and lead resilience efforts from concept through occupancy. You’ll explore hazard-specific design for both new construction and retrofits—including flooding, wind, wildfire, extreme heat, drought, and seismic risk—alongside the distinct challenges of working with historic buildings. Courses also address professional liability, the business case for resilience, as well as the codes, regulations, and rating systems that guide practice.
Through expert insights, case studies, interactive tools, and real-world scenarios, you’ll gain practical skills in vulnerability assessment, hazard-specific design, retrofit solutions, regulatory navigation, risk-informed decision-making, and the business case for resilience. By connecting technical strategies with policy, economics, performance, and long-term usability, this series empowers architects to confidently integrate resilience into every project—turning challenges into opportunities for innovation, safety, and community well-being.
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Learning Objectives
Apply resilience principles to reduce hazard risk, protect occupants, and maintain building functionality during and after disruptive events.
Conduct and interpret vulnerability assessments to identify risks, prioritize mitigation strategies, and guide design solutions for both new construction and retrofits.
Integrate hazard mitigation strategies across multiple building systems, hazard types, and design phases—aligned with evolving codes, standards, and rating systems.
Communicate the value of resilience to clients, stakeholders, and communities using economic, safety, and performance metrics to support decision-making and investment.
Position architectural practice as a leader in advancing resilience by balancing technical innovation, professional responsibility, and long-term community benefit.
Courses
Navigating Codes, Standards, and Rating Systems for Resilient Design
Strengthen your ability to integrate resilience into practice by strategically applying codes, regulations, and rating systems.
As climate-related hazards increase, minimum code compliance is no longer sufficient. This course explores the current regulatory landscape, identifies gaps in conventional approaches, and empowers licensed architects and design professionals to make informed, proactive decisions across all project phases—from pre-design to construction administration.
Through practical examples, case studies, and analysis of existing and emerging standards, you’ll gain the tools to advocate for smarter land use, apply hazard mitigation codes, and leverage building rating systems to enhance both resilience and sustainability outcomes.
Conducting Vulnerability Assessments for Resilient Design
Learn how to conduct building-scale vulnerability assessments that support resilient, climate-adaptive design. This course equips architects and design professionals with a 10-step process for conducting vulnerability assessments to evaluate hazard exposure, identify critical vulnerabilities, and develop effective mitigation strategies.
Using practical examples and a structured approach, you'll assess system performance under risk, quantify hazard loads, and develop solution “menus” aligned with project goals, functional priorities, and feasibility. Topics include hazard identification, vulnerable components, external dependencies, and compound risk.
By the end of the course, you’ll be prepared to lead or support vulnerability assessments for a wide range of building types, translating risk into actionable design decisions.
Designing Resilient New Construction
Thoughtfully tailored for licensed architects and architectural designers, this course equips you the knowledge and tools to anticipate risk in the built environment and implement performance-based solutions that protect people, structures, and communities.
You’ll explore the core principles of hazard mitigation and learn design strategies for specific threats—such as flooding, high winds, wildfires, extreme temperatures, drought, and seismic activity—while emphasizing the importance of early, proactive planning. Each step is structured to ensure a deep understanding of how resilient design is embedded into every stage of the design process.
Engaging learning elements like practical exercises, expert interviews, interactive reflection prompts, and real-life case studies make this course both informative and applicable to your practice.
Retrofitting Existing Buildings for Resilience
Deepen your expertise in resilience by learning how to assess vulnerabilities in existing buildings, respond to evolving resilience standards, and implement hazard mitigation into everyday design decisions.
Explore the fundamentals of hazard mitigation and retrofit strategies for specific hazards, including flooding, wind, wildfire, extreme heat, drought, and seismic activity, while addressing the unique challenges of historic structures. Each step is structured to ensure a deep understanding of how to assess vulnerabilities and implement targeted retrofit solutions that enhance safety, performance, and durability.
Expert insights, real-world case studies, interactive knowledge checks, and workbook-based reflection activities make your learning experience engaging, practical, and directly applicable to professional practice.
Building Resilience into Architectural Practice
As climate hazards grow more frequent and severe, resilient design has become a professional, ethical, and business imperative. This course equips licensed architects with the frameworks, data, and strategies to address resilience through the lenses of risk management, long-term value, and economic opportunity.
Participants will learn to evaluate hazard risk based on ownership type and geography, communicate effectively with clients about exposure, and leverage cost-benefit analysis and financial incentives to support resilient outcomes. Real-world case studies, performance tools, and updated guidance from FEMA, NIBS, and ULI provide practical frameworks to help architects enhance life safety, reduce liability, and demonstrate the long-term value of resilient design.
Introduction to Resilient Design and Adaptation
As risks from natural hazards and climate change grow, architects play a vital role in designing buildings that are safer, more adaptable, and aligned with evolving standards. This introductory course provides a practical foundation in resilient design, exploring how hazard risk, exposure, and vulnerability shape outcomes in the built environment.
You’ll examine the impact of both sudden shocks (e.g., hurricanes) and long-term stresses (e.g., rising temperatures), and how risk-informed strategies like hazard avoidance, resistance, and adaptation can reduce risk and improve usability. The course also covers advanced concepts such as shelter-in-place, passive survivability, and continuity of operations—approaches that extend building performance beyond minimum code requirements.
Using scenario activities to assess risk, guide decisions, and evaluate outcomes, you’ll learn how to apply the resilience process across all phases of design, from pre-design through post-occupancy.