Certificate and Content Series

Natural disasters are increasing in both frequency and intensity, posing significant challenges to communities of all types. Record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events have become a common occurrence, highlighting the urgent need for architects to play a vital role in preparedness efforts.

September is National Preparedness Month, offering a valuable opportunity to raise awareness about the crucial task of preparing for unforeseen disasters and emergencies. Architects can actively contribute to this cause by assisting communities in developing and implementing strategies that mitigate destruction and minimize negative impacts during such events.

Join us for a thought-provoking 4-part series focused on the ways architects can contribute to the creation of more resilient communities. Together, we will explore effective methods to enhance preparedness and build a brighter, more equitable future.

Our society is undergoing a profound transformation. By mid-century, an estimated two-thirds of our global population – 6 billion people - will live in cities. Global population growth and urbanization are putting enormous stress on our civilization, fueling a host of cascading crises from climate change to housing, health to inequality. Despite the unprecedented challenges facing us, cities are uniquely positioned to serve as the hub of a global strategy to address our current crises. This series will focus on a number of key themes facing the future of our cities, offering provocative ideas about how we conceptualize our collective future and the role of design leadership in achieving global goals. Hosted by Communities by Design (CxD), a program of the Architects Foundation. 

Reboot. Refresh. Refocus.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) are pleased to announce the second annual joint AIA/ACSA INTERSECTIONS Research Conference dedicated to the INTERSECTION of Education, Research and Practice. The conference builds on the eight-year partnership between AIA and ACSA toward these objectives. The focus of the INTERSECTIONS programs is intended to strengthen the INTERSECTION between academia and design practice, especially when it comes to research and innovation, focused on community strategies.

Build your knowledge and skills with this series of five state-of-the-art courses delivered by experts on the building envelope, high-performance design and codes.  

En consorcio con el Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica, AIAU está dichoso de anunciar los cursos en español que se enumeran a continuación. ¡Más cursos vendrán pronto!

In partnership with the Colegio Arquitectos de Costa Rica, AIAU is pleased to offer the courses listed below delivered in Spanish. More courses are coming soon! 

If you’re not considering embodied carbon as part of each project’s CO2 emissions, this series is for you. Embodied Carbon 101 is designed to help AEC professionals understand embodied carbon and immediately apply that knowledge to projects to reduce emissions and get to zero carbon. Unlike operational carbon, which can be reduced during a building’s lifetime, embodied carbon is “locked in” as soon as a building is completed. Over 12 courses, you’ll learn how to measure, manage, and implement practical solutions from expert practitioners including architects and sustainable building product manufacturers. Buildings contribute about 40% of the world’s carbon emissions, and embodied carbon is a big slice of the pie. Let’s all do our part to get to zero together.

Owners, architects, engineers, and constructors discuss the latest strategies for driving project outcomes, allocating risk, and employing software to close the gap between design, fabrication, and construction.

Hosted by the Project Delivery AIA Knowledge Community, March 8-9, 2021, owners, architects, engineers, and constructors convened to discuss the latest strategies for driving project outcomes, allocating risk, and employing software to close the gap between design, fabrication, and construction. Purchase the series for on-demand access to all 2021 symposium sessions.*   

The courses in this series demonstrate the value of research for your practice. Gain strategies for applying research thinking to your design projects and solutions.

The simultaneous crises of climate change, COVID-19, a looming economic depression, and systemic racial injustice have exposed structural failings that architecture, and society, must address. It’s a perfect storm that has created an unprecedented call for change. Where do we go from here?

Designed to help you confront these challenges and change your practice and the architecture profession for the better, this selection of sessions from our Architecture in Turbulent Times: Equity, Environment, Health, & Economy virtual learning event features the latest thinking by leading architects, climate champions, civic leaders, academics, and new voices. You’ll hear the brave ideas and honest dialogue that architecture needs now and leave with the knowledge you need to be part of the solution.

Contemporary neuroscience using MRI imaging of people’s brains while they perform tasks has revealed a much more important role for memory in the creative process. The Iconic House Series will explore the ways our response to or experience of highly memorable houses may consciously or unconsciously influence our thought processes as residential designers. Each of the Iconic House and Iconic Room programs will ask three residential architects to present an Iconic House that has been personally important to them and to show one of their own design projects, explaining how their chosen Iconic example has influenced their thinking. The Durability and Details of Iconic Houses Program will explore how the details of iconic historic and modernist houses have contributed to their durability or lack thereof, and what we can learn from their successes and failures in detailing our own projects for durability.