In recent years, the climate crisis has placed decarbonization at the top of the urban agenda. While cities across the world have created climate action plans and pledged ambitious emission reductions, recent research has revealed that many jurisdictions are struggling to develop implementation strategies to meet those targets. This session will identify some of the common gaps in current city approaches and highlight innovative work happening at the local level that may provide broader guidance to community decarbonization strategies across the country. Participants will gain an understanding of the current context for this work and promising practices that may inform they own work.  This session was recorded live on February 22, 2023. 

Local, state, and federal government projects, especially those located in low income areas, often try to include features targeted to improve the local community. The area immediately surrounding a new government building or campus is taken into account during the design process. This webinar will focus on three urban projects: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Ariel Rios Federal Building in Washington, DC; the Department of Homeland Security Campus in Washington, DC; and the City of Chicago Joint Public Safety Training Center in Chicago, IL. The speakers will discuss how each project met health, safety, welfare, sustainability, and energy requirements while also contributing positively to their local communities.   This session was recorded live on November 8, 2023.

A century of constructing zoning laws in America has resulted in illogical, disconnected, and homogenous built environments that are not environmentally or economically sustainable. Yet we keep hoping that doing much of the same will yield different results. This course examines how deconstructing zoning leads to more economically sustainable development outcomes.  Produced in partnership with AIA|DC Course expires 10/17/2026

By helping owners understand the tensions and alignments between their organization’s decision-making profile and different types of project delivery methods, the Building Owner's Assessment Tool (BOAT) empowers project managers to understand their organization, to reflect on delivery methods, and to onboard project team members with an understanding of and create strategies to address roadblocks and pain points during project delivery.  Discover how you and your clients can leverage this new tool to foster productive collaborative conversations, identify organizational challenges, set shared expectations, and design specific processes to address challenges.  The Building Owner’s Assessment Tool was developed by the University of Washington with support from the Charles Pankow Foundation, AIA Project Delivery Knowledge Community, Integrated Project Delivery Alliance, P1 Consulting, and Chandos Construction.   This course was recorded live on October 30, 2024.

Digital twins are transforming the way buildings are designed, constructed, and operated, and represent a key emerging technology opportunity to help architects innovate and transform industry. This course demystifies digital twins for AEC professionals, providing a clear framework for understanding their classifications, purposes, and business benefits. Explore the maturity path from simple digital representation to advanced simulation and optimization, and learn how enabling technologies like BIM, AI, IOT, and XR are fueling this evolution. Gain practical insights into how digital twins can deliver operational efficiency, sustainability, and smarter business outcomes.  This session was recorded live on August 7, 2025.

This course provides architects with a comprehensive understanding of the AIA College of Fellows application process. It is critical to educate AIA members on who should be thinking about applying for Fellowship and what it means to be a Fellow. Hear from the Chancellor of the AIA College of Fellows and a recent Jury of Fellows chair on how to craft a successful application. Discover the key dos and don'ts of the process, along with valuable insider tips to help navigate it more effectively. Architects who have made significant contributions to the profession and society and who exemplify architectural excellence can apply for Fellowship. Less than 3% of AIA members hold the prestigious FAIA designation. The course will cover eligibility requirements, nomination objects, the importance of demonstrating a "ripple effect," and how to present your achievements effectively.

Dive into the work of UNA Barbara e Valentim—a São Paulo-based studio focused on enhancing public and private spaces for better collective and individual life. Discover the diverse cultural and environmental issues in the Global South and how São Paulo's architects, planners, and iconic projects have helped shape the modern architecture movement globally.  Explore and be inspired by designs that exemplify refined materiality, climate adaptation, contemporary construction methods, and a respectful relationship with natural surroundings, with projects ranging from residential buildings to large facilities and public spaces. You’ll learn how architects in different contexts address current habitation issues and how regional design approaches are interpreted at various scales—enriching your understanding and perspective on global architecture and design.   This session was recorded live on September 18, 2024.

This presentation highlights how design and construction can come together to create a stunning structure, such as the new Johnson County Kansas Courthouse. The panel will showcase how design excellence can be achieved through the design-build delivery method. Course expires 03/27/2026

This interactive self-paced course introduces the Design for Equitable Communities principle of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. It includes perspectives from planners and architects on how to create more equitable places through design processes and strategies. The Design for Equitable Communities principle provides architects and design professionals guidance on how to enter every project ready to listen to and elevate the voices of those who are most impacted by the spaces they create. This course provides examples from the field as to how others are already creating more equitable outcomes through architectural practice. These outcomes include creating spaces where everyone can actively participate in the envisioning, design, and creation of projects. Focusing on inclusivity through participation can help reduce the inequity that exists between communities, encourage self-determination, and improve the quality of life for everyone. Course expires on 10/4/2026.

Many companies claim to have a great culture, but what does that really mean and how do you measure it? With today’s war for talent and drive for EDI+B, no workplace is immune to the care and feeding of firm culture. In this session, Lisa Brothers, PE, ENV SP, LEED AP BD+C, president and CEO of Nitsch Engineering—a company with an award-winning culture—joins Ruth Lund, co-founder of True North Culture Advisors to discuss the role that intentional, values-driven cultural development plays in the overall strength and sustained performance of organizations. You'll learn how this approach is uniquely beneficial in driving equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDI+B) efforts within an organization. This session will share statistics and stories that showcase the importance of taking charge of your organization’s culture rather than letting it drive itself; highlight how leaders can measure the reality of the culture through values, beliefs, and behaviors; and demonstrate an effective process for managing and measuring the cultural evolution of any given organization. By the end of this session, you'll learn how this intentional approach to building and maintaining an organizational culture can help companies achieve EDI+B goals (including sharing seven ideas for how to integrate EDI&B at work), become more high performing, and develop long-term corporate resilience, particularly as it relates to the challenges of the new hybrid/remote work environment. And, perhaps most importantly, how an intentional culture directly results in highly engaged employees who continue to keep the culture alive! Course expires 10/22/2026

Join the AIA Regional & Urban Design Committee for a series exploring sustainability practices at the intersections of natural and man-made systems. The absence of green space in our cities has not only affected local and global ecosystems but has also negatively impacted human health and wellness. Our connection with nature affects the way we think, live, work, and navigate the world we live in. Our future, more than ever, relies on how we continue to grow and adapt within nature. This panel seeks to analyze the philosophical and practical implementation of biophilic design within our cities and explore how it has and can continue to be used as a tool to positively impact the health of our communities.   Course expires 7/11/2026 This session was recorded live on August 3, 2023.

Accessibility, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, often appears to be an unsightly afterthought to fulfill the letter of the law. However, when access is intentionally built in the plans, the design can be functional, accessible, and beautiful! Through this presentation, attendees will learn how the principles of accessible design can be attractive and at the same time beneficial in all design contexts. Creating beautiful design that everyone can enjoy changes lives, as it opens vast opportunities that were once closed to many.

This course examines inclusive restroom design, addressing the diverse needs of various populations and emphasizing the need to both comply with evolving codes and standards but also to move beyond code compliance. It begins with an introduction to Stalled!, a design/research initiative headed by Sanders’ office JSA/MIXdesign that is dedicated to the design and implementation of safe and accessible restroom and locker room prototypes and guidelines, then will move on to discuss examples of Stalled! principles as applied in JSA/MIXdesign’s projects. The course will also explore recent amendments to the International Plumbing Code (IPC), detailing provisions for all-gender multi-user restrooms and single-user facilities. Participants will explore social constructs that have led to spatial discrimination, promoting spatial equity through design. The course will cover best practices for creating safe, accessible public restrooms that address the health, safety, and well-being of people of different ages, genders, religions, and disabilities. Additionally, the course will cover sustainable design practices, including water and energy conservation techniques. You'll gain an understanding of how fixture calculations and placement play a role in accessibility. Finally, the course will address how to navigate code challenges and utilize alternative materials and methods to achieve innovative and inclusive designs. This course is tailored for architects and designers aiming to create inclusive and sustainable spaces while adhering to updated codes and promoting equality of experience.  This session was recorded live on October 14, 2025.

Take your design practice to the next level and make a measurable impact on the planet. Designing for Decarbonization is a five-part learning series that equips architects and design professionals with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to take meaningful action on climate change—turning sustainable vision into practical, measurable results.  From understanding the built environment’s role in global emissions to applying cutting-edge, data-driven tools to enhance energy performance, this series delivers practical guidance you can apply immediately. Explore real-world examples, technical insights, and actionable design approaches to reduce both embodied and operational carbon, integrate passive and high-performance strategies, and make informed design decisions with energy modeling.  Whether you’re advancing firm-wide sustainability goals or sharpening your personal expertise, this series provides the skills, insight, and leadership strategies to design buildings that perform better, last longer, and contribute positively to the planet. 

This presentation explores the principles behind fire codes and standards, helping design professionals understand not just what the requirements are, but why they exist. Attendees will learn how materials behave in fire, how fire develops,and how testing informs fire-resistance ratings. The session emphasizes that fire safety is a system-of-systems: no single solution is perfect alone. Learn about fire safety and design decisions through a risk-based perspective, appreciating that code compliance represents an acceptable level of risk—not a guarantee of safety. Through exploring real-world examples, global fire incidents and systemic failures, this session aims to equip architects with a risk-aware, systems-thinking approach to fire safety that complements code compliance, enabling safer, more resilient building design.

The rising occurrence of violence in the healthcare workspace is a growing concern. In a recent survey, 72% of healthcare workers said their biggest safety concern is patients becoming violent. Another 61% said their biggest safety concern is the mental health impact of burnout. These concerns are affecting healthcare worker recruitment and retention with 68% prioritizing workplace safety when looking for a job and more than half noting they would be likely to quit if a violent incident occurred.  Healthcare workers' mental and physical safety is a real and urgent concern affecting clinical care. The built environment must adapt and support these concerns. Join this panel of healthcare leaders to discuss and address operational and architectural healthcare modifications to create a safer work environment with improved wellness for staff.  This course was recorded live on July 23, 2024. Course expires 07/01/2027

As climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of hurricanes, healthcare facilities in coastal regions face growing pressure to remain operational during extreme weather events. This webinar explores the design and planning of a forward-thinking New Medical Campus (Health First Cape Canaveral Replacement Hospital, built to endure Category 4 hurricanes while delivering uninterrupted care.  Through the lens of this facility, architects (The Lawrence Group) and healthcare professionals will examine how resilient design imperatives—such as elevated construction, hardened building envelopes and integrated emergency planning—are essential in safeguarding public health in vulnerable regions.  Key topics include:  Responding to a Changing Climate: How evolving environmental conditions shaped the design strategy  Designing for Continuity: Architectural and operational systems that ensure care delivery during and after hurricanes  Collaborative Preparedness: Partnering with public health and emergency management agencies to develop robust response plans  Site-Specific Risk Mitigation: Evaluating and addressing vulnerabilities unique to coastal Florida  This session offers actionable insights for professionals designing healthcare campuses in hurricane-prone areas, emphasizing the need for adaptive, sustainable, and resilient solutions.  This session was recorded live on November 11, 2025.

Though it is one of the world’s oldest building materials, wood is still revolutionizing the way buildings are designed and constructed today. Timber design and construction necessitate an interdisciplinary approach from the outset of a project. With the emergence of mass timber, it is important to begin by considering the impact of building codes, and what is possible within a given jurisdiction. At an elemental level, material selection is tied to both material performance and critical environmental considerations, including regional availability, carbon sequestration, and life cycle analysis. Once underway, the delivery of complex mass timber structures often involves novel approaches to construction documentation, from collaborative drawing and modeling software to parametric CNC fabrication. The end product – buildings with unencapsulated timber – creates architecture designed for occupant health and happiness, with the biophilic benefits of natural materials, abundant light, and carefully-considered building systems. Through a series of wood and mass timber case studies, this lecture presents the 38-year trajectory of Shigeru Ban Architects’ work in wood, emerging from an interdisciplinary approach. As an introduction to this presentation, there will be a panel discussion with Colorado-based professionals who do work related to the intersection of resiliency and building materials. In particular, they will discuss examples of how post-disaster rebuilds can benefit from designing to newer codes, pursue lower lifetime energy costs, and how wood construction should consider future disasters in how it is implemented.  Presented in partnership with AIA Colorado

Delve into the principles, challenges, and successes of designing net-zero energy educational buildings by exploring two award-winning case studies: the Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center in Cape Cod and Bard High School Early College. Gain insights into the strategies and innovations that allowed these projects to achieve net-zero energy goals while fulfilling educational needs. This course is ideal for architects, designers, and professionals interested in sustainable design and energy-efficient building practices. This course was recorded live on January 28, 2025.

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.