Understanding financial fundamentals is essential for architects looking to build resilient, profitable firms. This course provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the core financial statements and ratios that shape a firm’s financial health. Designed specifically for architects and design professionals, it demystifies complex financial concepts through practical examples, engaging multimedia content, and interactive exercises.  You’ll explore the structure and function of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements while gaining hands-on experience analyzing financial ratios. By connecting financial fundamentals directly to architectural practice, the course empowers professionals to make informed business decisions that drive sustainable growth and long-term success.  This is a new, interactive on-demand version of the course, adapted from the live session held on April 22, 2025.  

Make sure you’re prepared for the rapidly evolving digital revolution with a comprehensive introduction to the core concepts, principles, and applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Learn key components of AI, explore the current and future implications of its use, and gain insights into the real-world applications in the industry.   Whether this is your first foray into the topic or you’re looking to update your skills, this course will equip you with the foundational understanding needed to explore AI further.  Course expires 10/25/2026 This session was recorded live on December 14, 2023.

In a time of seemingly constant change, how can we as design professionals plan for the future effectively? Future Proofing is an approach that flows through every aspect of the project to organize all elements of the experience will a focus on human connection.  We will start a conversation around the advantages of investing less in fixed assets, instead putting the emphasis on programmable space that can host a range of uses from workplace to retail, edutainment to events, and gatherings of all types with equal ease.  In this discussion we will explore ways to listen, and learn from trends and culture, with an eye toward adaptability for everything from master plan to retail footprints, from touchpoints to memorable moments.  We will consider new ways to problem solve the creation of noteworthy destinations that connect emotionally with the community we want to engage. Hosted by the Retail and Entertainment Knowledge Community (REKC). Course expires 12/18/2025

Emergency Departments (ED) can be instantaneously overwhelmed, requiring resilient, adaptable, and flexible solutions of the built environment. Like many healthcare organizations, UC Health, an academic medical organization located in Cincinnati, Ohio, experienced major space challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic on-set and peak. This scenario, and others that ED’s are faced with, can be better supported by innovative uses of non-clinical environments on campus. In this presentation, we will demonstrate solutions applied to an adjacent space to the renovated ED at University of Cincinnati Medical Center that provides added social distanced seating for the entire campus, accommodates separate entries to avoid cross-contaminating infectious and non-infectious presenters, activates additional patient care environments supporting the ED proper, and integrates security and safety measures for all in high-stress, potentially dangerous situations. UC Health has received congressional funding for this project through the CARES (Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act as it will benefit the readiness of the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Cincinnati to better serve the community with a future-proof, resilient facility. Upon completion, the space activation methodologies will be folded into regional readiness training for emergency scenarios and serve as an example of the future of Level 1 Trauma Centers.  Hosted by the Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH). Course expires 5/29/2026

A panel of experts discusses how to excel at getting your work published in print. From documenting the project, preparing and arranging professional photography and promoting the project through various channels. You’ll learn how to create the story behind the project and how to pitch it to editors. Sponsored by AGS Stainless, Inc., an AIA National Cornerstone Partner.  Hosted by CRAN.  Course expires 10/19/2025

Building certification systems offer valuable frameworks for designing buildings with environmental and human outcomes in mind. This presentation reviews the mechanics, goals, values, and the relative cost and effort of five common building certifications on the market today (LEED, WELL, Fitwel, Living Building Challenge, and Green Globes) providing attendees with a deeper understanding of which rating system might be most appropriate for their next project.

Learn how to recognize, anticipate, and plan for the impacts shocks and stresses have on communities and buildings. In this interactive course, you’ll explore the relationships between hazards, vulnerability, and risk in the built environment, which will, in turn, inform a holistic design process that protects public safety and reduces damage to property. Designing communities that are safe, healthy, and sustainable rests on this foundation. This course is part of the AIA Resilience and Adaptation Series, a multi-course series that provides you with the tools and knowledge you need to design for resilience. Take all of the courses in this series to earn a certificate of completion. This course is sponsored by Owens Corning    

Dive deeper into the relationship between building materials and human health in this eye-opening course. You’ll discover the three ways substances move from the environment into our bodies. You’ll also learn about health risks—what makes certain populations more vulnerable and why health impacts can vary from person to person. Embracing the precautionary principle is one of several actions explored in this course to help you better consider human health risks when selecting materials. This course is sponsored by CertainTeed Course expires on 6/12/2025

This panel discussion featuring a university educator, AAH next generation practitioner, AAH mentoring advocate, American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA) leader and a firm principal involved in succession planning focuses on the opportunities and challenges in career development and progression.  This session was recorded live on October 10, 2023.

This plenary will present the latest research on designing for heath, both within healthcare environments and in a wider urban setting. Healthcare morphologies and research on green space will be explored as well as research discoveries occurring in practice. Course expires 1/25/2026

This session will delve into tools and techniques in healthcare design to improve outcomes and plan for resilience. Using artificial intelligence  to evaluate and discover scenarios for preventative design in healthcare spaces will be uncovered as well as material health in healthcare settings. Using nature to increase patient outcomes will also be explored, including ongoing research with human subjects in a healthcare setting. Course expires 1/25/2026

Since its establishment in 1901, the National Bureau of Standards (NIST) has been committed to setting standards worldwide. In addition, NIST is a proud steward of scores of historically important research laboratories, facilities, and architecturally significant structures and landscapes. Historic preservation has become an integral component of the planning, design, operations and maintenance activities across all of its campuses nationwide. NIST’s Master Plan, which facilitates this preservation, has been the recipient of both local and national awards. This session will discuss NIST’s exemplary federal agency leadership in preservation practice.  Hosted by the Public Architects Committee (PAKC).   Course expires 9/19/2026 This session was recorded live on December 5, 2023.

Hear from mass timber experts with first-hand experience and learn the benefits of mass timber, including its unique design and performance attributes, environmental and social benefits, and local sourcing from certified sustainably managed forests. Focusing on the 619 Ponce building, learn how the project team leveraged their #SeedlingsToSolutions tagline with multiple stakeholders, in turn contributing to sustainability and their environmental, social, and governance goals. Whether mass timber is new to you or you’re working on your 10th project, this session offers innovative, fresh, and tangible content certain to inspire your next project.This session will center around the events that occurred before and after the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, in 2021. Discussion will include the ongoing intensive analysis by forensic investigators to determine a root cause, or causes, of the structural failure. Examine how this tragedy will affect our current and future legal and business operations for years to come. Understand how failure analysis is a part of our ongoing learning experience as architects. Course expires 06/05/2026

Architects face a unique blend of creativity, precision, and pressure. Between challenging clients, tight deadlines, and high expectations, stress can build quickly and, if left unmanaged, can impact both professional performance and personal well-being. How to Manage Stress and Burnout in Architecture is a practical, engaging, and self-paced course designed specifically for architecture professionals. It explores the nature of stress and how the body responds to it, and how to identify and manage stress and burnout. Through real-world scenarios from architectural practice, the course empowers learners with effective strategies to maintain balance, foster resilience, and reduce the harmful effects of stress and burnout—both on the job and in daily life.

Achieving a more diverse workforce requires firms to be deliberate and take measurable actions. A lack of diversity in architecture can be a self-perpetuating cycle that reinforces unconscious biases. A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that makes everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do for the business, feel equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging has evolved from a "nice-to-have" to a mission-critical component for organizations to progress and stay competitive in the global market. In this session, attendees will hear from representatives from a diverse group of architecture firm sizes and practices who will share their experiences successfully implementing inclusive and equitable firm policies such as salary transparency, inclusive firm policies for LGBTQ+ folks, equitable and inclusive parental leave, and support for early career professionals. Panelists will share their insights in why consideration for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and the needs of individuals is imperative for architects and their communities. This session will have ample Q&A time, allowing for attendees to engage with the panelists. Hosted by the Young Architects Forum (YAF). Course expires 10/7/2026 This session was recorded live on October 3, 2023.

This session from the The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® Building Science Education series explains why and how to provide heating, ventilation, and air conditioning to buildings. Beginning with a discussion of various efficiency metric and ending with an examination of thermal energy storage, additional topics in this session include COP, SEER. and EERs, heating systems, heat pumps, load calculations, ventilation air, water heating science and technologies, and controls.   The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® Building Science Education series is designed to educate students and working professionals on building science principles that are paramount to the successful design of high-performance, energy-efficient buildings. AIAU offers architects and design professionals courses that aim to educate on: Brought to you in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

Centering justice means different things to different people, depending on context and on their definition of justice. For architects, justice in the built environment encompasses history and practices that can be unrecognized and therefore difficult to notice and name. For clients and communities, justice may be understood through lived experience and values that are recent or continued from their ancestors. This course will offer participants frameworks for examining their own practices and broaden their capacity to center justice in ways that are most likely to be effective. The research team will share what they learned while writing the Justice in the Built Environment supplement after completing the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice and suggest ways they think practitioners can use the actions, prompts, and worksheets to center justice with their clients and community partners. Download the Guides for Equitable Practice Course expires 2/13/2026

The AIA Guides for Equitable Practice make the moral, business, ethical, and societal cases for equitable practice in the profession of architecture. They provide key insights to hear insights on how the guides can change firm culture and create an environment that nurtures retention and inspires limitless thinking. In this course, participants will discover recommendations on how to achieve goals found within the Guides through utilization in practice and as a resource in connecting these goals with the work of their firm/organization. To learn more, check out the supplements on Justice in the Built Environment and Equity in Architectural Education.

Recruiting top talent in architecture and design requires more than posting a job opening. This course explores the unique recruitment challenges firms face and how to address them through an inclusive lens. You'll learn the difference between attracting and sourcing candidates, how to write inclusive and compelling job postings, and how to implement proactive outreach and sourcing tactics that engage passive and underrepresented talent. Guided by the AIA’s best practices for inclusive hiring, this course offers actionable tools to help firms build a more diverse and equitable workforce. 

Changing access and supervision requirements are beginning to challenge the traditional norm of designing segregated, gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms for K–12 schools. Inclusive facilities offer a more humane and dignified approach to the traditional toileting and locker room experience. Learn the benefits and practicalities of designing inclusive restrooms and locker rooms—highlighting their role in promoting equity, accessibility, efficiency, and student health.  Understand how inclusive facilities can reduce bullying, enhance privacy, and improve overall student safety and well-being. Gain practical tools to navigate conversations with community stakeholders, code officials, administrators, staff, families, and students—ensuring a smooth transition to more inclusive environments in K–12 schools. AIA Best Practices Guide To learn more about inclusive and universal restroom and locker room design in K-12 schools, read the AIA Guide on Inclusive restrooms & locker rooms in K-12 schools by Cheryl Jacobs, AIA, Greg Louviere, AIA, & Benjamin Fields, AIA, published June 2024. This session was recorded live on August 29, 2024.  Course expires 6/14/2027