In the face of mounting industry pressures – ranging from sustainability mandates to labor shortages – the AEC industry must evolve or risk obsolescence. This course equips architects and firm leaders with strategies to turn challenges into opportunities through innovation. Explore a structured approach to diagnosing current pains, envisioning future capabilities, and deploying practical, measurable innovation strategies that align with business goals. Learn how to define success, prioritize initiatives, and drive meaningful transformation in your organization.  This session was recorded live on August 5, 2025.

Climate change is no longer an abstract threat. Day after day, an already disrupted climate is impacting the lives of millions, and the time available to curtail climate change is alarmingly limited. Decarbonizing how buildings are designed, constructed, and operated is a sea change that is already altering professional principles and practices.  In Going for Zero: Decarbonizing the Built Environment on the Path to Our Urban Future, seasoned architect and former AIA president Carl Elefante addresses how buildings and cities can and must help resolve the looming climate emergency. Elefante offers a decidedly alternative viewpoint, one informed by his architecture career rescuing buildings from senseless demolition and learning from the practices and wisdom embedded in built heritage.   Going for Zero is an urgent call to action and path forward. Elefante’s message is ultimately one of hope—but we must act now.  This session was recorded live on October 23, 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.

Extended Reality (XR) – encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) – is reshaping the future of architecture, engineering, and construction. This course offers an in-depth look at XR technologies, their relevance to AEC workflows, and their intersection with complementary emerging technologies like reality capture, digital twins, and AI. Discover current and emerging use cases, learn how to evaluate hardware and software options, and build a roadmap for successful XR adoption. Whether you're just exploring or ready to deploy XR at scale, this course provides the essential knowledge to lead your firm into the future.  This session was recorded live on August 12, 2025.

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.

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

A well-structured agenda is the backbone of every successful meeting. This course shows how clear, purposeful agendas enhance focus, efficiency, and participation. You’ll learn the key components of an effective agenda and how to tailor it to specific projects or team needs. The course also covers best practices for sharing agendas in advance, setting realistic timeframes, and using them as tools for accountability and follow-through. You’ll leave with the confidence to design agendas that keep meetings productive, on schedule, and outcome-driven.

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. 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.

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

As a residential architect, would you like to include more high-performance building products and construction processes into the homes you design?  Did you know that designing a home to Passive House certification standards can deliver an energy savings of 80-90% over homes designed and built to current code. In addition to the energy savings, Passive House design and construction produces homes that are more comfortable, healthier, and are more resilient in the face of environmental challenges.  Building to the Passive House certification standard ensures a comprehensive approach to residential design, energy modeling, and construction processes that produce comfortable, healthy, and resilient homes. We will review typical construction types, windows and installation, air barriers and insulation and new, innovative PH products, proper installation of components. Gain insights on how Passive House standards are applied to new custom homes as well as how Passive House certification standards are applied to remodel projects. Hosted by the Custom Residential Architects Network (CRAN).  Course expires 10/24/2026 This session was recorded live on November 9, 2023.

With a focus on cultivating culturally aware thoughts and actions, learn strategies and practices that promote inclusion, reduce bias, improve equity, and create lasting culture change within firms, organizations, and communities. Explore how to foster inclusive leadership and improve cultural competence in architecture both internally within workplaces and externally within the built environment. This course is particularly beneficial for working to address the challenges faced by individuals with nondominant identities—including but not limited to women, immigrants, people with disabilities, single individuals, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and individuals from diverse age groups, educational backgrounds, races, ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic classes. Course expires 6/26/2027

When the design assistance team program was created in the 1960s, it pioneered participatory approaches to city building. Over five decades later, the program has established a track record of urban innovation and change that has influenced cities all over the world. Learn how the DAT program has employed one of the most powerful methodologies for urban innovation in the field today – and how its component parts have been adapted and deployed globally for urban transformations.  This session was recorded live on April 26, 2023.

Regardless of scale, new projects will always require effective project management—whether you’re employed by an architecture firm, as a consultant, in academia, or you’ve pursued another career path that leverages your unique set of design skills. But what does project management actually entail? What’s the difference between being a manager and a project manager? What skills do project managers need?  In this course, you’ll discover the fundamentals of project management, understand what it takes to become a project manager, and learn proven strategies for building and supporting an effective project team.  This entry-level course is perfect for people who are considering project management as a career path or who want to better manage their own work—even if you work outside the AEC industry. Course expires 02/10/2027

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.