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.

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. 

The climate is changing. ASHRAE tells us that the US is warming at least a degree a decade. We are experiencing more frequent and more intense severe weather events. We are experiencing movement of disease vectors and changing health threats. In the face of these changes, the healthcare system must adapt and must plan for resilience. This is not a political issue; rather, it’s physics, and it’s an issue with lasting devasting effects (exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius) if ignored or treated with a lack of urgency. We know that the healthcare sector represents roughly 20% of the US economy; 10% of US greenhouse gas emissions; 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. How can/is healthcare legitimately removing carbon from the delivery of care (i.e. carbon-free care)? Is it fully possible? Join this unique webinar, designed as a panel forum, to hear the owner-side of the equation and engineering/consulting side. Helen Wilmot, Chief Facilities & Sustainability Officer Stanford Health Care and Walt Vernon, CEO of Mazzetti & National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative Steering Committee member, will provide candid, and perhaps unexpected perspectives on the most relevant topic impacting human health — decarbonization. Stanford Health Care (SHC), in many ways, is the leading the decarbonization charge in the industry. Discover how SHC is addressing the obvious barriers of “dependence on fossil fuels” to perform essential tasks — heating, humidifying, sterilization — as well as the somewhat less obvious barriers re fleet and medical gasses. Discover how the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative to decarbonize the U.S. Healthcare is addressing operational pathways, including healthcare delivery (e.g. “hospital at home”), supply chain, financing, regulation, and even relevant education and communication for various stakeholders. Course expires 09/13/2025

Leverage your education and experience to inspire and broaden the pipeline of future talent! This two-part series will prepare you to successfully engage K-12 students.

This interactive self-paced course will consider best practices in creating and implementing architecture and design exposure opportunities for kindergarten through 12th grade students. Participants will leverage their own education and experience in their efforts to inspire and broaden the pipeline of future talent. The Framework for Design Excellence will be considered as a guide to potential activations. Participants will consider three questions in their volunteer efforts: Design for Equitable Communities: What opportunities exist to include, engage, and promote human connection? Design for Well-Being: How can this activation be welcoming and inclusive for all? Design for Discovery: What strategies promote a sense of discovery and delight? This course is divided into two parts: a .5 LU course on volunteer best practices followed by a 1.5 LU capstone course. Participants will be provided with a actionable resources to engage with students. Course expires 7/21/27

This self-paced course will transfer learning from the course "K-12 Outreach: Best Practices" to hands-on engagement with students. Participants will leverage their own education and experience in their efforts to inspire and broaden the pipeline of future talent. Participants will select one of three activations to deliver directly to a K-12 audience and complete a follow-up assignment in order to achieve course credit. This is the second section of a 2-part course. Participants should complete "K-12 Outreach: Best Practices" before beginning this course Course expires 7/20/27

Women face a variety of challenges - and opportunities - as they navigate the waters of a career in the field of architecture. From work-life balance and gender-based assumptions to glass ceilings and even go-it-alone entrepreneurship, women often encounter obstacles to finding right-fit roles, upward mobility, and workplace fair-play. This is an unprecedented year with new challenges that are still being overcome and solutions still to be discovered. Join us for this candid and mindful discussion on the challenges and opportunities that women face working in the architecture industry today, as leaders share stories and identify solutions to the obstacles they have encountered this year. Course expires: 10/31/2026