This course will equip participants to compare features, benefits and limitations of particleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF) with considerations of product grades and their physical properties for proper end-use selection.

Designing commercial buildings requires that high performance becomes married with great aesthetics. Increasingly, both must be done while containing the material, labor, and installation costs. One area that has received attention in all of these regards is exterior cladding. While many different choices abound with varying degrees of weight, thickness, and ease of installation one product has emerged as a very appealing solution in many cases. Architectural Wall Panels made from fiber cement have a proven history of allowing architects to create building exteriors that are innovative, affordable, sustainable, and able to create a variety of aesthetic design appearances.

Innovative Water Conservation Fixture Systems, presented by Zurn, explores critical issues related to water usage and the need for water conservation awareness and implementation. Through this course, students are provided strategies for implementing effective water conservation initiatives and are introduced to a multitude of innovative water conserving fixture systems that consume far less water than standards currently demand, without sacrificing performance or comfort. Additionally, industry performance tests are reviewed, water consumption calculators are demonstrated and water efficiency as it relates to LEED credits is defined.

(Please note: The Study Guide is a research paper produced by the White House detailing innovative Water Conservation efforts and resources across the country. It is intended to supplement this course. Please download upon enrolling.)

This course explores the features and numerous sustainable benefits of using high velocity/low speed fans for air destratification, supplemental cooling, improved indoor air quality, and human productivity. Topics covered include ideal applications, fan selection and planning, and code requirements for HVLS fans.

The purpose of this presentation is to give you a clear understanding of the features and benefits of textured metals and discover how to best specify stainless steel and metal alloys in your projects. The first part of our talk will introduce the ecological and economic properties of textured stainless steel as well as educate you on the composition of metals and alloys. The second portion of this presentation will illustrate the process of texturing metals and their applications, as well as how to specify them. The session will also review projects that use textured metals -  with beautiful results.

You will be required to download Supplementary Case Study Material from the International Stainless Steel Foundation that pictures and describes exeptional architectural stainless installations around the world. The descriptions reinforce the sustainability, low-maintenance, durability and aesthetic advabtages of designing with metal alloys. 

For the good of your practice: This lively video features construction marketing expert Jim Nowakowski discussing how your design/architectural service can get a better understanding of the market today in view of ongoing "Digital Disruption." The course will give you a better understanding of the tools available to help keep your services relevant, and of your own value in the scheme of business today.

The health, safety and performance of athletes is greatly affected by the playing surface. Standards for the dynamic relationship between a sports floor and athletes demonstrate that sustainable maple hardwood flooring offers exceptional accommodation of forces while enhancing play. This course also discusses key selection considerations used for material specification of a natural wood or synthetic sports and activity floor, and describes a variety of basic subfloor and surface configurations for maple floors. The Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA) - manufacturers, sport floor contractors, distributors and allied product manufacturers who subscribe to established quality guidelines - is the authoritative source of technical and general information about maple flooring and related maple and synthetic sports flooring systems.

This presentation will cover techniques for mitigating fire damage and reducing fire spread while describing how an understanding of code intent can be used to argue equivalent fire performance when wood solutions lie outside typical code-approved applications. Over the last 80 years, prescriptive height and area limitations have remained relatively unchanged in North American building codes while technological advances and fire service capabilities have improved considerably. Through an examination of historical code development and identification of the risk factors on which codes are based, we can set the stage for a re-examination of public perception with regard to combustible construction.

As a foundation, this course examines several categories of LED technology and the appropriateness of each to various facets of architectural design. Then, the balance of the course is devoted to a discussion of color-changing LED technology and its impact on the comfort and health of building occupants.

(Please note: The Study Guide is a White Paper entitled Humancentric Lighting, and is intended to be part of this course. Please download it upon enrolling.)

Potable Water Safety Through Backflow Prevention, presented by Zurn, provides a ground level understanding of how we can protect the potable water supply from contamination and pollution due to backflow. Backflow prevention measures and cross-connection controls are explored as methods to ensure clean and healthy potable water supplies. (Course includes a downloadable PDF study guide.)