9 top picks for continuing education from BD+C University

Here is a roundup of the most popular AIA/CES Discovery courses on BD+C's continuing education website, BDCUniversity.com. Visit www.BDCuniversity.com to earn 1.0 AIA CES learning units for each successfully completed exam.

1. Applying Modern Energy Codes to Building Envelope Retrofits. When applying current energy codes to existing buildings, a number of issues arise, particularly where the building exterior is concerned. Moreover, envelope assemblies tend to have long life cycles, which can make them difficult and costly to effectively upgrade. www.BDCuniversity.com/applying-modern-energy-codes-building-envelope-retrofits

2. Cool Roofs Can Reduce Peak Energy Demand. This course provides an analysis of the effect of cool or highly reflective roofs in reducing peak demand charges, which may account for a significant portion of monthly electric bills in both new and existing air-conditioned commercial buildings in all North American climate zones. www.BDCuniversity.com/cool-roofs-can-reduce-peak-energy-demand

3. Building Wood Towers: How High Is Up for Timber Structures? The recent push for larger and taller wood structures may seem like an architectural fad—plenty of hype, but only a few dozen completed projects globally. Concrete and steel still rule the world of mid- and high-rise construction. Still, Building Teams around the world are starting to use more large-scale structural wood systems. www.BDCuniversity.com/building-wood-towers-how-high-timber-structures

4. Windows, Doors & Storefronts: Optimizing Safety, Durability, and Client Satisfaction. In nonresidential construction, Building Teams are finding that product and system selection is becoming increasingly complicated, due to increased demands from building occupants, according to fenestration experts. www.BDCuniversity.com/windows-doors-storefronts-optimizing-safety-durability-and-client-satisfaction

5. Guidelines for Designing Low-slope Membrane Roof Systems. Critical aspects of roof system designs are often left unaddressed, resulting in incomplete contract documents. This course identifies the information roofing contractors generally need from roof system designers to provide complete and building code-compliant low-slope roof systems. www.BDCuniversity.com/guidelines-designing-low-slope-membrane-roof-systems

6. Wet-applied Coatings and Finishes for Commercial and Institutional Projects. The rapid pace of development of improved liquid-applied materials and finishes has given Building Teams new options. These sprayable, paintable, or “gunnable” products can add performance and sustainability benefits and reach new levels of resiliency and durability. www.BDCuniversity.com/wet-applied-coatings-and-finishes-commercial-and-institutional-projects

7. Pumped-up Recreation Centers. Sports and recreation used to be confined to dedicated, often isolated, settings. That’s no longer the case. Adopting facility layouts from Asian and European models, today’s sports and recreational buildings are becoming social hubs that accommodate a variety of community needs. www.BDCuniversity.com/pumped-recreation-centers

8. Building Envelope Commissioning: 8 Strategies for Success. Building enclosure commissioning—BECx—is intended to assure building quality by establishing an explicit process to verify that a building enclosure is designed and constructed to meet the owner’s objectives. The concept of building enclosure commissioning has been around for several decades, but it has not been well defined, understood, or utilized. www.BDCuniversity.com/building-envelope-commissioning-8-strategies-success

9. Enhancing Interior Comfort While Improving Overall Building Efficacy. Providing more comfortable conditions to building occupants has become a top priority in today’s interior designs. Optimized daylighting, shading strategies, well-coordinated lighting controls, and underfloor air distribution systems can contribute to improved occupant comfort and energy savings. www.BDCuniversity.com/enhancing-interior-comfort-while-improving-overall-building-efficacy

Visit www.BDCuniversity.com to earn 1.0 AIA CES learning units for each successfully completed exam.

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Interior designer Creative License International fashioned this community room for P83, a 250-unit rental community in Peoria, Ariz. 2021 Multifamily Amenities study

Multifamily Housing | Jul 7, 2021

Make sure to get your multifamily amenities mix right

One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.

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A new approach to cold storage buildings

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A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartments, Grimm + Parker, Building Design+Construction 2021 Exercise area

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A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings

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Architects | Jun 30, 2021

Perkins Eastman joins forces with MEIS

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Architects | Jun 25, 2021

AIA announces Small Project Award recipients

Now in its 18th year, the AIA Small Project Awards program recognizes small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work.

Work in existing buildings will prevail in 2021

Architects | Jun 24, 2021

Post-pandemic, architects need to advocate harder for project sustainability

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Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

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