This course focuses on practice management from the perspective of supporting both public welfare and client interests through enhanced service delivery. The emphasis on public welfare is critically important because architects, as professionals and service providers, must prefer client interests over their own, and when the issues are clear, they must prefer public interests over both. This suggests that, if circumstances warrant, architects must raise client values to align them with public values. Indeed, the AIA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct implores members to “promote and serve the public interest.” So how can architects and their practices best operationalize professional obligations to clients and the public? They can engage in the following strategies that are discussed in the course: Provide public interest professional services. Share practice knowledge and experience with colleagues and the public. Conduct practice-based research. Investigate emerging technologies. Cultivate firm culture that supports learning and innovation and includes justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives. Collaborate effectively to facilitate client and stakeholder relations.

Soil and subsurface water conditions affect the design and performance of building projects. Therefore, it is important to recognize the problems of working with ground materials for the purposes of building and site construction and general site-surface development. This course discusses site development considerations, the management of site materials, and what can go wrong along the way. This course is part of a four-part series that examines soil mechanics as it relates to building construction and performance. Each part can be taken as an individual course. This course was last revised in 2022.

This course addresses those elements that comprise the standard of care and the linkage to liability that an architect faces during a project’s pursuit, negotiation, design, and construction document production and the construction administration process that affects the architect’s standard of care. This course was last revised in 2021.

This course provides an overview of NCARB’s Model Rules of Conduct as they apply to competence, with actual and hypothetical cases illustrating the importance of attention to detail, listening carefully, and thinking like an engineer as a means of ensuring competence in the practice of architecture. This course is part of a five-part series that reviews and discusses the standards all architects are legally obliged to follow. Each section can be taken as an individual course.

This course provides an overview of the Model Rules of Conduct as applicable to accountability, with actual and hypothetical cases illustrating the importance of the designer having detailed knowledge of the content of the plans during their preparation as a means of exerting accountability in the practice of architecture. This course is part of a five-part series that reviews and discusses the standards all architects are legally obliged to follow. Each section can be taken as an individual course.

This course provides an overview of the Model Rules of Conduct pertaining to honesty, with actual and hypothetical cases illustrating the issues related to corruption and bribery in the practice of architecture. Also included is a discussion of the difficulties in applying the rule forbidding the wanton disregard of the rights of others. This course is part of a five-part series that reviews and discusses the standards all architects are legally obliged to follow. Each section can be taken as an individual course.

This course provides an overview of the Model Rules of Conduct pertaining to conflicts of interest, with actual and hypothetical cases illustrating the issues of compensation and disclosure, as well as a discussion of how to best understand the concept of a conflict of interest. This course is part of a five-part series that reviews and discusses the standards all architects are legally obliged to follow. Each section can be taken as an individual course.

Work experience under supervision is a requirement for architectural licensure throughout the United States. This course explains NCARB’s requirements for supervision in the Architectural Experience Program®, as well as practical and ethical considerations for supervisors and mentors. The course explains learning science related to professional training, how to give useful feedback, how to utilize the AXP to provide structured experience, and considerations of unconscious biases which may affect licensure candidates in their professional development. Case study examples help learners to better understand how to apply the concepts described. Anyone who is approving experience or mentoring a licensure candidate will find value in this course.

This is a required training course for those who have accepted the role of reviewing an AXP Portfolio for an employee they supervise. It explains the supervisor’s role and obligations in the licensure process for the candidate.

This course provides an overview of registration rules for architects, with a discussion of the meaning of the practice of architecture and the design professional. The requirement for state-by-state registration, the reason for registration, and penalties for failing to do so are also addressed. This course is part of a five-part series that reviews and discusses the standards all architects are legally obliged to follow. Each section can be taken as an individual course.

The course “Indoor Air Quality Overview” is the first of six courses in the learning program, “Indoor Air Quality for Architects: Design Buildings to Promote Health and Wellness.” This introductory course is designed to educate architects on fundamental indoor air quality (IAQ) concepts, including the relationship between IAQ and indoor environmental quality (IEQ), health impacts related to IAQ, common contaminants, and how contaminants may be measured. This course defines the architect’s role and the role of the broader building design, construction, and management team in promoting acceptable IAQ, and includes references and resources that architects may find useful when evaluating designs for IAQ considerations.

The course “IAQ in Practice - Building Moisture” is the fifth of six courses in the learning program, “Indoor Air Quality for Architects: Design Buildings to Promote Health and Wellness.” This course is designed to educate architects on the benefits and risks of building-related moisture as it pertains to indoor air quality. The key factors in successful moisture management include understanding that you cannot prevent all moisture from penetrating a building, designing to minimize moisture penetration, and providing opportunities for drainage and drying.

Wildfire damage mitigation has become increasingly important as wildfires themselves steadily increase in frequency, size, and ferocity, putting more communities, buildings, and lives at risk. The property damage they cause is rising even more dramatically. This course examines wildfire behavioral attributes and the wide range of wildfire damage mitigation techniques that architects can implement when designing residential and commercial buildings. It draws from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines that range from risk assessment to site analysis and selection, community and infrastructure connections, site planning, and building and envelope detail design techniques.

The design of complex objects involving many people and functions requires careful management if progress is to be made toward a successful conclusion. This course examines the role of design management in seismic performance. Particular attention is paid to the use of construction observation and performance-based design as approaches that can be used to design structures with predictable and defined seismic performance goals. Also reviewed are a variety of design resources that can be used by architects when designing for seismic mitigation. This is the last in a series of six courses on seismic mitigation. Each part may be taken as an individual course. This 2021 edition is a substantial update of the original Seismic course first published in 2017.