Ontario Association of Architects
The Ontario Association of Architects is dedicated to promoting and increasing the knowledge, skill and proficiency of its members, and administering the Architects Act, to serve and protect the public interest.
Cellulose insulation has been used successfully by builders and designers for hundreds of years to provide comfort and warmth. Today, builders and designers also consider sustainability principles, climate change, occupant health and wellness issues, energy conservation, and carbon sequestration. Advanced cellulose insulation addresses all those areas as well. This course explains its environmental benefits, including its carbon capture ability, how it improves occupant health and well-being, and its numerous high-performance thermal, acoustic, and fire-resistant attributes.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s379494/www.aecdaily.com/course/1067199
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Animals, plants, and microbes are engineers of what works and lasts on earth. Biomimicry is a practice in which nature’s designs, patterns, and strategies are examined to find sustainable solutions to our technical and design problems. This course discusses how applying the concepts of biomimicry can better connect our designs and buildings with nature and examines the relationship between nature’s solutions to light, heat, glare control, and shading design principles.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s584379/www.aecdaily.com/course/622057
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Building a stronger connection with nature is critical for humans to maintain health and well-being. Composite wood decking is a durable, environmentally sustainable product that can help build links with nature through applications including home outdoor rooms, roof gardens, healing spaces, and public boardwalks in green spaces.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s14550/www.aecdaily.com/course/1005076
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course contains accessible design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Personal and corporate security is a steadily increasing issue of concern, and more homes and businesses are installing gates to control who can enter or leave. Sliding cantilevered gates, with their wide range of design and operating options, are increasingly popular for these installations. This course outlines their advantages; the many ways they can be designed, built, and operated; and those aspects that make them safe, aesthetically appealing, and reliable. The course concludes with a series of illustrated sample installations.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s951064/www.aecdaily.com/course/968151
This course contains accessible design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Outdoor shelters not only provide protection from the elements but also add visual interest to outdoor public spaces, and advances in shelter design are changing the way the recreational landscape is defined. This course looks at current capabilities in shelter design, compares pre-engineered to site-built shelters, and focuses on the advantages of using a manufacturer who offers design and engineering services. Sustainable aspects of shelter design are also discussed.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s834268/www.aecdaily.com/course/859869
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Vinyl is strong and resistant to moisture and abrasion, and therefore is the most widely used plastic for building and construction. This course presents vinyl flooring and its manufacturing process, testing standards, and performance characteristics. The course discusses the environmental impacts of vinyl flooring throughout its life span and its contributions to meeting green building codes and standards.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s679669/www.aecdaily.com/course/892209
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
This course is designed to help the commercial building team understand how to best use new products introduced into the market for building enclosures. These innovative products and systems assist in combining multiple steps of a traditional commercial exterior assembly, such as structure, fire, water, air, thermal, vapor, and acoustic control layers, into fewer steps. The course reviews various hybridized sheathing solutions and shows how the integration of advanced technology has improved performance, capability, and sustainability.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s904648/www.aecdaily.com/course/1065274
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
In a riot, burglary, or active shooter event, the importance of keeping an armed intruder out of a building cannot be underestimated. Examined here are fenestration security risks, considerations, and solutions for educational, religious, commercial, and retail applications, as well as applicable performance testing and standards. The course provides an in-depth discussion on new, retrofit access-denial glazing systems that provide maximum protection against forced entry and ballistic threats.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s858139/www.aecdaily.com/course/880596
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
While providing fresh air intake and exhaust, reducing noise, and keeping out unwanted water and debris, louvers can also provide architectural style to a building design. This course discusses the aesthetics, performance, and weather resistance features of a variety of louver designs from the basic to the extreme. A discussion about the industry standards and test protocols for louver performance is included.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s12454/www.aecdaily.com/course/900566
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
The war in Ukraine has left thousands living in substandard housing conditions, insufficient for winter weather. This course reviews a solution developed by a British engineer that addresses the pressing problem of delivering replacement windows in a war zone to improve thermal comfort in Ukrainian homes.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1096186/www.aecdaily.com/course/1100786
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Concrete is an essential part of modern buildings. As net zero energy buildings become more common, it is crucial to find ways to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint without losing the performance characteristics that make it valuable to the building team. This course explains the sources of concrete’s carbon footprint and explores strategies for reducing embodied carbon and operational carbon in precast sandwich wall panels and insulated architectural cladding.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s789181/www.aecdaily.com/course/990198
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Millions of Americans live with impairments that substantially limit major life activities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in mainstream living by mandating that public facilities and services be fully accessible to people with disabilities. This course examines the accessible elements of a multiuser toilet room. Discussed are toilet room compliance with applicable accessibility codes and regulations relating to access, use, maneuverability, and safety, and accessible design issues associated with toilet compartment and lavatory accessories.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1306/www.aecdaily.com/course/983339
This course contains accessible design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Upward-acting commercial sectional door systems can be a major contributor to controlling energy costs in buildings. This course evaluates the materials and construction of various door types and discusses the selection criteria and operation features that are available to enhance door performance for a range of applications.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s10851/www.aecdaily.com/course/574010
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Metal roofing offers longevity, durability, and visual appeal. Today, a range of color and finish options are available that afford specifiers broad design flexibility. This course explores key solar reflectance and sustainability considerations when evaluating metal roofing colors and how selection relates to requirements in codes and green building programs such as LEED® v4.1 Building Design and Construction, Sustainable SITES Initiative® v2, and the WELL Building Standard™ version 2. Case studies demonstrate how metal roofing colors have been used to meet design and sustainability objectives.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s841414/www.aecdaily.com/course/1114698
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Building systems can be enhanced by incorporating reflective insulation or radiant barriers into the building envelope. With effective insulation, heat transfer is reduced, resulting in less summer heat gain, and less winter heat loss. This course explains common and effective uses for reflective insulation and radiant barriers in a wide range of construction and building applications and demonstrates how these systems reduce energy usage, increase the lifespan of the mechanical equipment for heating and cooling, and reduce maintenance requirements and frequency of replacement.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s522670/www.aecdaily.com/course/992394
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
A high-performance building must address four major environmental loads: water, air, vapor, and thermal. The location of the required control layers is critical to effective envelope design. This course explores perfect/universal wall design and the use of single-component insulated metal panels (IMPs) to provide all four control layers. Presented here are discussions on the building envelope, rainscreens, perfect wall design, and IMPs, and more specifically, how to incorporate IMPs into engineered façade systems.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s9727/www.aecdaily.com/course/846064
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Firestopping is more than installing sealant in an opening. It is a critical component of a building’s overall life-safety system. This course discusses how a properly installed firestop system not only protects property but, more importantly, also saves lives by inhibiting the spread of fire from compartment to compartment and buying valuable time for occupants to exit the structure in the event of a catastrophic fire.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1059942/www.aecdaily.com/course/1073612
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
In the last couple of decades, houses have become progressively more airtight due to energy efficiency and cost concerns. While air infiltration and exfiltration rates have been significantly reduced, the need for an efficient ventilation system has become extremely important. This course evaluates different types of mechanical ventilation systems and discusses why heat recovery ventilation (HRV) and energy recovery ventilation (ERV) systems are characterized by a high level of energy efficiency and as an effective means for improving indoor air quality.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s19871/www.aecdaily.com/course/888488
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is not just an idea about how to “grade the greenness” of products; it is a well-developed, globally recognized way to make responsible comparisons and decisions regarding sustainable material design and continuous improvement. This course discusses the concept of the EPD as applied to building materials and how to integrate EPDs into design and product selection decisions. Detailed information from different thermal insulation EPDs is used to demonstrate how thermal insulation provides a unique and significant payback in terms of energy and environmental impacts.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s20151/www.aecdaily.com/course/972525
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
The trend toward more sustainable, healthy, and energy-conserving enclosures has brought building science and moisture management to the forefront of daily conversation for professionals in the construction industry. In this course, we delve into the science behind current practices and explore the role of building envelopes, optimal wall assemblies, and enclosures in vapor, water, air, and thermal control.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1002402/www.aecdaily.com/course/1036036
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Today’s sectional overhead doors are more sophisticated than ever. Options include high-strength glazing for security and insulated steel sections for increased energy efficiency and durability. Code requirements for safety in high wind-load areas, impact resistance to hurricanes, and reductions in air transmission have led to improvements in door technology and hardware. This course examines a range of safety and security options for architects to consider when designing and specifying sectional overhead doors.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s17282/www.aecdaily.com/course/930425
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Vinyl has long been a material of choice for construction products for interiors and exteriors because of its durability, cleanability, affordability, and suitability for a vast range of applications. This course furthers the conversation by discussing vinyl’s recyclability and sustainability and the attributes of laminated rigid PVC exterior and interior wall panels and siding and soffit products.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1042490/www.aecdaily.com/course/1060032
This course contains sustainable design information. See the course details page for more information.
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Prequalification of contractors is a method used to manage the risks of an open tender process. It ensures the contractors invited to bid on the project have demonstrated applicable experience and are capable of delivering the necessary quality and value. This course is a primer on contractor prequalification and describes who benefits from the process, the applicable project delivery methods, the role of the architect, the typical information requested of the contractor, and when to use prequalification and when not to.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s18122/www.aecdaily.com/course/1021076
This course is part of one or more "Course Collections". Click here to view the details.
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
While exotic, tropical hardwoods provide beauty and durability as materials for outdoor decks, they are expensive to maintain and come with concerns about their sustainability and the effects of harvesting on ecosystems. Multilayer, cellular PVC decking products combine the desired durability and look of hardwoods but utilize a more sustainable production process to create materials that are easier to maintain.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s12394/www.aecdaily.com/course/1027272
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
Air control dampers are an essential component of a building’s HVAC system, regulating heating, cooling, and ventilation performance. Presented here is an introduction to control, balancing, backdraft, industrial, and multizone dampers; each type plays an important role in the HVAC system. Discussed are damper types, components, and performance metrics. Guidance is provided for damper specification, installation, maintenance, and inspection.
https://redirect.aecdaily.com/s1773/www.aecdaily.com/course/880606
This course is ONLINE: SELF-PACED. Experience it on your own schedule, at your convenience.
