Solar shading devices, while available in numerous weaves, textures, and colors, go beyond contributing to the aesthetics of a space. Specified correctly, solar shading devices can maximize daylighting benefits and contribute to occupant well-being, productivity, and engagement, while mitigating the detrimental effects of UV rays and glare.

Learning Objective 1:
Students will understand the benefits daylighting, including the psychological and physiological well-being of occupants, as well as its drawbacks, such as glare and solar heat gain

Learning Objective 2:
Students will become familiar with the types of solar shading fabrics available for use in commercial settings and their components, including operating systems, weave, color, and openness factor, and the ways in which these contribute to the control of daylighting.

Learning Objective 3:
Students will explore the benefits of solar shading devices that extend beyond light management, such as sound mitigation, sustainability, and antimicrobial properties.

Learning Objective 4:
Students will determine how to select the right fabric for an application, taking into account aesthetics and room conditions

This course will describe the benefits of moveable glass walls in education environments from K-12 through higher education. It includes a comprehensive look at design options, framing and installation options, interior and exterior connecting applications, acoustical attenuation, daylighting, and 21st Century Educational design.

HSW Justification:
Privacy, daylighting, on-demand teaching flexibility, improved teaching outcomes and student and teacher health benefits are the primary focus of this course.

Learning Objective 1:
Identify and recognize the significance of flexible space in school design to safely accommodate variable educational needs

Learning Objective 2:
Assess the health and welfare aspects of glass wall systems in terms of providing daylight and views to students, teachers and staff.

Learning Objective 3:
Explain the importance of acoustics and the impact on student performance, and creating a better indoor environment.

Learning Objective 4:
Determine ways to incorporate the design principles presented into building project documentation as shown in project examples.

Operable glass walls can provide for flexible interior spaces, safer interior environments, rapid and highly accessible connections to exterior spaces and all the benefits that ensue, such as fresh air, light, unobstructed views and rapid egress in the event of emergency. This course examines how operable glass walls meet those challenges and then shows the application of those principals in several case studies.

Neuroarchitecture is a design discipline that seeks to incorporate neuroscience into design to augment the built environment’s positive influence on the emotional and physical health of people.

A Pattern Map evaluates a pattern on two key elements: structure and nature. This course explains why these two elements affect how we recognize and respond to pattern and examines ways to bridge architecture and nature by using architectural panel systems with patterned openings, and provide a sense of space, privacy, shade, or camouflage with cladding, screens, or railings.

HSW Justification:
Pattern improves the physical emotional and social well-being of those who experience the space. It protects those who occupy the space, and pattern enables equitable access, elevates human experience, encourages social interaction and benefits the built environment.

Learning Objective 1:
Students will learn to compare patterns on a patten map

Learning Objective 2:
Students will learn to explain how different characteristics of a pattern functionally and aesthetically impact the visual space.

Learning Objective 3:
Students will learn how to select the openness factor and base material that will help meet project objectives.

Learning Objective 4:
Students will learn how to apply HSW Best Practices to provide privacy, facades, camouflage, shade, or railings with architectural panels with patterned openings.

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As architects and clients alike demand the creation of what’s next, design teams rely on new product systems and solutions to help them push the boundaries of form and function. This article profiles a few solutions that enable architects to create distinct building envelopes that don’t sacrifice on the efficient performance or sustainable design considerations that also occupy prominent spots on almost every client’s wish list.

HSW Justification:
This article explores solutions that enable architects to deliver a desired aesthetic that also performs efficiently and offers sustainable design benefits. For example, thermal barriers in the aluminum framing that hold the glazing in place allows architects to complete historic renovation projects that exceed thermal performance targets, without compromising the integrity of the historical aesthetic. Composite metal panel systems that support very unique applications and creative demands from design teams can also offer top-tier performance in terms of fire-, water-, and impact-resistance. Extruded aluminum trim beautifully meshes different types of exterior cladding, while helping the envelope to better manage moisture.

Learning Objective 1:
Explain how incorporating thermal barriers into the aluminum framing in the fenestration of the Crosstown Concourse helped the project become the world’s largest LEED Platinum historic rehabilitation project, while maintaining the integrity of its historic aesthetic.

Learning Objective 2:
Specify a composite metal panel system that offers the resistance to fire, water, and impact best-suited to the needs of a particular project.

Learning Objective 3:
List the aesthetic and sustainability-related benefits of specifying extruded aluminum trim on an exterior cladding.

Learning Objective 4:
Describe how the different finishes of precast concrete used in the façade of the Ale Asylum were reverse engineered to perfectly match the concept originally pitched and accepted by the city.