COTE 2023 Spring into Materials AIA Certificate Series

Material selection is a core service provided by architects, but that process is far from simple. The Materials Matter series untangles the complexities of that process in five essential courses. The key? Materials transparency. When you know everything you can about the materials you use, you’re able to make the best product decisions for projects, people, and the environment.

The courses cover different types of impacts, and best practices for reducing these impacts, from industry-best instructors. Opportunity to earn 5 AIA credits if you attend all five sessions!

All courses will be presented 8:30 – 10:00 AM.

Register Here

Purchase courses a la carte or complete all five at a discounted rate to earn an AIA Certificate in Materials and 5 CEUs!

Materials Matter: The Big Idea
Facilitator: Stuart Coppedge, FAIA, Desmone
Thursday, March 9

You wouldn’t buy a car without checking its gas mileage, so why wouldn’t you want to know what goes into your building? In this course, you’ll learn about the potential health and environmental impacts of the products that go into our buildings. You’ll also look at key drivers pushing transparency in the marketplace including client demand and green rating systems.

Environmental Impacts: Making a Difference
Facilitator: Alex Co, LFA, LEED AP ID+C, WAP Sustainability
Thursday, March 30

Often material impact is evaluated while a product is serving a useful purpose in a building, but that only accounts for a portion of the product’s complete life cycle. This course unpacks the entire product life cycle along with the unique environmental impacts at each phase. You’ll learn best practices for improving the environmental performance of materials through a variety of strategies, including designing for deconstruction at the end-of-life.

Health Impacts: Connecting Building Materials, Human Health, and the Environment
Facilitator: Tiffany Broyles Yost, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador, GBBN
Thursday, April 20

Dive deeper into the relationship between building materials and human health in this eye-opening course. You’ll discover the three ways substances move from the environment into our bodies. You’ll also learn about health risks—what makes certain populations more vulnerable and why health impacts can vary from person to person. Embracing the precautionary principle is one of several actions explored in this course to help you better consider human health risks when selecting materials.

Life Cycle Assessment: Tools to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Buildings
Facilitator: Julia Wattick, AIA, LEED AP ND, Fitwel Ambassador, Branch Pattern
Thursday, May 11

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool for understanding products and whole buildings. This course simplifies the LCA process and describes its limits and opportunities for architects. You’ll also review an extended case study that reveals how one firm embraced LCA to deliver a LEED Platinum office building.

Materials & Health: Understanding the Tools
Facilitator TBA
Thursday, June 1

There are a number of materials selection tools on the market, all designed to help you make healthier project and product decisions. But how do you choose? This course shows you how. You’ll learn about tools in the four categories—inventory, screening, assessment, and optimization—including what you can expect to find in any tool in specific category. In the last section of the course you’ll get practical advice for using the tools to make decisions, influence stakeholders, and manage risk.