Summer Sessions at UMass: Sustainable, High-Performance Facades

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The University of Massachusetts Amherst is offering a six-week online course, Sustainable and High-Performance Facades, from May 18 to June 26, 2020. The class will meet online on Mondays and Wednesdays, 11 am to 2 pm EST.

Two sections of the course will be offered, as a continuing education course for professionals (non-credit version) and as a graduate-level course for students (3-credit course).

The professional continuing education course is intended to advance practitioners' skills in designing sustainable, high-performance building facades and to broaden their knowledge about sustainable facade materials, design methods, systems, simulation and modeling tools, and facade performance. The course is structured to allow professionals to learn about the design methods and approaches, analyze properties of facades, and also incorporate specific design strategies to develop viable solutions for innovative facades. The course will be delivered fully online, through real-time lectures and discussions.

Registered professionals will learn about the advances in technology, sustainable and high-performance facades, building simulations and energy modeling, materials and their environmental impact, design and technical documentation. The following topics will be covered:

Research methods
Sustainable design methods for facades
Building science, especially relating to building skins
Heat and moisture transport in building facades
Emerging facade technologies
Methods for improving thermal performance, daylight and building occupants' comfort through facade design
Advanced construction materials
Environmental impact of facade systems
Building performance tools and simulations
Analytical processes for facade design
Testing procedures for facades.

The course will be taught by Ajla Aksamija, PhD, LEED AP BD+C, CDT, a member of FTI's Board of Directors and the Chair of FTI's Education Committee. Aksamija is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Building Technology Researcher at Perkins and Will. She is the author of seminal book Sustainable Facades: Design Methods for High-Performance Building Envelopes (Wiley, 2013), and also Integrating Innovation in Architecture: Design, Methods and Technology for Progressive Practice and Research (Wiley, 2016). Her research expertise includes building science, emerging building technologies, advanced building skins, high-performance buildings, and innovations in architecture. She has authored over seventy research publications, and is a frequent speaker at various industry and scientific conferences. One of her recent research project focuses on design and development of intelligent facade systems that can be used for heating and cooling of interior spaces, as well as energy generation.

More details on each course and how to register are available in the expandable menus below. If you have any trouble registering, feel free to contact Ajla directly.