Pepperdine’s best defense against wild fires is the campus design itself. Its architect was William Pereira, who was based in Los Angeles. Pereira was commissioned to create a master plan for Malibu in 1965, but the plan was never made public. Instead he was able revisit his ideas with Pepperdine years later when they gave him the opportunity.

Our 6-hour course on Weatherization and Renewable Energy is approved for 6 HSW credits and available as an online HD video. This course will explore factors that contribute to exterior shell failure and identify practical solutions that will preserve the integrity of the building envelope. As well as look into technological innovation that creates new possibilities, incorporating energy-efficiency into building projects.

1) Retrofit Existing Buildings
An easy way to reduce the carbon footprint is to not build new buildings. Minimize the demolition and maximize the reuse of existing structures. Transforming a building also helps preserve history and installs future promise.

Florida has some of the toughest building codes in the nation, but Hurricane Michael showed that the northern part of the state and the panhandle did not. The category 4 hurricane made landfall on October 10th at Mexico Beach. Entire blocks were flattened and 75% of the town gone. According to Mypanhandle.com, the estimated insured losses topped around 6 Billion dollars from Hurricane Michael.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a convergent plate boundary in the Pacific Ocean, that stretches from Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California. The Cascadia Subduction Zone can produce large earthquakes when ruptured and could exceed a magnitude 9.0.

Chen attempted to replicate this action by creating a tile where the outer layer curves the material away when wet. This reactive material could offer a way for architects and engineers to incorporate a customizable construction that alters the way people interact with their built environment.

This course is based on the 2017 Florida Building codes but is approved by the AIA for 1 hour credit. This course will focus on the “best practice” procedures to careful plan and install thermal and weather resistant components.

Architects Training Institute’s new course is called Danger in the Damp—Dealing with Mold. It will examine design and construction methods of systems designed to withstand water penetration. It will start with understanding of these systems and finding the source of intrusion then repairing and prevention.

Architects Training Institute new course called “Drier By Design-Designing to Keep Water Out.” The course focuses on moisture resistance principles and methods in a systematic fashion.

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills: A basic understanding of how water moves, migrates, and behaves;
typical sources of excess moisture in our build environments; proactive prevention of unwanted moisture through planning and design;
methods used during construction to prevent the intrusion of water; post-construction prevention of leakage by building envelope inspection;
common points of failure through which water can gain entrance; and prevention of water intrusion through control of condensation.

HouseZero will work as a prototype and research tool for an energy-positive and efficient architecture. “By creating both a prototype and an infrastructure for long-term research, we hope to raise interest in ultra-efficient retrofits and inspire substantial shifts in the design and operating of buildings,” said Ali Malkawi, the founding director of CGBC.