Climate Resilient Design in the Southeast
Registration now open for educational program for architects and design professionals to be held in Asheville, N.C., in November
Asheville NC – For architects everywhere, Asheville, North Carolina has much to offer: Richard Morris Hunt’s Gilded Age masterpiece, the Biltmore Estate, North America’s largest private home; Rafael Guastavino’s Basilica of St. Lawrence, with the largest unsupported dome in the U.S.; and a vibrant downtown with a thriving arts scene and large collection of art deco architecture.
Adding to Asheville’s appeal are restaurants with world-class chefs, award-winning craft breweries, and stunning natural beauty. But it’s the mountain city’s growing reputation as a center of excellence for weather and climate change information that will attract building and construction industry professionals to Asheville this fall, thanks to a new educational opportunity to help participants identify the role of architecture in addressing climate change risks.
With the largest repository of climate and environmental data in the world also located in Asheville – headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA/NCEI) – some of the country’s top climate scientists will be among the presenters at “Climate Resilient Design in the Southeast: Designing to New Executive Orders on Climate Adaptation.”
The daylong educational program, on Nov. 6 at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville, will offer architects and building design professionals an understanding of the latest on climate science and opportunities to reduce vulnerability through mitigation and adaptation.
Presenters for the course include Dr. Thomas Carl Peterson, an internationally recognized climate scientist who has spoken extensively on the science of climate change and how it affects everyday endeavors. Recently retired as principal scientist at NOAA/NCEI, he was a lead author on the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007.
“Architects will design the buildings that provide resilience to the more extreme storms, more frequent heat waves, periods of drought, and more intense precipitation anticipated for the future climate in the Southeast. Architects clearly have critical roles to play in meeting the objectives of President Obama’s recent executive orders on climate,” said Dr. Peterson, whom Foreign Policy magazine named one of the top 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2013 for his work on explaining extreme events from a climate perspective.
Scott Shuford, author of Planning for A New Energy and Climate Future, published by the American Planning Association, will also speak at the event. “With more than three quarters of the electricity generated in the United States going to heat, cool and power buildings, architects can play a major role in reducing greenhouse gases coming from electric power plants through energy-efficient design,” said Shuford, who serves as development services director for the City of Fayetteville, N.C.
The event is co-hosted by the Asheville section of The American Institute of Architects (AIA Asheville) and The Collider, a new initiative that brings business and science together to develop high-tech products, services, solutions and educational programming related to global climate change.
The course, for which design professionals can earn six hours of Health, Safety and Welfare AIA-accredited continuing education units, will incorporate problem-based learning and draw from numerous case studies. Climate scientists will address how climate change is affecting buildings; architects who have incorporated climate factors in commercial, institutional and residential structures will speak about methods used. Attendees will gain hands-on experience in accessing and using new tools for siting, design, and construction of new infrastructure in what will be future floodplains, and will also learn about designing to withstand extreme weather, stronger winds, hotter temperatures, drier soils and rising seas.
Cost for the course is $195 and space is limited. An additional optional networking reception on the Thursday evening prior is $10, hosted by AIA Asheville. Registration for both events and more details can be found at: http://www.thecollider.org/climate-resilient-design/ Architects with questions may also contact AIA Asheville at info@aiaasheville.org.