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August 2003

Improving Building Performance Debuts

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is pleased to announce the publication of Improving Building Performance, the fourteenth title in the Professional Development Program’s monograph series investigating health, safety, and welfare topics.

Improving Building Performance offers a richly detailed and highly accessible introduction to post-occupancy evaluation (POE), a concept that monograph author Wolfgang F.E. Preiser, Ph.D., describes as “programming in reverse.” That is, during a POE the “actual performance of a building is assessed and compared to the desired performance delineated during the initial programming phase.” Three different types of POE exist: indicative, investigative, and diagnostic.

Why invest the time, resources, and personnel to undertake a POE? Preiser, a long-time POE expert and professor at the University of Cincinnati, argues that organizations sponsoring buildings, occupants of buildings being evaluated, and designers of those buildings ultimately benefit from these evaluations. By making realistic assessments of actual building performance, architects and allied professionals can better determine the outcome and quality of their work. Problems found during a POE can be immediately addressed, thus benefiting occupants and their organizations.

Improving Building Performance sells for $125 (current NCARB File holders) and $195 (non-NCARB File holders). The monograph offers four detailed case studies as well as a lengthy resource listing and prototypical POE forms. Those successfully completing the IBP quiz will earn 10 professional development units and 10 AIA learning units in health, safety, and welfare. All monograph quizzes may now be taken online through the NCARB web site—an added convenience that eliminates processing time and provides test takers with immediate results and a printable certificate of completion.

The NCARB monograph series was created in 1993 in order to meet the increasing need for continuing education and professional development verification. In addition to Improving Building Performance, the following titles are currently available: Cracking the Codes, Design Within a Community Context, Energy-Conscious Architecture, Fire Safety in Buildings, Indoor Environment, Low-Slope Roofing I, the award-winning Low-Slope Roofing II, Professional Conduct, Seismic Mitigation, Subsurface Conditions, Sustainable Design, Why Buildings Fail, and Wind Forces.

Future monographs will explore topics including crime prevention in the context of design, building security, the building envelope, and smart growth.

NCARB monographs are a portable and economical professional development resource that investigate subject matter of interest to practicing architects and allied design professionals. The AIA and all U.S. jurisdictions requiring CE accept PDP monographs for compliance with state continuing education/professional development requirements. To order an NCARB monograph, visit the Council web site for additional details and online order form.

About NCARB
NCARB comprises the architectural registration boards of all 50 states plus those of the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. NCARB assists its member state registration boards in carrying out their duties and provides a certification program for individual architects.