Zonda - Resource Library

This course offers insight into the environmental performance of Redwood Lumber. The details and results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comparing Redwood and plastic/composite decking options will be shared as will information about Redwood’s Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).

The course also provides comparisons between Redwood Lumber and other wood species, as well as details about the sustainability of modern Redwood forestry management practices.

Finally, this course provides details on important product attributes of Redwood Lumber including grades, fire performance, strength, and finishing options among others.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the design and construction of all-wood buildings, with a focus on Waechter Architecture’s innovative Mississippi Building in Portland, Oregon. The course highlights the flexible "6-Rooms" approach, structural systems using mass timber products, and the integration of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems. Participants will also gain insights from post-occupancy evaluations of air quality, acoustics, and thermal performance. The course will also discuss a matrix of design options developed by Waechter Architecture, offering a range of scalable and adaptable strategies for future all-wood building projects. Supported by research and learnings from completed projects, this course equips architects and design professionals with practical tools and knowledge to design and implement mass timber solutions in future building projects.

This course explores the innovative applications of softwood lumber, particularly western red cedar (WRC), in contemporary residential architecture across North America. Through detailed project case studies, three acclaimed architects—Raylene Hill (RAD Architects, Nova Scotia), Laura Marion (Flight Architecture, Colorado), and Jake Weber (GII Scout and Weber, Oregon)—share their design philosophies, construction strategies, and aesthetic decisions involving softwood lumber products. The course highlights the structural and sensory benefits of WRC, including its natural weathering, cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and biophilic appeal, both on building exteriors and interiors.

This course explores how robotics, AI, and computational design are transforming architectural practice and construction workflows. Drawing on research from Princeton’s Adel Research Group (ARG) and ETH Zurich, participants will examine multi-robot assembly, AI-driven material optimization, and human–robot collaboration in off-site prefabrication. Case studies—including the DFAB House—reveal how robotic fabrication increases precision and productivity, improves worker safety, and supports lower carbon and resilient building systems.

Add a stand-out feature to the homes you design and build. Home elevators are in increasing demand, thanks to a desire for convenience lifestyles—especially as builders maximize land use with taller, narrower homes—as well as an aging population and a trend toward multi-generation households.

Join Savaria expert David Richter for an overview of home elevator basics, including: Design and application, Technical aspects and safety features, Site requirements and limitations, and Applicable code and regulations.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Facade design is often the most complex aspect of a building project, requiring teams to balance client expectations, aesthetics, performance, regulatory requirements, budget, and schedule simultaneously. This course examines how prefabricated facade systems — integrating exterior finishes, insulation, framing, and pre-installed windows into a single coordinated assembly — can simplify this process while supporting the overall project vision. Participants will explore how this approach reduces design risk, accelerates construction schedules, and improves quality control through factory precision.

The course also addresses how prefabricated concrete facade systems contribute to occupant health, safety, and welfare through enhanced durability, fire and weather resistance, and reduced site hazards. Real-world case studies and a review of the Design Assist delivery model provide practical strategies for incorporating prefabricated facade systems effectively from early design through construction.

This course provides evidence that Redwood Timbers are a safe, strong, and sustainable option for exterior and interior building projects where natural wood is desired. It will explore the use of Redwood Timbers for post and beam construction, decorative elements, deck posts, and outdoor living structures such as arbors, pergolas, and gazebos.

The course also provides information about Redwood’s insulation properties and Class B flame spread, as well as details about modern redwood forestry management practices that ensure Redwood will remain a renewable natural resource into the future.

Finally, this course provides details on the product attributes of Redwood Timbers including grades, dimensions, fasteners, finishing options, and strength among others.

This course offers detailed information about modern Redwood timberland management approaches that contribute to the species’ long-term sustainability as a building material.

The course also provides insight into how third-party certification helps the Redwood industry communicate environmental stewardship.

The course details how wood is created through the process of photosynthesis and how carbon is sequestered long-term in wood products, drawing a connection between sustainably sourced Redwood lumber products and the ability to achieve carbon-neutral standards.

Lastly, the course defines Redwood grades and performance characteristics and describes how these properties achieve building code acceptance..

This course equips architects and design professionals with the knowledge needed to specify Advanced PVC products that enhance fire resistance in both residential and commercial settings.

It explores the principles of ignition resistance and non-combustibility, along with the significance of flame spread ratings in material selection. Participants will examine how Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) compliance influences design decisions in fire-prone areas and review the ASTM E84 test to assess the performance of PVC engineered polymers.

The course highlights strategies for integrating these fire-resistant materials to improve building resilience and minimize the potential for structural damage.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. The path to carbon-neutral concrete requires coordinated action across the entire value chain, with owners, developers, and public agencies playing critical roles in driving market and policy change. A major—often overlooked—source of embodied emissions is the widespread practice of concrete overdesign: mixes are routinely produced at strengths well above specification to compensate for perceived variability, resulting in unnecessary cement use and avoidable GHG emissions. This presentation demonstrates how overdesign directly inflates the carbon footprint of common mixtures and shows, through data, how specification practices shape those outcomes.

We also examine the climate impact of prescriptive infrastructure specifications that require minimum cementitious contents and restrict the use of lower-carbon SCMs such as fly ash and slag. These provisions, though well-intended for constructability and consistency, can force higher-emission mixes even when performance-based alternatives would meet safety and durability requirements. The research presented quantifies these effects and offers practical, low-carbon specification pathways that preserve structural integrity while substantially reducing embodied emissions.