Zonda - Resource Library

When planning and designing homes, architects should know that more than 12.6 million U.S. households rely on propane for their primary energy needs. Propane has many advantages such as offering heat for water, outdoor spaces, and inside the home. In addition, propane provides clean fuel for comforting fireplaces, cooking food, and drying clothing.

Propane can be stored above ground or in underground propane tanks, an option many builders are choosing in order to fuel homes off the natural gas mains. This course will cover important considerations when planning for propane use in residential construction.

This course will explore how propane-fueled hydronic heating technologies such as radiant hydronic and forced-air hydronic can improve the sustainability of buildings and the health and comfort of occupants.

We will examine how these technologies work, the advantages of each type, and how building owners can overcome space-heating challenges with hydronic heating systems. Finally, the course will explore several case studies where hydronic heating systems were used to save money, maximize energy efficiency, and improve thermal comfort.

The multifamily housing industry is at a crossroads, and developers and building owners face mounting pressures to deliver energy-efficient, tenant-focused properties while managing design and cost challenges. We explore how AI-driven HVAC systems are redefining comfort, efficiency, and operational success in multifamily developments.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Water heating is a major energy end-use in commercial buildings, and is very significant in certain commercial building types. Many commercial building owners and operators have a critical need for water heating systems which are reliable, able to meet varying levels of demand, energy efficient, and able to fit within a building’s space constraints in order to maintain their business operations.

Propane tankless water heaters are a flexible and energy efficient technology which provides these attributes in many commercial applications. This course will explore how commercial buildings use energy and the potential application of propane tankless systems to provide a solution for water heating needs.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Explore the fundamentals of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology and discover how it enhances energy efficiency, design flexibility, and sustainability in various architectural projects.

Learn practical applications, design considerations, and installation best practices for VRF systems.

Energy codes are constantly changing across the country, hear architecture and building pros discuss their experiences specifying dual-fuel systems, including reliability and energy-efficiency.

Learn more about these solutions that include propane within the context of other energy sources, plus how to address code compliance.

With energy prices skyrocketing and homeowners being more sustainably conscious, it is important to design for optimal efficiency. These trends will help you make easy additions with big impact.

From optimizing the sun through solar tempering to making the right heating and cooling system decisions, this paper details the energy efficiency solutions homeowners are looking for.

Ensuring facilities have a backup power source for resilience and redundancy is gaining traction as a goal by organizations everywhere.

In this Studio Session with ARCHITECT's Editor-in-Chief watch to learn how the energy and engineering team behind an Army National Guard project specified micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) systems to cut energy costs and carbon emissions while improving resilience.

The growing interest in hearth culture has given rise to a wider array of room applications, even multiple hearths throughout a home. However, there was a time when gas fireplace requirements limited floorplan creativity. The good news is, many of those constraints—notably venting—have largely been mitigated by advances in hearth science.

These layout expansion strategies allow designers to think even more broadly about gas fireplace placement. As this paper shows, some may be unexpected. This report explores five notable floorplan hacks. Each has been vetted across thousands of residential and commercial applications and independent testing labs.