Zonda - Resource Library

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. This course explores the intersection of sustainable building practices and educational environments. Through the lens of recent mass timber projects, including the Evergreen Charter School, the course examines how mass timber construction can address key challenges in K-12 education, such as facility inequity, student well-being, and sustainability goals.

Participants will gain insights into how mass timber supports healthier learning environments, reduces embodied carbon, and offers cost-effective alternatives to conventional construction materials like concrete and steel. The course emphasizes how buildings can serve as an integral part of the educational experience, fostering community engagement and promoting long-term resilience.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. 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 use of mass timber in architecture. Chandra Robinsons’ extensive experience with timber projects showcases the material's potential to advance building technologies while promoting sustainability, equity, and resilience.

Participants will explore various case studies, from affordable housing to commercial buildings, highlighting the practical applications and benefits of mass timber construction.

Home spaces, and the way people interact with them, have undergone dramatic changes in the past several years, and few residential living spaces have seen as much change as outdoor elements such as decks. The materials available for deck substructure have also seen recent advances. This course will cover the history of deck materials, including new options, and the considerations and challenges involved in building decks — with a particular focus on all-important substructure materials — that will withstand the tests of time and the elements.

It’s a common human reaction; we turn to nature in uncertain times. Nature nurtures, as they say. With the 2020 global pandemic and the limited access to the outdoors it has meant for many, people are looking at their surroundings with new appreciation – and an increased desire for buildings that help them feel good as they spend more time indoors.

While we know that good architecture doesn’t guarantee good health, evidence is growing that a well-designed building can lead to an improved overall sense of well-being for occupants. And, since wood has a natural connection with nature, there is increasing evidence that wood can contribute to the well-being of building occupants when it is left where it can be seen and even smelled. This CEU explores the trend towards architecture designed to improve the well-being of building occupants.

This course will help you understand that sustainable design begins with sustainable building materials. Because there are many factors to consider in assessing a building’s sustainability, it can be challenging to fully understand the long-term impacts of choosing one building material over another.

However, material choice greatly affects the environmental impact of buildings, both during construction and over the building’s lifecycle.

Wood, in its natural state, is a highly sustainable material. But there are many factors that can either diminish or improve its sustainability, including how and where it’s harvested, how end products are treated and finished, and the lifecycle of the material.

This course will explore the sustainability of wood wall and ceiling systems, and considerations for specifying wood products that are sustainably sourced. We will cover different manufacturing and treatment processes, and environmental factors affecting wood, its lifecycle, reuse, and salvageability. We will also discuss applications for wood ceilings and walls, certifications available for projects specifying these materials, and insight into the world of sustainable wood systems.

Consumers are increasingly interested in understanding the environmental impact of the products they use. This course will help you understand how the choice of building materials can have profound impacts on local and global ecosystems, as well as on consumer preferences. “Green building” practices have expanded beyond operational energy efficiency to include factors such as minimizing the embodied carbon impact of a built structure along the supply chain.

As a result, wood’s role as a sustainable building material has become increasingly important. Compared to nonrenewable materials such as steel and concrete, wood is renewable and stores carbon throughout the lifetime of the material. Wood also uses less fossil fuel than substitutable materials (e.g., steel and concrete) across the supply chain, from harvest to manufacturing, transport, installation, maintenance, and disposal or recycling. Procurement of wood building materials from sustainably managed forests creates a sustainably built environment and also supports forest biodiversity, soil and water health, wildlife habitat, social and economic goals, etc.

This course will demonstrate how using wood as a building material contributes to forest sustainability, especially in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Resilience is a key component of building design when addressing both seismic and wind design. Properly designed and constructed wood structures that comply with building code requirements are resilient, performing with minimal damage while protecting occupants during both seismic and high wind events.

This course will look at how wood-frame Lateral Force Resisting Systems (LFRS), that resist wind and seismic loads, can contribute to resistance in the built environment.

Designers have a plethora of options when specifying interior surface materials, but one stands out among the crowd, despite being an age-old material: veneer. This course will explore the evolution of veneering from ancient times to today and how factory-crafted veneer cabinetry remains a handcrafted art. We will also discuss design options and performance benefits that this sustainable material of choice offers.