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 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..

In this course, you’ll explore foundational concepts of prefabricated construction, along with its potential advantages. Materials cover the unique benefits of prefabricated light wood-frame and mass timber construction, including types of prefabricated timber systems, assemblies, and wood products used in offsite manufacturing.

Case studies throughout demonstrate a wide range of sustainable prefabricated building examples using advanced light-frame and mass timber construction.

In this course, you’ll learn about the 2021 International Building Code (IBC) changes related to tall wood construction, including three new building types that allow for wood buildings up to 18 stories and even taller using an Alternate Materials and Methods Requests (AMMR). Rigorous fire testing was conducted as part of these code changes to validate the safety of tall mass timber construction. Along with advancements in tall mass timber construction, the course explores design tactics and relevant code applications used to boost the density of light-frame wood construction.

Finally, this course will review the science related to wood’s embodied carbon and life cycle assessment in the context of curbing a building's impact on climate change, including a growing body of research demonstrating how building with timber represents an opportunity to increase the long-term storage of carbon in today’s built environment.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation with ARCHITECT's Editor in Chief. Specifying wood in building design has a multitude of benefits, including elevating the design of the project, enhancing sustainable initiatives, and incorporating mixed materials for innovative buildings.

In this session, ARCHITECT explores the work and research of several firms using wood for innovative designs.

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.