Zonda - Resource Library

Webinar On Demand: This on-demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Key findings from a recent study conducted by AIA with support from Owens Corning demonstrate that resiliency is a value shared across the design team. However, the interpretation of what resiliency actually means varies greatly based on factors such as design team role, construction type, and experience. This course will consider resiliency from multiple viewpoints, hypothesize on why discrepancies exist when it comes to defining resiliency, and demonstrate actual examples of resilient construction based on recent disaster assessments and actual in situ examples. The content aims to help design team members develop solutions that advance the resilience of commercial buildings.

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.

The world is experiencing an increase in extreme weather events due to climate change, which results in more power outages and stressed energy infrastructure. Energy resiliency and decarbonization efforts are expanding due to frequent and intense weather events, the influences of economic and political pressure, consumer interest, and technological advances.

This course will discuss the importance of emergency preparedness and current approaches to power generation and grid resiliency. It will then examine how propane can be used for energy generation, backup power, fuel conservation, and resiliency planning.

Resilience has become a central idea for assessing how our social, economic, technical, constructed, engineered, and ecological systems can withstand and bounce back from a man-made or weather- and climate-related disaster. Globally, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, typhoons, high winds, hail, coastal and valley flooding, sea level rise, heat waves, seismic activity, extreme cold, ice storms, and snow melt have destroyed ecosystems, caused loss of life, damaged property, disrupted healthcare and financial networks, and in some cases, brought essential services to a halt. During this presentation, we’ll discuss the composition, performance, and application of engineered polymer siding and trim and capped polymer cladding to illustrate the benefits to home and building owners when construction materials are selected with resilience and sustainability in mind.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. This one-hour program explores the art of terra cotta, beginning with a quick overview of the manufacturing process, covering the natural variation in clay tile along with the glazing techniques to achieve the desired color.

This course also focuses on the color selection and matching process to custom and historic profiles. The course provides several case studies comparing the original tiles to the new terra cotta replacements.

Passive fire protection systems such as fire-rated floor doors provide incredibly important life-safety measures in commercial buildings. This course will discuss construction access products, the difference between active and passive fire protection, and how fire-rated floor doors provide passive protection.

We will also explain 2021 International Building Code requirements for fire-rated floor doors and how they differ from fire-rated access doors. Finally, you will learn about a project where fire-rated floor doors were used in a large New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority project.

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.

While bed bugs are notorious for their resilience and speedy rate of population growth, there are proven methods for controlling and eliminating infestations. This paper shows how prevention and remediation, when done correctly, reap significant humanitarian and fiscal rewards.

The impacts of noise on occupancy health and wellness must be taken seriously. By understanding the importance of good noise control, learners will be able to understand the link between acoustic control and health, well-being, learning and productivity. This course will describe different scenarios like healthcare facilities, schools and offices.

The course will give you an insight into the different sound absorbing materials that can be used to improve room acoustics. In addition, we will discuss best practices using different solutions such as incorporating Melamine Foam as a sound absorbing material in different scenarios.

The internet has given American consumers unfettered access to the global market, which is greatly influencing our design choices, from clothing and furniture to home and even kitchen design. Whether it’s an indoor/outdoor connection with a breezy island feel, architectural details reminiscent of French bistros, or the functional minimalism of Scandinavia, kitchens play a significant role in expressing the style of a home and its homeowners, which is more global than ever. This course will take a closer look at these global influences, including forward-thinking design ideas from abroad that will impact the sustainability, safety, and accessibility of kitchens. The course will also discuss innovative kitchen appliances that complement many kitchen styles and will explore several case studies that allowed designers to integrate global influences, wellness, and sustainability into their designs.