Zonda - Resource Library

Achieving carbon neutrality and protecting the world's water supply are vital to the AEC industry because of the significant impact buildings have on the environment and occupant health. The structures that we live, work, and commune in use a vast amount of the energy and water consumed on the planet for building operations and maintenance.

Over the past two decades more and more organizations, from private companies to federal governments, have taken steps to minimize their impact on the environment and, more recently, on society's wellbeing as a whole. This has been accomplished through sustainable building design, social accountability, and ethical economic practices. This course will discuss a Net Positive approach to design and business operations.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Projects are the core of your architecture firm. Not only do they generate profits, but they are also at the center of your firm’s business operations. As such, doing everything you can to ensure their success should be one of your top priorities.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) track project success by measuring how your projects (or team, clients, and so on) are performing. Because each architecture firm has different goals and ways of working, your vital KPIs will vary from project to project.

Effective KPIs, regardless of project type, are:

*Well-defined and quantifiable
*Communicated thoroughly to every employee
*Crucial measurements for tracking the progress of your goals
*Applicable to your firm and industry

Within the world of project performance and finance, certain KPIs should always be used to monitor and improve your success.

Presented by Fernando Pages, this presentation serves as a resource and primer for product specification and complements the book Architectural Design for Traditional Neighborhoods published by the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) in 2019.

This course aims to provide design professionals full control of the design’s aesthetic outcome with polymeric sidings, trim, and ornamentation, respecting the architectural style, target market, and project budget. These specifications will refer to traditional architectural features in the language of art.

This effort aims to put the power of good design details and recommended installation practices within the architectural designer’s easy reach.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Being a brilliant architect rarely translates into having a successful business. With all the years of education and training to make us experts in our profession, the skills needed to have a successful business were conveniently overlooked. This webinar will fill the void and provide you with the business management highlights that every firm needs to apply to achieve their full potential.

In this session, we will learn the fundamentals of all successful AE firms and provide the basis for making well-grounded business decisions. We will learn how firms can transition from being professionals providing services, to highly tuned businesses that can identify the needs of the marketplace and create services and products that are appropriately priced and yield consistent and greater profits.

Rather than seeking out new projects that merely build upon your current skills, you will start from a business-thinking mindset, where processes that are critical to building a thriving firm are examined and constituted in your firm. We will explore the importance of data within an architect firm and demonstrate how careful collection and interpretation can lead your firm into more exciting and profitable territory.

Architectural stone veneer has long been used to elevate the design of building facades, but more recently, it’s found its way indoors and is becoming a mainstay of interior design. “There’s been a real upswing in the number of projects on both residential and commercial when it comes to accentuating a space or an environment with stone,” says Sarah Lograsso, director of marketing for Eldorado Stone.

Hear about what’s behind this trend and the exciting options stone veneer can open up for architects and designers.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. The built environment is responsible for an estimated 40% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions as well as a host of other global ecological and social impacts. By 2050, there will be 2.3 billion new inhabitants of global cities. Demand for new buildings and infrastructure will grow accordingly, placing an increasingly heavy burden on critical resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Resource deprivation will further disenfranchise an ever-larger segment of human populations.

This course utilizes insight from an internationally recognized architect, Alan Organschi, who calls for the re-formation of the Anthropocene and the reshaping of our burgeoning cities—the way we build them, organize them, distribute their services, and inhabit them.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. This guest lecture presented by Susan Jones, FAIA, provides insight into an ecological journey of a decade-long search for sustainable design strategies. The course focuses on how mass timber can be used as a lower-carbon approach to building design while also maintaining the safety and well-being of the occupants.

The course depicts several case studies that demonstrate the architect’s lessons learned which enabled more sustainable building design opportunities in the future. The course discusses the process of changing regulations for the use of mass timber as a material of choice in a variety of buildings, particularly Type 4c, Type 4b, and Type 4a buildings, where it was not allowed previously in the United States.

Design and construction industries are vulnerable to natural disasters and manmade hazards that can result in everything from reducing the lifespan of infrastructure to loss of life and property. Professionals in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) can mitigate these vulnerabilities by having a fuller understanding of resilience as well as the building materials and construction and operational techniques that lead to stronger, more durable buildings.

This course will examine resilience in the built environment and provide several strategies to achieve resilience at the building scale for stakeholders. It will then assess continuous insulation, particularly mineral wool, as it relates to resilient design before reviewing ASTM resilience testing standards. Finally, this course will help learners evaluate resilience in current code and beyond as well as how to enhance structural systems through the use of mineral wool insulation.

Architects have an important role to play in proper surface preparation and coatings selection through project-specific painting specification. It’s important for architects and designers to be actively involved in the specifying process and to understand the limitations, benefits, and features of different paints and coatings.

This course will help the learner to understand the main causes of paint and coating failures, the importance of proper surface preparation for various substrates, and problem-solving primers and other coating technologies that can help improve the longevity of structures.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets the minimum requirements for newly designed and constructed or renovated state and local government facilities, public accommodations, and commercial facilities to be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. When designing restrooms, some of each type of accessible plumbing fixture and restroom accessories and their installation location must meet accessibility requirements contained in the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Many projects must also follow the provisions of the 2017 Edition of the ICC A117.1 Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities Standard.

As states adopt the 2021 International Building Code (IBC) into their states’ building code, the ICC A117.1-2017 Accessible Standards will become effective for existing and new buildings. Forty-six states follow the ICC A117.1-2017 Standards (all but California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Texas; who harmonize with the ADA Standards). Additionally, states such as California have accessible requirements that vary from the ADA standards and are more stringent providing greater access.

In this course, we will cover the 2010 ADA and the ICC A117.1-2017 accessibility standards. We will also point out where and how the states including California, Florida and Minnesota building codes differ from the ADA and the ICC A117.1-2017 standards. It is important that you always check the accessibility standards that apply to your project’s location.