Zonda - Resource Library

Most people don’t consider vinyl an eco-friendly building product, but data shows it actually is. See why it is a great choice for all your siding projects.

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.

Zero net energy (ZNE) construction represents a vast opportunity for builders and contractors. So what is a zero net energy home? In the simplest terms, a ZNE home produces as much energy as it uses, most commonly using efficient construction methods. Achieving ZNE performance involves a whole-building design approach to consider all of a home's systems — the building envelope, mechanical systems, and lighting and appliances — in an integrated way.

This e-book collects our most valuable resources on ZNE projects to help you define what ZNE means for you and examine factors such as energy prices, net metering policies, solar resources, incentives, and budget. You’ll see that getting to zero doesn’t mean giving up desirable and high-performance gas systems.

Since arriving in our homes, smart technology has put welcome conveniences at our fingertips. With a growing demand for energy in homes, it is increasingly clear that living spaces need to be not only smart but also sustainable.

Sustainability is a growing concern for home buyers - and builders can take advantage of this by designing new homes that make sustainable living accessible for their customers.

Natural slate is long–lived, durable, fire resistant and waterproof. This revolution in cladding applications offers a modern, sustainable and easy to install alternative with unique character.

Electricity 4.0 — the convergence of digital intelligence with electricity.

Take a look at this community, a real-life example of the new energy landscape.

Housing represents one of the greatest challenges we face within the architectural profession and society as a whole. Innovative design is essential to the evolution of the multi-family housing market. Architects and designers are a major part of the solution—designing new and reimagining existing buildings in beautiful, sustainable, and cost-effective ways.

In this session, we discuss a range of projects that exemplify architectural ingenuity in affordable housing. One of the highlighted projects features modular sunscreen/rainscreen walls, an architectural solution which enhances both the projects' aesthetics and residents' sense of community.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. 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.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Reusing existing buildings is one of the most effective strategies architects have to reduce embodied carbon and structural steel plays a critical role in making reuse viable, adaptable, and measurable. This course examines how steel supports circular design strategies that extend building life, enable program change, and reduce carbon impacts beyond end-of-life recycling.

Using whole-building life-cycle assessment as a framework, the session explores how retaining and adapting steel structures compares to new construction. Case studies demonstrate how architects leveraged existing steel frames, selective reinforcement, and targeted interventions to achieve substantial embodied carbon savings while delivering new uses, density, and performance. The course emphasizes actionable design decisions architects can make early to preserve value, reduce waste, and document carbon outcomes.