BUILDER'S ENGINEER

The IBC Design Response Spectrum correlate time period T and Spectral Acceleration, defining three zones.  Two critical zones are:  

T < TS          governs low-rise structures of short periods
T > TS          governs tall structures of long periods

where

T = time period of structure (T ~ 0.1 sec. per story - or per ASCE 7 table 1615.1.1)
TS = SDS/SD1  (See the following graphs for SDS and SD1)