Design Assist Group

The Design Assist Group (DAG)

Every complex project Zahner produces begins with the Design Assist Group. Design Assist translates the architect’s vision and scope to the abilities and aptitudes of our engineers and craftsmen by analyzing and amplifying the project to meet the desired expectations of clients and architects.

Design Assist at Zahner is also a chance to take the project further than the design team had envisioned. This is where brilliant solutions can occur that take the project to further heights as a result of to the diligent efficiency and creative minds of the designers, architects, artists, and engineers on the Design Assist Team.

This was the case for several projects, where the end result went beyond the expectations of the architects and members of the client's design team. The Los Angeles Police Memorial to Fallen Officers is such a case. The architects at Gensler collaborated with the Design Assist Group at Zahner to produce the thirty-two foot long by twelve and a half foot Brass memorial in Los Angeles California. The architects wanted hundreds of plaques with the engraved names of fallen police officers to float from the rectangular monument, but to also have a way of adding the names of officers who fall in the line of duty as time passes.

Zahner designed the system to allow as much light as possible through the center of the memorial, so that the entire monument seems to hover, it's components supporting itself. Each plate is installed with security hardware so that the components can be removed, shipped back to Zahner, engraved with an officer's name, and shipped back to California as requested. This elegant custom-interlocking system was developed by Design Assist Group in collaboration with the architects.

The Design Assist Group develops the value engineering, system details, and the project budget, creating a general framework that the Operations Group can then follow through to completion. The end product of Design Assist isn’t a finite engineering drawing, but rather an amplification of the spirit and intent of architect’s vision, and a guide map for the duration of the project.

Design Assist Group's Relationship with Operations

Zahner® employs a 3-team project management system, where each project manager is under a senior project manager and works closely with a field supervisor; the Director of Operations manages the production of the engineering solutions and is in direct communication with the Design Assist Group.

For more than 100 years, the architectural, engineering, and construction industries have turned to Zahner to solve complex challenges in the architectural metals marketplace. The engineers and designers in the Design Assist Group are among the most respected and experienced in the world. In the Design Assist stage, the desires of the architect are refined and amplified to meet the client’s needs and to resonate with the metal processes that Zahner offers.

Select Design Assist Projects by Zahner

• Tacoma Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
• Taubman Museum in Roanoke, Virginia.
• September 11 Museum in New York City.
• Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
• Nissan Design America in Farmington, Michigan.
• Ohr-O’Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi.
• NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Art Wall at Doha in Doha, Qatar.
• Miami Intermodal Center in Miami, Florida.
• LAPD Memorial in Los Angeles, California.
• Kauffman Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
• Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta; Canada.
• Broad Art Museum in Lansing, Michigan.
• Cooper Union in New York City.
• Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The projects above range in both size and shape, a wide scale of budgets and scopes, but what they each have in common is the complex nature of the project. The art and architecture above could not be produced without a team of artist and architect-minded individuals like the ones on the Design Assist Group.

Zahner participates in the design assistance process for some of the most challenging projects in the world. Our knowledge and understanding of the design process allows us to assist other designers and architects at the earliest stages of the project. The end result is that we establish the highest quality and most efficient design possible.

Zahner also provides long-term, onsite consultation. Depending upon the complexity of the project, our consultants often work in teams to broaden the expertise available to the client. Since we are a comprehensive organization, clients know that no matter the challenge, Zahner will have the solution.