More Projects

News & Updates

The Steven Spielberg-produced documentary Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero features Snøhetta's September 11th Memorial Museum, stainless steel cladding by Zahner.

Announcing the Zahner-KME joint venture for the European Market. Read the Press Release at the JV site. Zahner-KME in Joint Venture

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The Zahner App is now available for iPhone. Features hundreds of projects by artists and architects. iPhone App

Zahner Campus North Dock Expansion has won the Monsters of Design Honor Award; designed by Crawford Architects' Stephen Colin and Michael O'Donnell.

The North American Copper Awards has recognized Zahner's copper metal-work for the Waipolu Gallery in Oahu, Hawaii.

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Announcing the winners for the Biennial ZAHNER + KCAI Art and Sculpture Competition at KCAI.

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Tessellate™ kinetic metal surfaces by Zahner and ABI released: visually stunning and environmentally responsible.

Bill Zahner named an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects.

Introducing the Hands of the Artist™ division, where Zahner engineers and craftsmen produce projects for artists.
Visit Zahner's Hands of the Artist website

Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Florida

Completed in 1995, this spherical theater is the key organizing element of the entire facility. Zahner was involved in the design-engineering, fabrication, and installation of several interior and exterior elements within the complex, including the iconic blue reflective dome itself. Antoine Predock , the architect who designed MOSI, began working with Zahner design engineers early in the schematic phase to develop a curvilinear system that would support the project.

MOSI was the first project Zahner produced by Antoine Predock, and the first project by Zahner to include dual curvatures.  This marked a turning point in the way that Zahner produces its metal surfaces.  Zahner had just completed the Weisman Museum with Frank Gehry, one of the earliest projects with Gehry and Zahner. The demands on the metal surface were many, but none of compared to what the Tampa dome would require.

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The Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa introduced new hurdles for the performance of sheet metal on curvilinear buildings. The dome of the spherical shape of the dome would require the metal surface to curve in two direction at once -- dual curvatures. Similar to a sheet of paper, metal sheets do not want curve in both directions.

To overcome this obstacle, Zahner and Predock agreed on a triangulated paneled surface. This project was completed a few years before Zahner would go on to develop the ZEPPS™ Process, so the understructure for this project was accomplished using more primitive, but effective aluminum and steel substructure.

The mirror-polish stainless steel used for the project was chosen by the architects to evoke the sky and waters of Tampa Bay, less than twenty miles from the museum. The reflective finish creates unexpected lush colors reflected from both the green grounds surrounding the building, as well as the range of tones seen in the skies.

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The mirror surface of the museum creates opportunities for luscious sunset tones across the surface of the metal, as seen above. In this case, the triangular panelization of the metal creates visual interest by dividing up the reflected planes, much like pillowed glass or the oil-canning of metal.

Zahner's expertise was also required for a few other aspects of the museum, including the museum shop, which is clad in a semi-reflective stainless steel surface, pictured below.

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