Zahner Headquarters

The North Dock Expansion at the Zahner Campus Headquarters.

Designed by Crawford Architects , this is a major improvement to the Zahner Headquarters. Zahner has raised the bar for Kansas City architecture with an artistic facade on its own building.

The only design requirement was that the facade showcases the ZEPPS™ Assembly, the understructure which usually goes hidden on projects such as Frank Gehry's Experience Music Project in Seattle, Randall Stout's Art Gallery of Alberta, or the Liverpool Center in Mexico.

The resulting design is a series of unique fins without skins, a revealing look inside structure of the ZEPPS™ Process, and an artistic facade which creates the illusion of movement.

Photo © Mike Sinclair

Zahner engineered and produced the exterior facade for the new expansion, dubbed "Cloud Wall," a series of fins which runs along the side of the new 10,000 square-foot addition. Crawford Architects’ Stephen Colin, Michael O'Donnell, and Stacey Jones worked alongside Zahner engineers and designers to develop an avant-garde billowing curtain wall of glass and aluminum.

Details showing the Cloudwall's Engineered Design.
Image courtesy Crawford Architects, Photo © Mike Sinclair.

Zahner developed a system to produce this interlocking facade as part of the Inverted Seam™ Glass suite of the panelized dry-set glass systems. Part of the genius of this product is its quick installation process: each glass panel is fitted with Drop & Lock™ Hardware for a quick fit into the aluminum framework via male and female connections.

A crane is used to hoist each panel into place.

Zahner Installers installed the glass panels.

Union Sheet Metal Workers will use the expanded facility to produce massive ZEPPS™ assemblies which were previously difficult to build due to size restrictions. The interior height of the new facility is nearly 40’ tall.

Zahner Headquarters viewed from the North.

Zahner Headquarters viewed from the East.

Photograph of the Cloud Wall during construction.

Zahner employees have a safety lunch in the shop prior to the Cloudwall Installation.

Photograph of the expansion interior during the production of Liverpool Interlomas.
Photo © Mike Sinclair.

Photograph of the shop interior during the production of MIC.

Zahner Expansion nears completion.

Upward detail of the Cloudwall at Zahner Headquarters.

Learn more about the Zahner Headquarters Expansion

Read about the products used in producing the Zahner expansion, or read about the expansion in magazines and press.

Green Building & Design Magazine Crawford Architects June 2012.
Architect MagazineZahner Cloud Wall September 2011.
Archdaily Zahner Factory Expansion September 2011.
Zahner Product: GlassFin™ Curtainwall
Zahner Product: Drop & Lock™ Metal Panel Systems

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