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 of Zahner Expansion at Night

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.

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A crane is used to hoist each panel into place.

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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.

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Zahner Headquarters viewed from the North.

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Zahner Headquarters viewed from the East.

Photograph of the Cloud Wall during construction.

Photograph of the Cloud Wall during construction.

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

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

Photograph of the Cloud Wall interior

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

Photograph of the Cloud Wall Interior

Photograph of the shop interior during the production of MIC.

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Zahner Expansion nears completion.

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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.

 

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News & Updates

Follow us @azahner for upcoming events and the latest news about Zahner.

Zahner & Jarden to debut new patina in Denver at the AIA pre-convention party this year. Read More

Zahner's own Anthony Birchler to speak at Facades Plus Symposium in San Francisco, July 11+12, 2013.

"Zinc shows its mettle" -  The Miami Herald 4/20/2013 Zahner's Director of Marketing, Gary Davis, discusses the benefits and uses of Zinc in architecture. Read more.

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

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

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

Stay current: Follow @azahner on Twitter.