Sculpture | Zahner

Oculus

Oculus Sculpture, KCAI Competition

Every other year, Zahner produces one or more artworks in conjunction with the Kansas City Art Institute’s Biennial Auction for Student Scholarships. In the 2007 year, artist Reilly Hoffman won the competition with a sculpture entitled, ‘Oculus’. Zahner manufactured the base form in aluminum, and water jet cut the parts for the sculpture. Hoffman then crafted copper and steel with his signature torch-carving techniques.

The design of the artwork is based on a smaller version of the artwork. The artwork’s concept is a sphere which has been cut into slices. Two of the slices are intertwined in a kiss. The sculpture’s exterior appearance is a rough steel, while its inner areas are clad in copper.

Although diminutive when compared to buildings, the sculpture is still quite large compared to the human scale. The large size required the use of a substructure to apply the metal surface.

To create the sculpture in its large form required making changes to the how the artwork is manufactured. Zahner engineers in the Design Assist team proposed using ZEPPS, the Zahner system developed for building curves. Using the this system enabled the team to make a light aluminum understructure to which the metal surface was attached.

This use of ZEPPS for manufacturing objects such as this one is somewhat atypical. The system is more commonly used to produce the large curved walls for uniquely shaped buildings. In situations where a rapid-installation process is required, or for installations at higher elevations, ZEPPS provides an efficient way to design, engineer, and install such unique forms.

The cad rendering above shows the effect of copper hammered through the mild steel plate. The mild steel has perforations in the side which allow for sections of the copper to show through, see below.

The project used three metals: a aluminum for its structure, copper for its core, and carbon-steel. The back and the inner sections of the sculpture are finished with the Star Blue patina on hammered copper. The sides of the sculpture are finished with water jet cut mild steel, backed by a sheet of sealed red copper, also hammered. The effect is a highly detailed and sculptural piece, which is now in a private collection.

Point Pavilion

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Performance Center, Public Art, Sculpture Charleston--South Carolina BNIM Gold, Grey M 2004 /by cmorris

North Charleston Point Pavilion in North Charleston

The Point Pavilion at Riverfront Park in North Charleston, South Carolina is a fast-track work of public art designed by the architects at BNIM. Zahner design-engineered as well as fabricated and installed the entire system. This scope included the metal screens and hanging apparatus as well as the structural steel members which frame the artwork’s shape.

The client’s team used the Design Assist build method, meaning that Zahner played a collaborative role in the design’s development to reduce costs and improve the design’s efficiency and ease of construction. To facilitate structural analysis and fabrication constraints, Zahner developed a Building Information Model (BIM) which served as the entire project team’s BIM function for the duration of the project.

The main structure is made of 12” diameter galvanized steel pipe, rolled to a constant radius and cut to exact compound angles. The 3D model was utilized to produce templates of each cut. The welded frames were hot dipped galvanized post fabrication.

7/8” galvanized wire rope was strung between each frame to serve as a support for the perforated aluminum shading panels. The 3/16” aluminum panels were punched to a custom pattern as defined by the architect using custom perforation to reflect woven baskets that are indigenous to the region.

From initial concept to completed erection, the process took a total of six months. The entire process was streamlined to provide the maximum value to the client and to meet the project budget and schedule.

Detail of the Noisette metal panel system in North Charleston, SC.

Live performance at the Noisette Pavilion after completion.

Zahner's Tony Birchler and Wallace Engineering's Steve Huey test the structural load of the individual perforated panel mockup.

Weld inspection of the steel structure at Zahner headquarters in Kansas City.

Detail of the perforated aluminum plates on Noisette.

View of the shadows created by perforations from the aluminum panels overhead.

Structure of Noisette Pavilion, also designed-engineered and fabricated by Zahner.

Construction of Noisette as it nears completion.

View of the sky through Noisette's perforated aluminum panels.

Awards and Recognition

2005 — IPA Award for outstanding perforated metal
2006 — Illuminating Engineering Society of North America – International Illuminations Design Awards, Capital Section Award
2005 — AIA Young Architect’s Forum – Monsters of Design, Merit Award

Murphysboro Sculpture

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Murphysboro--Illinois John Medwedeff Silver M 2010 /by cmorris

Carl Lee Park Pavilion and Bandshell in Murphysboro

The Carl Lee Park Pavilion and Bandshell is a sculptural form which features Zahner manufacturing and engineering technologies. Designed by artist John Medwedeff, this public art project is located at the town center of Murphysboro, Illinois. The project was completed in 2010, and measures 35′ long. The artwork provides a small amphitheater for the town’s public park where musicians perform outdoor concerts.

The project uses the same ZEPPS technology that Zahner developed on such buildings designed by Frank Gehry Partners and Randall Stout. These building designs required metal to curve and twist, all the while remaining highly accurate from edge to edge. Using ZEPPS, the patented technology for building unique forms, Zahner was able to design and manufacture the curvilinear framework for the Murphsyboro Bandshell.

Related System

Murphysboro Sculpture

Murphysboro Town Park Pavilion and Bandshell by John Medwedeff

Fabricating Public Art using a Digital Model

The Design Assist Team modeled the project using the artist’s maquette as reference. Zahner scanned the artist’s model and developed an art fabrication plan for the sculpture. The model’s design details were further developed by Zahner engineers, dividing the model into several buildable subsections.

These subsections were then fabricated at the Zahner shop, and shipped to the job site. There the installers connected the frameworks, and secured the stainless steel skins to the aluminum substrate.

By using digital processes, Zahner was able to closely match the artist’s original model, and produce a large-scale version in aluminum substructure with stainless steel sheeting.

Zahner used an Angel Hair stainless steel surface for its cladding, which was secured to the ZEPPS framework during installation by Zahner field crew.

Digital model for the Town Park Pavilion and Bandshell by John Medwedeff

Zahner installation crew installs the fabricated ZEPPS components for the Medwedeff sculpture

The final artwork is an exacting fabrication of its digital model.

Hoi Polloi

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Landscape Architecture Public Art, Sculpture, Urban Design St. Louis--Missouri HNTB Lindsey Stouffer L, M 2006 /by cmorris

Hoi Polloi at Forsyth Metrolink Station

Hoi Polloi is a public artwork by Lindsey Stouffer, located at the Forsyth Metrolink stop in the greater St. Louis area. The artwork was manufactured by Zahner in Kansas City.

The Forsyth St. Louis MetroLink stop is a below-grade, open-air station located at the intersection of Forest Park Parkway and Forsyth Boulevard on the border of University City and Clayton, Missouri in the greater St. Louis metro area. The public artwork is one of nine commissioned for the St. Louis railway extension as part of the HNTB-designed Cross County Metrolink Extension.

Related Project

Capitol Federal Hall

The building features various exterior and interior metalwork, design-engineered and manufactured by Zahner. The project was completed in 2015. Zahner worked with architects Gensler and Gastinger Walker, under the construction management of JE Dunn.

Hoi Polloi public artwork for the St. Louis Metrolink at Forsyth Station.

The artwork consists of four large metal screen assemblies which face one another, divided by the metro’s train tracks. Perforations in the screens create an optical illusion, a moire effect which appears to shimmer as viewers descend into the amphitheater-like space.

The Manufacturer Behind Public Art

Zahner was selected by the artist to produce this public artwork for the St. Louis Metrolink. The artist’s plans were translated to constructible schematics through Zahner’s Design Assist program, a process whereby Zahner engineers work within a budget to develop a customized plan for building art and architecture.

After the design assist phase, the project went through a more typical engineering for production, and was then manufactured at the Zahner plant in Kansas City. The parts were crated and shipped to the jobsite, where the sculpture was assembled and installed by Zahner’s fabrication team.

Related System

Guardrail

Custom guardrail systems are a critical component of providing a design which is both safe and friendly for unique architectural environments. Zahner works with designers to provide bespoke handrail and guardrail systems for their projects.

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It’s intended to feel intimate and monolithic, durable and penetrable, relevant and timeless, specific and general.

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Perfectly Perforated

Over the early 1990's, patterned usage of perforated metal began to appear. At the time, the pattern were limited by programming. It wasn't until the early two-thousands, when Herzog & de Meuron designed the de Young Museum, that perforated metal would truly enter into its own.

Hoi Polloi explores the way a person thinks and feels entering a public space. ”It’s intended to feel intimate and monolithic, durable and penetrable, relevant and timeless, specific and general.“ — Lindsey Stouffer, the artist behind Hoi Polloi, a large-scale public artwork for the Forysthe Metrolink Station.

Zahner created the two main artworks on the site, which measure 20’ h. x 15’ w. (South), and 26’ h. x 30’ w. (North). Zahner was also responsible for crafting a custom railing system which integrates into the hardware of the perforated metal artwork.

Zahner’s involvement with the art community for both public and private artworks has steadily increased as the company produces ever-more complex and artistically innovative works of architecture.

As many works of public art do, the Hoi Polloi environmental sculpture straddles the line between fine art and architecture, and pushes the boundaries of both in the process.

Hendrix Mexico Sculpture

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture International, Mexico, Mexico City Hendrix + Studio Jan Hendrix S 2013 /by cmorris

Jan Hendrix Mexico Sculpture for Private Collection

Produced using milled plate-aluminum, this sculpture is a permanent installation in Central Mexico, one of several projects by artist Jan Hendrix produced by Zahner. Mr. Hendrix has worked with Zahner on numerous occasions for projects in the United States, Mexico, and Qatar.

Completed in 2013, the latest Jan Hendrix sculpture was commissioned by a private collector as a permanent installation on the client’s property. The human-scale sculpture includes a landscaped lighting system designed to accentuate the polished aluminum surface.

The material is a plate aluminum, polished to a near-mirror finish. The artist desired a highly reflective aesthetic for the surface. Many of the artist’s thick-cut metal designs were manufactured by Zahner using water jet cutting which gives the metal surface a matte edge. For this project, the artist desired a reflective edge. Zahner worked with the artist to develop a milling technique which prevented the need for additional buffing and polishing of the aluminum surface.

Milling the aluminum also gave the artist flexibility for how the cuts were removed from the material. Zahner worked collaboratively with Jan Hendrix through several different iterations, discovering that a special mill tip and machine speed gave the best finish. The softened edge makes the piece more approachable and touchable as a consideration of the artwork’s street-level presence. The final cut features a rounded bevel and a polished edge which gives the milled aluminum surface an aesthetic of liquid metal. Upon the artwork’s completion, Jan Hendrix mentioned that the chosen finish gave the work a jewelry-like effect, stating that the piece looked as though it was cut from pure silver.

Jan Hendrix sculpture for private collector at night.

Detail of the polished aluminum surface.

Detail of the polished and milled aluminum surface.

Aerial view of the Jan Hendrix sculpture.

View through the milled aluminum sculpture.

Hands of Man

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City L. William Zahner Blue, Green S 2006 /by cmorris

Hands of Man, Public Artwork

Hands of Man is an artwork by L. William Zahner, made as a gift to The Salvation Army in Kansas City. The artwork was produced by tracing the hands of Salvation Army employees. These hands drawings were scanned and cut in copper, using Zahner’s art fabrication facility.

After using machinery to cut-out the several hundred copper hands, these parts were hammered into the individual shapes to give them form and texture. The hands were then welded and sculpted to form a large-scale sculpture of a hand.

Zahner then used patination techniques to give the surface a mottled Star Blue patina on the surface of the metal before having the sculpture delivered to the Salvation Army Headquarters, based only a few blocks from the Zahner Campus.

The Hands of Man sculpture is a good example of how an artist can use Zahner public art fabrication service to build sculpture. Art services provided by Zahner will help assist artists to engineer, fabricate, deliver, and install public art.

H&R Block Installation

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Sculpture Kansas City Dierk Van Keppel Blue M, S 2006 /by cmorris

‘Blue Sun’ Hanging Mobile for H&R Block Headquarters

In 2006, H&R Block commissioned artist Dierk van Keppel to produce a custom glasswork in the new headquarters for their downtown office in Kansas City. Blue Sun is a blown and fused glass mobile, hung in an aluminum armature.

Zahner worked in both an art fabricator capacity, as well as a collaborator to Dierk Van Keppel. Keppel used glass blowing and fusing to create a number of fused glass pieces in flat form.

Zahner cut the glass and produced the frames and stainless steel armatures for the artwork. Zahner also provided engineering-design to create the sculpture’s balance and leveling mechanisms that keep the mobile stable.

Detail of the metal ceiling system made for the Starlight Theatre Donor's Circle

Related Project

Starlight Donor’s Circle

Zahner engineers and artisans worked with Gastinger Walker Harden, with Bob Rohlf and the Starlight Theatre Association of Kansas City to engineer, fabricate, and install the artwork. The surface features glass cast by local Kansas City artist Dierk Van Keppel.

Dierk Van Keppel installation at the H&R Block in Kansas City.

Dierk studied art glass at the University of Kansas from 1983 to 1987, assisting with lectures and demonstrations for artists including Dale Chihuly, Stephen D. Edwards, Ken Carder, Fritz Driesbach, and Wes Hunting.

In 1984, Dierk studied under Richard Marquis and Thermon Statom at Pilchuck Glass Studio in Stanwood, WA, joining the staff at Pilchuck in 1985. In 1986, Dierk founded his first private glass studio, Free State Glass, in Lawrence, KS. In 1991, the artist moved closer to his hometown near Kansas City, and established Rock Cottage Glassworks in Merriam, Kansas.

Dierk Van Keppel sculptural installation at the H&R Block Space in Kansas City.

Bartle Sky Stations

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Monument, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City R.M. Fisher L, XL 1994 /by cmorris

Bartle Hall Sky Stations

Located in downtown Kansas City, artist R.M. Fischer worked with Zahner to produce the stainless steel and aluminum sculptures which rest upon massive pylons at the intersection of three major highways. After completion in 1994, these four sculptures quickly became icons synonymous with Kansas City’s downtown cityscape.

These sculptures are inspired by 1930s Art Deco style, which can be seen throughout the Municipal Auditorium’s chandeliers and decorative designs at Bartle Hall. The tube frames which form the bases are 18’x40′ in size. The concrete pylons that the sculptures sit atop are 300′ tall. Zahner employed fusion welding, a technique with nuclear plant specifications using aluminum and stainless steel with a #4 Satin finish.

Installation was accomplished by lowering the sculptures from a helicopter, a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane specifically engineered for heavy lifting.

Zahner played a pivotal role in the entire production of the piece, assisting the artist with budgeting, scheduling, and fabricating,and delivering. This completion of this total solution monumental artwork set the stage for Zahner’s art fabrication initiative; providing a process to produce artworks of various scales and of metal materials on an artist’s budget.

Zahner installers secure each of the Bartle Hall Sky Stations.

Panoramic of the Bartle Hall Sky Stations in the Kansas City Skyline.

Interior Artworks

In addition to massive artworks on top of the Bartle Hall, Zahner also completed many of the 48 interior hanging works in the facility for the artist R. M. Fischer. Among the many artworks are a giant clock, and many light fixtures which illuminate the lobbies, pedestrian passageways, and conference center. Not only has Fischer’s art become one of the most talked-about public commissions, but also one of the most recognizable.

Interior artwork, also by R.M. Fischer, at Bartle Hall.

Art Wall at Doha

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Education, Sculpture Asia, Doha--Qatar, International, Middle East Hendrix + Studio, Legorreta + Legorreta Jan Hendrix White M 2010 /by cmorris

Art Wall at HBKU Doha University – Student Center

Completed in the Summer of 2010, Helix is a project designed by artist Jan Hendrix with architectural firm Legoretta & Legoretta of Mexico. Zahner engineered and manufactured the painted aluminum panels and substructure in Kansas City and shipped the completed pieces to Doha, Qatar, where local installers placed the large metal plates on both the interior and exterior frameworks.

The project involves hundreds of massive water jet cut and painted aluminum panels, and includes a 40′ high tower in the center courtyard. The pattern cut into the panels replicates the drawings of Jan Hendrix.

Related Project

Hendrix Mexico Sculpture

Completed in 2013, the latest Jan Hendrix sculpture was commissioned by a private collector as a permanent installation on the client's property. The human-scale sculpture includes a landscaped lighting system designed to accentuate the polished aluminum surface.

Designed to Build

Jan Hendrix worked closely with the Zahner Design Assist team to develop the project for production. The artist provided to Zahner both a digital model as well as multiple physical models as the design progressed.

The project required close attention to each panel’s relation to one another, so that the artist’s lines would transition without breaks from panel to panel. This is called the ‘Parametric Relationship’ and it’s a key part of the ZIRA patented system developed by Zahner to translate images, drawings, and patterns into metal panel systems.

From left to right: Jan Hendrix, Zahner President CEO L. William Zahner, and Zahner Engineering Director Paul Martin

The completed project features the artist’s pattern on both the interior and exterior of the student center. Note how the lines transition smoothly across seams from plate to plate. Zahner engineers worked to transfer the artist’s drawings into metal, all while maintaining the system’s parametric relationship.

Each half-inch plate is 20 feet by 8 feet, and the material was water-jet cut on our system of the same size. To see how artists are collaborating with Zahner, including works by Jan Hendrix, visit Hands of the Artist.

Zahner worked with the artist, Jan Hendrix, to define his image digitally so that it could be water-jet cut and fabricated into a cohesive composition with smooth lines flowing across multiple panels.

The public artwork and courtyard is located in the outer edges of Northwest Doha, Qatar. The project was one of the first to be completed with Jan Hendrix, who has worked with Zahner engineers and fabricators on a number of projects. Learn more about producing similar surfaces in water jet-cut aluminum by Contacting Zahner.