Workplace | Zahner

Google Bay View Campus

Google’s Bay View Campus, located at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and comprising three buildings, represents a significant milestone as the company’s first self-designed and built campus.

Opened in 2022 and spanning 1.1 million square feet over 42 acres, the campus was brought to life through the collaborative efforts of renowned architectural firms Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Heatherwick Studio.

Grounded in Google’s core themes of innovation, nature, and community, the design prioritizes flexibility. Team spaces are located on the upper level, with gathering areas below, balancing focus and collaboration. Varied floorplates on the second floor create adaptable “neighborhoods” that evolve with team needs. The layout ensures that no employee is more than a two-and-a-half-minute walk from any other, fostering spontaneous interactions and collaboration.

Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

Natural light floods the interiors through clerestory windows with “eyebrow” architectural elements crafted from Zahner’s Angel Hair® Stainless Steel, which add aesthetic appeal while diffusing sunlight to minimize glare.

Aerial view of Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

Zahner also provided Design Assist services to ensure constructability, while preserving design intent and considering budget. Zahner collaborated with BIG and Heatherwick designers, as well as general contractor Whiting-Turner, on material selection, fabrication details, engineering, and installation.

The Zahner team inspects progress on installation of the Angel Hair eyebrows.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

Modular construction facilitated efficient installation of the eyebrows.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

Another standout feature of the campus is its distinctive “dragonscale” roof, composed of approximately 50,000 custom-designed solar panels, manufactured by SunStyle. This innovative roofing not only generates nearly seven megawatts of energy but also enhances insulation and reduces thermal heat gain.

Zahner Angel Hair eyebrows and Google's custom-designed dragonscale solar skin roofing.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

The Zahner team inspecting the Angel Hair eyebrows at Bay View during construction.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

Dragonscale building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solar shingles, manufactured by SunStyle, clad the roof at Google's Bay View.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

Zahner Angel Hair eyebrows and Google's custom-designed dragonscale solar skin roofing.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

The campus is also home to North America’s largest geothermal pile system, which efficiently manages heating and cooling needs, leading to a projected 50% reduction in carbon emissions and saving an estimated five million gallons of water annually. Furthermore, the campus aims to replenish 120% of its water usage by 2030 through on-site recycled water systems.

Aerial view of Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

The Google Bay View Campus has earned LEED-NC v4 Platinum certification, making it the largest building in the world to hold this certification. It’s also on track to become the largest facility ever to achieve the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge (LBC) Water Petal Certification.

Panoramic view of Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

Google’s Bay View Campus stands as a testament to the company’s vision of integrating cutting-edge design with sustainability and employee-centric spaces, setting a new benchmark for future workplace environments.

Panoramic view of Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

Panoramic view of Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California.

Photo © Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio

John Olver Transit Center

January 4, 2017/in Exterior Architecture LEED, Workplace Greenfield--Massachusetts Charles Rose Architects Brown M /by cmorris

John W. Olver Transit Center

The new transit center was designed by Charles Rose Architects and features Zahner’s design-engineering and fabrication of the natural weathering copper facade. The facade includes intricately cut perforations integrated as signage, which continues around the building’s surface as light filtering copper-screen panels designed to weather and age naturally.

The train can be seen above entering the south side of the Franklin Regional Transit Authority, where it currently runs once per day in each direction along the Knowledge Corridor, from Washington D.C. to the border of Canada. The rail improvements allow for trains to travel at speeds of 80MPH.

The building has won six awards: American Architecture Award; The Chicago Athenaeum AIA New England Design Award; North American Copper in Architecture Awards; Society of American Registered Architects / NY Design Excellence Award; The Boston Society of Architects Design Honor Award; and the ACEC 2013 Gold Award.

First train rolls into Greenfield

Gehry Horse Head

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Interior Architecture Education, Sculpture, Workplace Northeastern United States, Princeton--New Jersey Frank Gehry Partners Blue-grey, Grey M, S 1997 /by cmorris

Frank Gehry Horse Head Conference Room at Princeton University

Zahner worked for long-time partner Frank Gehry to construct the original “horse head” sculpture and conference room, which now is on display at Princeton University.

Sheets of lead were hammer-formed over a plywood structure which encases a semi-private meeting space for students at Princeton University, pictured below. This was the first use of the horse motif by Frank Gehry. He would later produce a nearly identical form for the DG Bank building in Berlin nearly twice the size.

World-Architects’ John Hill profiled the sculpture at Princeton University in 2015, and discussed some of the history of the project.

“Yet Gehry did not design the sculptural “horse’s head” piece for Princeton, or as a conference room. It was to be a small part of a huge 22,000-square-foot (2,044-sm) residence for Peter B. Lewis in Lyndhurst, Ohio, but after ten years of numerous iterations the project was cancelled. Luckily a mockup, framed in wood and covered in lead, found a second life in the Icahn Lab, providing a suitable contrast to Rafael Viñoly’s curved glass wall and two-story atrium.”

— John Hill, World Architects

Related Project

Weatherhead School

The 22 ga stainless steel surface resembles an undulating, unbroken ribbon. Finished in #4 satin, the surface is more reflective than Angel Hair or GB-60 but less diffuse than a mirror-finish.

Frank Gehry Horse sculpture at Gagosian Gallery.

Installation of the horse head sculpture at Gagosian.

Frank Gehry with model for Parc des Ateliers.

Second version of the sculpture made for the DZ Bank building in Berlin

AECOM Cleveland Office Interior

December 6, 2016/in Interior Architecture Workplace Cleveland--Ohio AECOM Gold, Orange, Red, Violet S 2016 /by cmorris

AECOM Corporate Office at Penton Media Building

AECOM Buildings and Places division was responsible for developing the new offices at the Penton Media Building in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The design team used Zahner ImageWall to develop a bold interior panel system for its foyer.

For its interior entrance, it was important to establish a rich and yet contemporary setting. The design team selected Dirty Penny, a copper alloy with custom patina developed by Zahner. The material has an iridescent appearance, a result of its interference effect from the mineralized patina oxide layer on its surface. In addition to perforations in the metal surface, the designers went one step further. The copper metal system is further punctuated by a series of custom emboss/deboss punches pressed into the surface of the panels.

AECOM Reception area at the Cleveland office

Detail of the embossed Dirty Penny surface used for the Cleveland office.

Detail of the AECOM Reception area interior metal panels

Kieran Timberlake Office Stair

November 9, 2016/in Interior Architecture Workplace Philadelphia--Pennsylvania Kieran Timberlake Brown, Red M 2016 /by cmorris

custom floating steel stairway

Founded in 1984, KieranTimberlake brings together the talent of nearly 100 professionals of diverse backgrounds and experience in a practice that is recognized worldwide.

For the firm’s 63,000 ft² office, Zahner created a custom floating stairway. Connecting the entrance lobby and lab area with the office and meeting spaces, the painted red steel stairway is a feat of form and function.

Zahner manufactured the design using the Radius Reduction system to create a crisp, folded-edge along the center of the stairway ramp. Radius Reduction uses custom automation to produce deep grooves along the backside of metal. This precision cut allows for crisply folded edges, even in thick metal, and can be used to produce a range of geometric designs with highly accurate precision.

Related System

Radius Reduction™

Radius Reduction™ provides a distinct alternative to traditional brake-formed metal panels, resulting in a crisp, origami-like metal edge on architectural applications.

The design includes a clever handrail extension, meeting ADA requirements.

Related System

Staircase Systems

Zahner-manufactured custom staircase systems offer architects, designers, and artists more tools to push boundaries in the built environment with unique designs and innovative forms.

Second floor offices, showing the red-painted stairwell panels manufactured by Zahner.

Team Disney

November 8, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Workplace Anaheim--California, Los Angeles--California Frank Gehry Partners Blue, Green, Violet XL 1995, 1996 /by cmorris

disneyland theme park offices, Anaheim

A pillowed facade of iridescent green, blue and violet adorns the surface of the Team Disney building in Anaheim, California. Designed by Frank Gehry Partners, the building serves as the administrative offices of the Disneyland theme park.

Zahner provided the custom green interference-coated stainless steel. The iridescent surface changes from blue to green to violet when viewed at varying angles. The addition of an embossed diamond pattern creates a quilted, pillow-like effect.

At the time it was constructed, it was the largest green stainless steel surface ever produced. Completion of the structure marks the first time all administrative staff have been located in one facility since the park opened in 1955.

“We’ll get more work done in the hallways than we did in the conference rooms. This finally brings it all together.”
— Disneyland President Paul Pressler.

Related Surface

Team Disney

North-side of the Team Disney Anaheim building.

Detail of the interference stainless steel at Team Disney Anaheim.

View from across the highway at Team Disney Anaheim.

Lineage Logistics

October 10, 2016/in Interior Architecture Workplace Irvine--California, Los Angeles--California Gensler White S 2016 /by cmorris

Lineage Logistics Headquarters in Irvine California

Lineage Logistics is a port warehousing, logistics, and cold storage company with offices around the world. For the firm’s latest workspace renovation, Zahner produced custom fabricated metal with unique perforations. The design-team at Gensler Architects used ImageWall by Zahner to generate and detail their custom imagery in a custom punched metal system.

The challenge for the design team was to convey this global mission for Lineage Logistics throughout the design of its new interior. To achieve this, Gensler worked with the ImageWall team at Zahner, developing imagery of a world map which connects the office area to a casual gathering space. The end result is an inspiring representation of their client’s world-facing outlook, providing an enchanting interior which aligns the work and social spaces at Lineage Logistics in Irvine, California.

Interior metal ImageWall system with backlit painted aluminum panels.

Interior perforated metal at Lineage Logistics.

Detail of the Cross-Seam Perforation used to achieve reduced infills and eliminate the

The bespoke metal system is a custom-fabricated wall enclosure manufactured in painted aluminum with an image-punched metal aesthetic. An LED light system outlines the interior surface of the ImageWall system providing ambient backlighting. White-painted hardware, along with material and lighting selections, achieved a clean white look for the interior.

The ImageWall system makes use of Cross-Seam Perforation technology, a standard option available to ImageWall systems. Cross-Seam Perforation eliminates the “picture frame” effect that occurs with typical perforated metal panels. The resulting effect is an alignment of the image’s parametric relationship along panel folds, creating an easy to read continuous graphic.

Detail of the Lineage Logistics interior perforated wall system

Backlit perforated metal serves as an accent wall between corporate spaces.

Detail of the perforated metal, painted grey on its exterior and white on its interior.

Interior perforated metal system for Lineage Logistics.

Oakley Headquarters

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Corporate, Flagship, Workplace Los Angeles--California Langdon Wilson, Oakley, One Icon Design Colin Baden L, XL /by cmorris

Oakley Headquarters & Technical Center

The project features a blackened steel interior metalwork throughout, a spun aluminum architectural motif exterior, and a terne-coated stainless steel roof. The custom fabricated metal cladding was created from cold rolled steel plates and cast steel ‘bolt heads’. The Zahner-applied blackened metal finish produced an artistic, aged steel appearance.

Designed by Oakley director of design Colin Baden with Langdon Wilson Architecture, the headquarters and technical center was completed in multiple scopes. The project first began in 1997 and was completed in 1998. Years later the company would come back for additional scope, producing the Oakley reception desk in the same aesthetic.

Related Project

Oakley Fifth Avenue

This wasn't Zahner's first collaboration with Oakley. In the late 1990's Zahner's engineered metal-fabricated systems were used the facade and interiors of the Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Interior and reception desk at Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Interior metal at Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

“

Friend of Ridley Scott, Oakley CEO Jim Jannard wanted to recreate the atmosphere of Blade Runner for his California office … The result is spectacular.

Strategies MagazineNone.

Oakley Headquarters desk and interior metalwork.

Zahner Fabricator assembles the sections of the Oakley HQ Desk.

Oakley Headquarters entrance during construction.

Oakley Headquarter entrance upon completion.

Cerner Headquarters

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Flagship, Workplace Kansas City Gould Evans Associates Silver M, S 2005 /by cmorris

Signage for Cerner Headquarters Vision Center Forum Portals

The Cerner Corporation World Headquarters is designed by Gould Evans and features Zahner-manfufactured signage systems. Zahner produced this uniquely perforated stainless steel sculpture and sign for the Cerner Corporation in North Kansas City.

Two sculptural navigational displays were built: a small corner entrance sign adjacent to the building’s main entrance, and a large signage system visible from the nearby highway. This larger sign features an illuminated Cerner logo mounted on the perforated stainless steel screen wall.

Each of the displays were fabricated by Zahner using ZIRA, a patented technology developed by Zahner creating perforated imagery. The architects and client designed a non-repeating pattern of 1’s and 0’s, binary code in a non-repeating pattern. Zahner developed a process to rapidly punch the numbers using multiple dies.

Detail of the perforated metal signage system at Cerner Headquarters.

Cerner signage wall at the Cerner World Headquarters.

Detail of the perforated metal system used for Cerner Headquarters.

Detail of the Cerner World Headquarters signage wall.

The larger of the two displays, visible from the end of 210 Highway in North Kansas City, was produced with lighting systems embedded in the aluminum and stainless steel framework. Pictured above and below are photos of the signage at night, and during the day. As cars drive by, it appears to flash and animate due to the lights parallactic relationship with the perforations.

The complete system for the 61′ long sign structure comprises 72 panels supported vertically by stainless steel structural fins of varying depth and shape. Each panel is constructed from 18-gauge stainless steel, with a perforation pattern generated from a random sequence of binary code.

The display closest to the building features a DNA strand within the sign, visible as an orange tube. The structure was built with 1/4″ aluminum fins, attached to square tubes which create the sign’s profile. The face of the fins were installed with 14 gauge Angel Hair Stainless steel panels.

Additional metal signage at Cerner Headquarters.

Fabricating the Cerner Signs

The sculptural sign was custom perforated from stainless steel plates using binary code to create the pattern. The surface is an array of 1’s and 0’s randomly placed across the plates of stainless steel.

Below are photos from the Zahner shop in Kansas City, where the material for each display was formed. Each panel was perforated using dies custom-made for the project. Together with the automated punches allowed the fabricators on the shop floor to quickly assemble components after being produced on the computer-controlled punch.