Exterior Architecture

Basrah Sports City

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Arena & Stadium Asia, Basra--Iraq, International, Middle East HOK Brown L, XL 2012 /by cmorris

Sports City Stadium in Basra, Iraq

Designed by 360 Architecture (now HOK), the new Basrah Sport City Center is part of a larger sports complex that aims to boost the city as a sporting center in the Middle East. Zahner provided the perforated weathering steel exterior panels. Zahner also provided a number of interior metal surfaces.

The perforated steel was a pre-weathered Solanum Steel, a Zahner-manufactured weathering steel (corten) product. The product was designed for architectural projects requiring a stable finish and patina with minimal staining of adjacent surfaces.

Related Surface

Basrah Sports City

Timelapse of the Basra Stadium Mockup in Kansas City.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY

Baldessari Facade

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Parking Structure Miami--Florida TimHaahs John Baldessari Silver L 2015 /by cmorris

City View Garage, Miami Design District

Part of a sweeping development of the Miami Design District envisioned by Craig Robins of Dacra, the City View Garage features three unique visions on its facade, each design-engineered and manufactured by Zahner.

Between Leong Leong’s shimmering titanium-coated stainless steel facade, and IwamotoScott’s undulating generative aluminum facade, lies a permanent John Baldessari art installation-as-facade. In certain light, this massive canvas of stainless steel reveals a vivid rendering, created by circular perforations.

Baldessari’s vision was created using ImageWall, a Zahner patented process, which translated the artist’s imagery into a perforated panel system. The patented process was first developed by Zahner engineers for the de Young Museum as a means of visualizing imagery within the facade of a building. The automated system creates machine files for manufacturing functional, decorative metal sheets with patterned openings.

Parking garage facade designed by artist John Baldessari using ImageWall and Angel Hair Stainless Steel.

Imagery Decision

Baldessari’s original image portrays three figures enjoying games around a swimming pool and is part of the ‘Post-Studio’ conceptual art movement. Baldessari selected the image from his extensive collection of found production stills. Like much of the artist’s work, Fun One features a second element—Fun Two, located around the corner of the building, depicts a similar image of a woman balancing on a beach ball.

Facade for Miami Design District City View Garage.

Photo © A. Zahner Co.

featuring Baldessari's artwork between the Leong Leong Facade and the IwamotoScott facade.

The design team views the mockup for Miami City View Garage for the first time.

Photo © A. Zahner Co.

Facade for Miami Design District City View Garage.

Photo © A. Zahner Co.

Facade for Miami Design District City View Garage.

Photo © A. Zahner Co.

Parking garage facade designed by artist John Baldessari using ImageWall and Angel Hair Stainless Steel.

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.

Art Gallery of Alberta

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Museum, Renovation Canada, Edmonton--Alberta, International Randall Stout Architects Blue-grey, Grey, Silver, White L 2010 /by cmorris

Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada

The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is a Canadian Museum in downtown Edmonton which features a Zahner-manufactured curvilinear canopy and building envelope system. The building was designed by Randall Stout Architects with local firm HIP Architects in Edmonton.

Zahner’s scope included a massive ribbon of stainless steel which wraps around and through the building. Known as ‘The Borealis’, this curvilinear form evokes the Northern Lights, a frequent phenomenon of the Edmonton night sky. The borealis snakes through the gallery’s interior and emerges above the building to form the roof’s canopy, and then drops again to serve as a “snow cone,’ collecting snow and ice.

The sleek curving borealis is paneled in a stainless steel skin system developed by Zahner. The applied non-directional surface treatment of the metal gives the building its muted glow, reducing and nearly eliminating any harsh glare from the sun.

Outside view of the Art Gallery of Alberta Deck.

The curving borealis winds through the AGA Cafe.

The ‘borealis’ is engineered using ZEPPS technology, a system developed by Zahner to simplify the construction of complex structures and facades. For a curvilinear form that wraps around and within the building, an intelligent structural system was required to handle the curves and handle all structural loads. These fully pre-assembled megapanels were delivered to the site so that the local installers could easily install the pre-fabricated panels.

The building also features a variation on the Hunter Zinc preweathered patina on zinc. This surface is used throughout the interior and exterior on flat and geometric surfaces. It is similar in appearance to slate or limestone.

Preweathered Zinc Patina used on the interior and exterior wall faces.

Flatseam preweathered zinc panels on the Art Gallery of Alberta

Making the Art Gallery of Alberta

Zahner is one of the few organizations in the world that has a dedicated team for handling design-engineering processes. Design Assist divided the project and translated the architects’ intent into engineered subsections and parts which the draftsmen and project engineers can then rapidly push to the fabrication facility.

Design Assist produced several scale mockups of both the flat-lock zinc siding as well as the curvilinear Angel Hair stainless steel surface. These mockups give a sense of the upcoming quality, as well as aid in identifying potential problems and develop essential solutions.

Zahner design-engineered, fabricated, delivered the components of the Art Gallery of Alberta for intelligent installation by the Canadian installers. This process was made possible by intensive design consulting sessions early in the planning process, facilitated by Zahner Design Assist.

Design Assist | BIM to Build

As the construction world continues to move towards digital and cloud computing, Zahner fully integrates into Building Information Modeling (BIM) frameworks, so that all participants are aware every stage of construction.

The structure for the Art Gallery of Alberta was divided into several complex components, and to keep the entire project organized required a strong BIM foundation. Drawings from the architect were digitally defined and refined into a working model which served to involve every aspect of its construction.

This makes complex components, such as the architectural metal wing flying through the window, possible (see below). Coordinating multiple trades is one of the big strengths of BIM. It also plays a large role in condensing the construction down to its essentials.

Construction of the AGA in Edmonton, Canada.

Arkansas House

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Residential Northwest Arkansas Marlon Blackwell Architects Brown, Orange, Red M 2004 /by cmorris

Private Residence in Northwest Arkansas

This major home renovation in Northwestern Arkansas by architect Marlon Blackwell Architects is clad in an accelerated weathering steel facade system manufactured by Zahner.

The residential project’s interior wood and metal surfaces act as an interior liner to the building’s rough-to-the-touch Solanum Steel exterior architectural monitors. Flooring of rift-sawn cherry and walnut also act to form an interior liner. Taut and highly crafted, this refined surface acts as an interior liner to the exterior monitors clad in weathering steel shingles.

The architect’s challenge for the project was to reassemble a fire-damaged home while introducing possibilities for the transformation of the house’s spatial character. The design was defined in three weeks and the details were settled after construction began. The architect could work only in areas damaged by the fire, leaving the rest untouched for insurance purposes.

Related Surface

Arkansas House

Details of the Solanum Steel exterior cladding on the Arkansas House.

The Solanum Steel surface was used to clad the window seals.

Detail of the Solanum Steel facade against the windows.

Detail of the Arkansas House interior with detail of the Solanum Steel feature wall.

Starlight Theater

October 21, 2010/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Historic, Performance Center Kansas City Gastinger Walker Harden Blue, Brown, Green, Red L 2000 /by cmorris

Starlight Theatre and Stagehouse in Kansas City

Zahner has been involved in a range of scopes for the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, ranging from the roof and cupola turrets, as well as the Donor’s Circle completed with artist Dierk Van Keppel.

Starlight Theatre has a rich history, which dates back to 1925, when a Romanian Queen visited Kansas City. The city’s Federation of Music worked to bring a musical showcase which raised nearly ten thousand dollars, which began the movement for an outdoor theatre space. In 1951, construction was completed.

Building the Stagehouse for Starlight Theatre

In the late 1990s, they theatre company recognized a need to fortify For the Theatre’s centennial, a new building was completed to improve that quality of productions which could be performed at Starlight. In 2000, Zahner was responsible for manufacturing the new roof system for the amphitheater. Named the Jeannette and Jerome Cohen Community Stage, the new stage also included a roof for Starlight theatre, and increased its technical capability, making it one of the largest roadhouses in the country.

Starlight Theatre in Kansas City.

Photo courtesy of America’s Roof.

Photos of Starlight Theatre during construction.

Photo A. Zahner Company.

In addition to producing their own shows, Starlight began presenting major national tours in 2000 so they could bring more recent and contemporary Broadway musicals to Kansas City as well as share their productions with indoor theaters around the country. This increased production versatility has continued to make Starlight Theatre a summer favorite for residents and visitors alike.

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.

Zahner manufactured the roof, cupolas, and turret towers in raw unpatinated copper, also known as “red copper”. This material quickly went from the golden-orange tones above into a warm darker tone. This material will continue to patina, and one day develop into a green verdigris patina on the building’s roof.