White | Zahner

MoPop Museum

Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)

Jimi Hendrix inspired the name, Frank Gehry designed the project, and Zahner produced the stunning curvilinear forms and structure. Residing in the shadow of the Seattle Space Needle, the Experience Music Project (now the Museum of Pop Culture, or MoPOP) was completed in 2000.

Gehry’s unique design required a creative approach to engineering and fabrication. The Museum was one of the first projects to use ZEPPS, the Zahner technology for producing curvilinear and complex structures. The process resulted in 3,300 unique structural assemblies clad in 21,000 metal sheets — for a total surface area of more than 140,000 square feet of curving metal. No two sheets and no two panel assemblies are the same.

Surface techniques are similarly varied, and include Angel Hair stainless steel, red interference-coated stainless steel and fluorocarbon-coated aluminum.

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The most complex exterior skin ever devised for a building.

Civil Engineering MagazineSteve M. Huey.

Constructing the Building Envelope

Working with Gehry’s design, the Zahner team developed a process for reducing curves into large, pre-fabricated assemblies which could then be easily shipped and rapidly installed. Thus, the Zahner Engineered Profiled Panel System (ZEPPS) came into being.

At its core, the ZEPPS process consists of an aluminum support structure, clad in a layer of sheet metal. A final metal layer (of the designer’s selection) completes the assembly and is usually installed onsite. The ZEPPS process efficiently produces complex forms with minimal waste, reducing a building’s ecological footprint.

Since the EMP Museum’s completion, the ZEPPS system has undergone several iterations, growing more powerful, accurate, and refined. The process continues to be the preferred method for manufacturing sculptural form.

Emerson LA

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Education, LEED Los Angeles--California Morphosis Silver, White L 2014 /by cmorris

Emerson College at Los Angeles, California

Emerson College LA is designed by Morphosis with a series of custom facade systems design-engineered, manufactured, and installed by Zahner. The new Emerson College campus in Los Angeles provides a landmark for film and performing arts students of the Boston-based college to study in an immersive environment. The innovative design by the esteemed architects at Morphosis provides an integrated and efficient experience for both visitors and students.

Working with Zahner’s Design Assist team of engineers, designers and fabricators, this generative design was developed for manufacturing. A team of Zahner installers completed the project in Los Angeles, providing the campus with a visually compelling, efficiently envisioned, and rapidly completed building envelope system.

The project was certified LEED Gold in 2014.

Related Project

Gates Hall at Cornell

The project's facade is designed using generative processes developed by Morphosis. Its unique appearance also serves the building's environment performance, reducing heat gain while providing natural light into the offices and classrooms.

View of Emerson College at Los Angeles from across Sunset Boulevard.

Entrance stairs to the Emerson College at Los Angeles.

View of Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Hills through the piazza stairway at Emerson LA.

Evening photograph of Emerson LA, featuring a view of the complex undulating surface created by Zahner.

Photo detail of the louvered display during at the Emerson LA Campus..

Additional aluminum metalwork in the main gathering areas at Emerson LA.

View of the exterior hallway at Emerson College Los Angeles.

Photographs of the mockup, revealing the corridor which cuts through the facade.

Building the Emerson College at Los Angeles

Zahner was brought onto the project based on previous work with the architects on projects such as Cooper Union New Academic Building in New York City, Eugene Federal Courthouse in Oregon, Gates Hall at Cornell and also an interior project which may have been the first Morphosis project to feature this kind of generative design, Clyde Frazier’s Wine & Dine in New York City.

The generative design of its scrim isn’t the only aspect of engineering and manufacture that Zahner worked on for the project. Zahner’s scope of work included both the engineered aluminum scrim wall as well as the dual-curvature forms contained within the building’s square structure.

At the building’s core is a complex form which contains many of the presentation rooms, classrooms and administrative spaces. To create the complex form with Morphosis, engineers used ZEPPS, the Zahner building process for creating sculptural forms. ZEPPS provides a secondary structural facade system which allowed the architects to efficiently put together an otherwise complex form.

Color-coded rendering of the ZEPPS panel layout design.

ZEPPS works by breaking a complex form into smaller assemblies. These assemblies are typically sized based on the shipping container or truck trailer size. The curving form at the building’s center was made using this process.

Photograph showing both the ZEPPS forms as well as the generative facade design.

The mockup for Emerson LA at the Zahner Headquarters in Kansas City.

Detail of the Emerson LA facade against Hollywood Hills in California.

Photograph of the Emerson LA Campus at night.

Rendering of the Morphosis-designed Emerson LA Campus.

Preliminary sketch by Thom Mayne of Morphosis for Emerson LA.

Clyde Frazier NYC

August 15, 2016/in Interior Architecture Restaurant New York City Morphosis Black, Blue, Blue-grey, Brown, Charcoal, Gold, Green, Grey, Indigo, Light blue, Magenta, Orange, Red, Silver, Violet, White, Yellow M 2012 /by cmorris

Clyde Frazier’s Wine & Dine in New York City

Clyde Frazier’s Wine & Dine is a new construction high-end sports bar and eatery designed by Morphosis. The space features a Zahner-manufactured ceiling, made using generative design and automated fabrication.

Designed by Morphosis for NBA Champion and former New York Knicks Player Walt Clyde Frazier, this New York City restaurant expands a full city block in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. A swarm of suit jackets dominates the central corridor of Clyde Frazier’s Wine and Dine, a 10,000 square foot experience which mixes American and Asian cuisines.

Zahner provided the ceiling architectural feature. This ceiling is made up of custom cut and folded aluminum plates, 544 in total. The aluminum plates are printed from photographs of Mr. Frazier’s suit jackets. These parts are segmented into six unique shapes, where are placed at intervals of increasing distance. This interval placement creates the illusion that every part is unique.

Clyde Frazier's Wine & Dine in New York City.

The colors in the model categorize the panels according to breaks and sizes. Between the differing anchor placements, prints, panel sizes, and panel shapes, all 544 aluminum panels ended up being unique.

Even more complex were the ribs which held them in place. Because the panels were anchored at different angles, every drill hole had to be custom placed. Thus, each of the 69 ribs had 6 segments for a total of 463 segments, each with 3 unique faces.

3D model for Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine.

“The transformative feature in the room, however, is suspended from the ceiling, where a 170-foot-long assemblage of colorful, patterned, flat and folded aluminum fins floats over the dining area, bar, and lounge. Morphosis found the stripes, plaids, and prints for this polychromatic sculptural reef in Frazier’s closets.

The architects photographed their contents and, working with Zahner’s metal fabricators, digitally printed images for a film adhesive applied to 544 aluminum panels of six shapes. The palette varies from blue to brown-gold to charcoal, with red painted undersides enhancing the gestalt. ‘It’s mesmerizing,’ says Frazier.” — Suzanne Stephens, Architectural Record.

Five threaded rods support each rib. The central columns do not hold the weight of the panels.

Aluminum fabricated-metal forms with custom printed and mounted graphics.

Installation process at Clyde Frazier's Wine and Dine

Installation of the printed aluminum fabrications.

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.