Kansas City | Zahner

Corinthian Hall

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Historic, Renovation, Restoration Kansas City International Architects Atelier Green M 2006 /by cmorris

Corinthian Hall Canopy at Kansas City Museum

Originally constructed as a residence by lumber magnate R.A. Long in 1910, Corinthian Hall was donated to the Kansas City Museum Association in 1939 by Long’s two daughters. In 1948, the building was deeded to the City of Kansas City after museum funds were determined to be insufficient in maintaining the estate.

In 1996 International Architects Atelier was commissioned to conduct a restoration study and provide a preliminary cost estimate for restoration of the various estate buildings, including the main house, carriage house and stables, caretaker’s house, carpenter’s workshop, conservatory, pergola and limestone and wrought iron fence surrounding the three-acre estate.

Zahner was brought in to work on restoration of the Corinthian Hall canopy through MTS Contracting. The canopy restoration was part of a larger master plan for the historic restoration and adaptive renovation of Corinthian Hall into a mixed-use facility, incorporating elements of a traditional historic house-museum with modern elements.

Corinthian Hall historic restoration with replacement glass and patinated copper-alloy.

Corinthian Hall canopy at the Kansas City Museum.

Historic restoration of the Corinthian Hall porte cochère.

Historic restoration detail of the Corinthian Hall porte cochére.

Corinthian Hall’s beautifully elaborate cast bronze porté cochére canopy over the west porch was removed from its original mountings and transported to Zahner where the historic pieces were cleaned and restored with respect to its original design. Work included the re-creation of the deteriorated, original structural support system from stainless steel, re-casting and re-patination of several missing elements, and re-wiring of the original electrical service.

Using historic photographs for reference, fragments of the original glass were used to recreate the canopy glazing from a UV-stable, non-yellowing resin material, which replicates the appearance of the original glass while providing superior strength against breakage.

Corinthian Hall in 1912, showing the porte cochère on the building's west facade

Corinthian Hall porte cochère seen today.

Baron BMW Showroom

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Automotive Kansas City Cary Goodman, Gould Evans Associates Silver M, S 2000 /by cmorris

The Baron BMW Showroom in Merriam, Kansas was designed by Cary Goodman, principal at Gould Evans Goodman. Completed in 2000, the design features a wide range of custom metalwork developed with Zahner.

Zahner was brought into the project to manufacture the perforated aluminum custom railing and guardrail. The guardrail uses a custom square punch die and has a standard satin finish. Zahner constructed and installed the perforated handrail screens and associated decorative trim.

The plate aluminum system is an example of smaller-scale fabrication capabilities for Zahner engineers and fabricators in Kansas City.

Interior looking up at the Baron BMW Showroom in Merriam, Kansas

Detail of the aluminum metalwork at the Baron BMW Showroom

Custom guardrail screens in perforated aluminum

Detail of the handrail screens in square perf

Handrail screens with custom perforations in aluminum

Detail of the satin aluminum and leather handrail for Baron BMW in Merriam, Kansas

Pomona Planters

December 26, 2016/in Landscape Architecture Retail & Commerce, Urban Design Kansas City Young + Dring Grey, White S 2010 /by cmorris

Tree Surrounds and Planter Systems for Power & Light District

Working with Young + Dring, Zahner provided custom metalwork for planters in the Power & Light District of Kansas City. As the largest single implementation of streetscape in the downtown area, the installation of 180 Ginkgo trees resulted in a verdant urban forest.

Focused on tree health and long-term growth, custom planters and metal tree-surrounds were functionally and aesthetically designed by Young+Dring, which were then fabricated and installed by Zahner. Each of the aluminum plate planters was water jet cut to manufacture the patterned metal.

The award-winning Power & Light District is part of the current downtown Kansas City renaissance. In an ongoing effort since 2005, Young + Dring have participated in the revitalization of seven city blocks. The result is a more verdant, more walkable space in downtown Kansas City.

Related System

Pomona Planters

Detail of the Young+Dring planter boxes for the Power & Light District

Detail of the Young+Dring tree surrounds for the Power & Light District

Fabrication in the Zahner shop for the Young+Dring planters

Midland Theatre

December 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Historic, Performance Center, Renovation, Restoration Kansas City BNIM Tom Corbin Gold, Orange S 1987 /by cmorris

Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland

Midland Theatre is a historic 3,573-seat theater located in the Power & Light District of Kansas City, Missouri. The building was originally designed by Boller Bros, and has at various states been restored and renovated.

In 1987, Zahner was brought in by BNIM and and artist Tom Corbin to develop the custom architectural metal for the historic theater’s restoration.
Working from historic photographs, Zahner worked to carefully detail new fabricated components for the building’s metal marquee. Zahner artisans fabricated these parts in sheet brass and muntz, working to integrate the molded brass features cast by Tom Corbin in his foundry.
The end result is a golden marquee which resonates with the building’s original 1927 appearance.

Midtown Theatre Marquee restored to its 1927 appearance.

Restored Midland Theatre in the early 1990's.

Zahner fabricators put the finishing touches on the Midtown canopy

Detail of the cast bronze, brass and sheet Muntz Metal fabrication.

1 3 5 7 9 11

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Sol LeWitt White M 1994 /by cmorris

Sol Lewitt sculpture, 1 3 5 7 9 11

The Sol LeWitt sculpture 1 3 5 7 9 11 is a commission by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art which was engineered and manufactured by Zahner in Kansas City. The artwork is a painted aluminum form which measures 16′ x 8′ x 8′ and was fabricated in 1996. The artist conceived of the work in 1994.

Zahner engineered and fabricated an interlocking system where each corner connects seamlessly. Instead of requiring a weld at the joint’s seam, the pieces are connected with an interior locking mechanism.

Related Project

One Sun / 34 Moons

In addition to the architectural features, a large scale site-specific artwork by Walter de Maria was commissioned by the Museum. Zahner was brought on as fabricator for the installation by the famed land artist. The work, entitled One Sun / 34 Moons, is made up of thirty-four 'Moons' which are realized as illuminated glass fixtures scattered throughout the installation.

1 3 5 7 9 11 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

Process photo during the art fabrication at Zahner in Kansas City.

1 3 5 7 9 11 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

Detail of the aluminum joint prior to painting during the art fabrication process.

Above, a detail of the seamless engineered connection, a result of careful engineering and high-quality craftsmanship. This is the last sculpture of its kind fabricated during the artist’s lifetime.

Celestial Flyways

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Landscape Architecture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Davison Architecture + Urban Design Laura DeAngelis Black, Blue, Indigo S 2008 /by cmorris

Star Disk and Celestial Flyways at Oppenstein Park

Celestial Flyways is a permanent interactive and kinetic artwork made through collaboration with Zahner art fabrication team. The public space includes a central piece by Laura DeAngelis entitled Star Disk, as well as a number of embedded stainless steel artworks inlayed in the concrete pavers. The artwork coincided with a complete redesign and rebuilding of Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City. The park was dedicated April 18, 2008 and named Celestial Flyways to celebrate the natural environment of the Kansas City area.

The artwork was developed by artist Laura DeAngelis in collaboration with Peregrine Honig with the leadership of Davison Architecture + Urban Design. The piece was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation, a metropolitan organization of business and civic leaders with a continuing mission to enhance central Kansas City with public art.

Star Disk has a number of built-in features which align with the stars and sky. The stars are revealed through holes in the disks filled by acrylic lenses which are lit from below. Drawings of the mythological characters associated with the constellations are etched on to the surface of the disk. Park visitors rotate the star disk to a date and time with a motor operated by buttons on the base.

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“I wanted to shift people’s perceptions and encourage a different kind of awareness of the space, reconnecting the park to the sky directly overhead and the continuous rhythms of the natural world, which are so easy to lose sight of in the middle of the city.

Laura deAngelisArtist.at

According to Astrolabe.org, the anaphoric Star Disk in the park is very likely the largest and most accurate astronomical machine of this type ever made. The ten foot diameter disk contains the positions of 457 stars in 50 constellations.

In addition to the Star Disk, a number of inlayed birds are scattered throughout the landscape of the Celestial Flyways park, pictured below. These were CNC-cut and etched by Zahner with artist renderings of birds.

This project was a cooperative venture between the city of Kansas City and Jackson Country Parks and Recreation. It required two years of work, the talents of at least 150 people at a cost of nearly $500,000, much of which was donated.

More information can be learned about the process, history, and installation of Celestial Flyways at the Astrolabes.org website.

Hope For Life

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Larry Young L 2000 /by cmorris

Hope For Life Sculpture at the Stowers Institute

Hope for Life is a permanent artwork at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, made by artist Larry Young using Zahner art fabrication. The artwork was completed through close collaboration with A. Zahner Company, whose engineers and fabricators transformed his concept into a larger-than-life sculpture.

Young’s concept for the sculpture was based off of a bronze casting which conveys the idea of the human form through an abstracted DNA double helix. After selecting Zahner to fabricate the artwork, Young provided the casting to Zahner engineers. The engineering team at Zahner developed a cloud map of the surface geometry, unfolding the forms and translating them into flat parts. These parts were produced in the Zahner shop using CNC equipment where they were assembled, welded and polished to create a seamless surface.

The artwork is installed at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri.

The stainless steel artwork rises 32' and sits on a base of the same material.

A human figure stands for scale at the base of the sculpture.

Detail of the Hope for Life sculpture in Kansas City.

Pro Patria Mori

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Landscape Architecture Memorial, Passive Security, Public Art Kansas City Ellen Driscoll M 2006 /by cmorris

Pro Patria Moria: Security gates for WW1 Memorial

Pro Patria Moria is a permanent artwork by Ellen Driscoll made using Zahner art fabrication services. Completed in 2006, the public work consists of two panoramic gates that form the entrance to the Liberty Memorial Mall and The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

Driscoll worked collaboratively with team at A. Zahner Company to design, engineer, and fabricate the gates. Each of the massive gates have a frieze inlaid with mosaic tiles. Beneath the frieze, laser cut steel panels depict soldiers marching, creating a panorama viewable from inside and outside Liberty Memorial Mall. The museum archives inspired the gates’ imagery while a line in Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” inspired the name for the work.

When the gates are open, they create an 80’ long panorama; when closed, they form two separate panoramas, visible from both the approach to the site, and when leaving. The archives of the museum provide the main source for the glass mosaic imagery, along with images of the artist’s two grandfathers who fought in World War 1, and trench maps from their scrapbooks.

Detail of the metal gate system with ceramic inlay by the artist Ellen Driscoll.

Detail of the metal gate system with ceramic inlay.

Detail of the laser-cut stainless steel gate system.

Detail of the photomosaic and perforated metal.

Concept drawing from the artist Ellen Driscoll.

Related Project

911 Memorial Overland Park

Heartland Harvest

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art Kansas City Gastinger Walker Harden Joel Marquardt 1999 /by cmorris

Heartland Harvest: The Kansas City Board of Trade

Heartland Harvest, designed by Joel Marquardt of Gastinger Walker Harden Architects, was installed on the Kansas City Board of Trade Building in 1999. Joel Marquardt worked with A. Zahner Company to create a custom fabrication method for the final 60-foot tall sculpture.

Marquardt came to Zahner with a miniature maquette, which Zahner engineers recreated in an enhanced digital model. Zahner craftsmen and engineers designed a custom “on-off” press to recreate the maquette’s exact indents in Star Blue patinated copper.

Related Project

Daeyang Gallery

The firm has developed a growing number of works with Zahner, starting with the the Studio Libeskind-designed Contemporary Jewish Museum in which WRNS served as Architect of Record. Since then, Zahner has worked with WRNS on a number of projects, develop their unique design concepts into custom architectural systems, featured below.

Heartland Harvest at the Kansas City Board of Trade.

Detail of the copper panels made for Heartland Harvest.

Night image of the Heartland Harvest at the Kansas City Board of Trade.

Birds in Flight

December 1, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Art Restoration, Sculpture Kansas City Jac T. Bowen Green /by cmorris

Birds in Flight Sculpture Restoration

Birds in Flight, by Jac T. Bowen, is a static sculpture formed from steel and copper-alloy plates. Located at the entrance to the Wornall Homestead, the artwork serves as a welcome to the well-known Kansas City neighborhood. Twenty years after its installation, the home owners’ association began noticing signs of deterioration and contacted Zahner to assist.

The Zahner team fabricated a new framework to replace the original steel understructure. Instead of using the existing (and corrosive) steel pipe, Zahner manufactured new structural components in stainless steel, eliminating the possibility of deterioration. The new structure was re-clad in its original, freshly cleaned copper-alloy plates.

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Diagnosing Sculptural Repair for the Jac T. Bowen Sculpture

Galvanic corrosion, which occurs when two or more dissimilar metals encounter one another, is a common cause of metal deterioration.

Birds in Flight exhibited extensive galvanic corrosion and weathering. Over time, the hammered copper plates reacted with the painted steel support structure causing widespread rust. Although the steel structure was painted, scratches within the paint coating affected the electrochemical coupling, accelerating corrosion and weakening the steel. The weakened structure began to sag and lose its shape in reaction to wind force, gravity, and occasional snow and ice loads.

Repairing and Restoring the Sculpture

Once the cause of deterioration was identified, Zahner carefully de-installed the sculpture, transporting it to the Zahner shop.

Once there, each part was carefully disassembled, cleaned, and repaired, if required. Working from photographs, Zahner artisans reassembled the existing and newly created components, remaining true to the artist’s original intent.