San Diego--California

Gambucci Boutique

Laura Gambucci Boutique in La Jolla, California

Designed for Laura Gambucci by Luce et Studio, the retail boutique features a Zahner-manufactured perforated interior feature wall. Laura Gambucci, a former interior designer, worked with the design team to develop the custom interior architecture and features for her new boutique. The space presents a palette of silvers and golds, as well as blacks, greys and whites.

Working from custom options provided by Zahner, the team selected a material which would match the look and feel of the space. The material is a black Interference Stainless Steel with a mirror polish, a rich and reflective material used architecturally on major projects in the United States.

Custom furniture and fixtures can be fabricated with Zahner engineering for a variety of applications. These furnishings include both retail and exhibit design, as well as office, home, or exterior furniture.

Zahner engineers work with designers and contractors to develop integrated systems which meet a range of desired aesthetics. Below are a few examples of inspirational projects which include custom furniture designs fabricated by Zahner.

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.

Upon entering the space, visitors are met with a reflective black perforated metal feature wall to their right. This wall system was designed using ImageWall provided by Zahner for making perforated metal systems. Using the online tool, designers developed a pattern, and further customized the system with a backlighting to create a unique perforated metal aesthetic

Detail of the interior screen wall with cross-seam perforation.

Black interference stainless steel used for the interior featurewall.

San Diego Central Library

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Library San Diego--California Luce et Studio Silver S 2014 /by cmorris

San Diego Central Library Donor Features

Signage, artworks, and architectural features designed by Luce et Studio are featured throughout the new nine-story San Diego Central Library in downtown San Diego. The features include an illuminated mast which spans four floors on the building’s North exterior, a massive-scale replica of an orchestral bow on the exterior of the ninth floor, and custom signage to celebrate the donor spaces throughout the library.

Donor Recognition

Throughout the building’s nine stories and exterior spaces are various signifiers, art elements, and architectural features which created to recognize the generous donations made by the philanthropic community in San Diego. The Central Library’s funding is unusual for a civic building, because forty percent of the costs were covered through private fund raising, including the operational costs of running the library. The private support means that the library was built with no new taxes, bonds, or moneys from the city’s general fund.

Related System

Signage

Signage and wayfinding design has transformed over the years from a purely utilitarian and informational, into art and design. Finding ways to make signage both useful and aesthetic has been a goal of the design-engineering and fabrication at Zahner for many years.

The San Diego Central Public Library at night.

Detail of the Mast at San Diego Central Public Library.

The Mast arrives in prefabricated sections at the site for the San Diego Central Library.

The Mast at San Diego Central Library

Luce et Studio’s design for The Mast for San Diego’s downtown Public Library was designed as a 70′ tall aluminum column, whose diameter ranges from 8′ at its top and bottom, and 12′ at its median.

The Mast is constructed in aluminum with varying perforations which run up around its length. Inside of the mast is an interior LED lighting system, which provides a beacon of star-studded lights which illuminates the facade throughout the evening hours. The mast was manufactured by Zahner in Kansas City, and installed by a local team in San Diego.

The Violin Bow at San Diego Central Library

One of the donors recognized by the Museum is the late Helen Price whose continued philanthropic giving to the museum was recognized by a 30‘ scale orchestral bow to celebrate the San Diego figure’s love for the symphony.

The bow is made using stainless steel and structural cable. Both the bow and the mast were manufactured by Zahner with design support from Wallace Engineering.

Fabricators at Zahner manufacture the signage and donor recognition for the SDCL Violin Bow.

Local installers place the violin bow and donor recognition for the Helen Price Reading Room at SDCL.

The Helen Price Reading Room violin bow artwork, by Luce et Studio at SDCL.

Detail of the head plate for the finished violin bow artwork at San Diego Central Library.

Detail of the Helen Price Reading Room violin bow artwork, by Luce et Studio at SDCL.

Joan & Irwin Jacobs Common

At the building’s South entrance are multiple signage elements for the San Diego Library Joan & Irwin Jacobs Common, recognizing the philanthropist team who donated $20 million towards the library’s operational costs.

The technique used to create the building’s southern pedestrian level signage is a signature style developed by Luce et Studio on an unrealized project for Hotel James (pictured below). The signage concept was developed by Jennifer Luce to create a third dimension for the cut-out letter shapes. Zahner manufactures a groove in each of the letters, which allows the letter to then be folded out. The concept was first created years prior, and is featured prominently as a notable signage display for the San Diego Central Library.

Custom signage concept designed by Luce et Studio for an unrealized Hotel James. The letters, laser cut from stainless steel, become three dimensional louvers, connected by a small tab.

San Diego Central Library signage with custom ornamental detailing.

Joan ? Irwin Jacobs Common donor plaque and signage for San Diego Central Library.

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Common donor plaque and signage for San Diego Central Library.

Library Bar Code Signage

One of the themes that moves throughout the entirety of the library is a bar code motif, extruding from the letter forms of various donor plaques and signage elements on both the interior and exterior surfaces of the library. The extruded letter forms also break planes and wrap around columns, walls, and concrete boundaries.

The thick metals used in the custom signage include stainless steel and bronze, and included areas that are painted, as well as areas that let the metal surface shine through, much of which uses Zahner’s Angel Hair mechanical non-directional surface treatment.

Donald C. & Elizabeth M Dickinson Popular Library ornamental donor signage for SDPL Central Library.

Exploration Floor signage recognizing the donation of Joy & Ed Frieman .

Custom donor signage for the San Diego Central Library.

Custom donor signage for the Pauline Foster Family Teen Center at San Diego Central Library.

Custom signage for the San Diego Central Library.

Joan ? Irwin Jacobs Common signage donor recognition for the San Diego Central Library .

Shiley Special Events Suite

One of the final donors donors for the new library, Darlene Shiley placed $1.2 million towards the library’s operational fund, and her donation is honored with a rooftop events suite. The entrance to the space is clad in interference stainless steel, perforated using a custom pattern. The Zahner system used to lay out the decorative metal screen panels is based on the ImageWall/ZIRA system, which also provides for a muted seam where the perforations continue across the joint’s reveal.

Cedar & Kettner

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Parking Structure San Diego--California IPD: International Parking Design Silver L 2015 /by cmorris

Cedar & Kettner Development, Little Italy Parking Structure

Cedar & Kettner Development Parking Structure is located in downtown San Diego and features a Zahner-manufactured CloudWall facade system. The striking new parking garage anchors the corner of Cedar Street and Kettner Boulevard in the Little Italy area of downtown San Diego.

The series of vertical facade fins were made using the Zahner-patented CloudWall™ system. These fins were installed using custom extruded channel embeds which were set in concrete. Zahner worked with McCarthy to coordinate the location for each embed. Bassett Construction was the installer, and came to the project with experience on several other Zahner jobs.

The 240,000 SF design-build garage provides 650 spaces with three levels below grade and six levels above, serving as both a work garage for employees of the County of San Diego, as well as night parking for events in the downtown area.

Cedar Kettner Parking Structure in San Diego, California.

PHOTO © CHANY PHOTOGRAPHY.

The design team visited Zahner’s Headquarters prior to working on the job, and experienced the CloudWall system installed on the building’s facade. The project was led by IPD, who served as the architect of record. The team worked with construction manager McCarthy Builders in San Diego, and Bassett in San Diego led the install team.

The CloudWall fins were designed and shaped using 3-D computer-generated studies which resulted in an undulating façade that visually changes based on the point of view and sun angle. This new structure promises more than just additional spaces to park.

The Cedar & Kettner Parking Structure improves the commuter experience, offering a canopy over the adjacent trolley platform. The hope is that by offering more space for visitors, the already vibrant tourism within Little Italy will have room to increase. The new parking building is a key structure towards bringing more construction for additional projects in San Diego.

Cedar Kettner Parking Structure in San Diego, California.

PHOTO © CHANY PHOTOGRAPHY.

Cedar Kettner Parking Structure in San Diego, California.

PHOTO © CHANY PHOTOGRAPHY.

Completed in 2015, this new building provides much needed parking for visitors in a bustling area of tourism. 645 new spaces to park give the county the ability to accommodate greater amounts of tourism, bolster the local economy, and look great while doing so.

Reminiscent of ripples in the San Diego Bay, the CloudWall surface follows the recently completed waterfront park. The facade encompasses the building’s seven above-ground levels. Three additional levels exist underground.

Cedar Kettner Parking Structure in San Diego, California.

PHOTO © CHANY PHOTOGRAPHY.

Switching from Phenolic Plastic to Aluminum Plate

The wave-like fins were originally designed as a phenolic plank system. Design authorities determined some environmental and combustion concerns with the phenolic material. In the interest of public safety and longevity of the surface, all parties agreed that the design needed to be revisited in another material.

Following initial discussions with the group, Zahner visited onsite with the city and county officials, architects, and general contractors. The team reviewed the design and determined the specifics for providing the desired aesthetic.

Clear anodized aluminum was selected for both the fins and the cross bracing. The aluminum’s light material weight allowed for the phenolic system to easily be replaced with metal, without any structural redesign. The economical cost of aluminum also helped to lighten any budgetary concerns.

Scaling the CloudWall System

Prior to the Cedar & Kettner project, the CloudWall system was limited to one or two-story buildings. This was due to limitations of material lengths for the aluminum hardware. The CloudWall system was modified and custom-engineered for the project to span the six-story Cedar & Kettner building. This was accomplished by dividing the metal components into two lengths.

Zahner built a mockup to test how the new components would fit together, and also to test lighting and color options for the client.