San Francisco Bay

The Mexican Museum

The Mexican Museum is a distinctive space located in the SoMa District of downtown San Francisco. The museum’s vision is to reflect the evolving scope of the Mexican, Chicano, Hispanic, Mexican-American, and Latino experience.

Zahner’s scope includes an exquisite and stunning façade, designed by Jan Hendrix, and is comprised of sprawling stainless-steel panels. The use of Zahner’s Angel Hair® and mirror polish stainless steel provides contrasting views from both inside the museum and out.

Topography from the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico was used by Hendrix’s studio to create the façade imagery. This, coupled with the unique three-dimensional panel innovations, creates a one-of-a-kind viewing experience.

Zahner’s collaboration with the artist, Jan Hendrix; the architect, Handel; the contractor, Webcor; and The Mexican Museum led to a flawless execution through engineering, production, and delivery. Zahner is proud to be a part of this project and the rich history of the museum content.

stunning façade designed by Jan Hendrix For The Mexican Museum.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

Jan Hendrix Explains the Design Approach

The facade was constructed in two layers. The designs were inspired by topographical maps provided to the artist by The Mexican Land Survey.

Topographical map used in the façade design process.

Rendering by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Topographical map of wind patterns used in the façade design process.

Rendering by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Topographical map of water migrations used in the façade design process.

Rendering by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Geographical map used in the facade design process.

Rendering by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Composition of the two facade screens separated.

Renderings by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Combined composition of the STAINLESS STEEL façade by Jan Hendrix.

Renderings by H E N D R I X + S T U D I O.

Closeup of the stainless steel façade.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

View from behind the stainless steel façade.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

Constructing the Façade

Constructing the facade with Zahner’s Angel Hair® and mirror polish stainless steel.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

The Mexican Museum in the SoMa District of downtown San Francisco.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

The Mexican Museum in the SoMa District of downtown San Francisco.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

Constructing the facade for The Mexican Museum.

Photo by Tejas Doshi | ARKO.

Dolby Labs HQ

January 27, 2017/in Exterior Architecture Corporate, Flagship San Francisco Bay WRNS Studio Silver M 2018 /by cmorris

WRNS Studio designed the screening room and lobby at the Dolby Labs Headquarters in San Francisco. The 14,000 sq. ft. screening room was built to highlight the latest in sound-based cinematic technology. The exterior design of the building hints at what movie-goers will experience once inside.

Zahner engineered and fabricated louvered perforated panels in stainless steel with a GB-60™ bead blasted finish. Panels at street level continue the overall aesthetic with a dimpled surface and an Angel Hair® finish.

Sunlight activates the louvered perforated facade on the Dolby Labs Headquarters in San Francisco, California.

Design Assist helps achieve design intent

Through the Design Assist process, WRNS and Zahner collaborated to develop a stainless steel facade with custom reticulated louvers. Each louver was laser cut and bent at specific angles, achievable through the Zahner patented process known as Louvered ZIRA™.

The perforated apertures vary in size, flowing from large to small, top to bottom, creating a gradient effect. The end result is a facade that bends and directs light to converge in a single point. The intent is to mimic the Dolby precision sound-as-object technology, which allows sounds to emanate from anywhere in the theatre.

In this way, the Dolby brand experience begins before patrons enter the building. The louvered panels flow from the exterior façade into the upper half of the interior lobby, harmoniously connecting the two spaces.

Interior lobby under construction. Exterior facade design flows into the lobby.

About Louvered ZIRA

Louvered ZIRA system uses a United States registered patent owned by Zahner. The system works by three-dimensionalizing perforations using tabbed or folded perforation. Any laser-cut or milled shape can be formed into a micro louver on the surface of the metal. The machine cuts partial perforations with folded tabs, and opens the tab by folding the tab back.

Custom dimpled panels extend the aesthetic established by the louvered perforated panels.

Additional panels complete the street level facade with a dimpled surface that echoes the overall design. Integrated lighting adds another layer of intrigue to the building’s aesthetic after dark.

Louvered perforated panels catch and direct sunlight.

Livermore Outlets

January 4, 2017/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Retail & Commerce San Francisco Bay FCGA Architecture Brown, Gold S 2015 /by cmorris

ImageWall system, for San Francisco Premium Outlets®

In 2015, Zahner provided the San Francisco Premium Outlets with a perforated metal artwall, installed in an outdoor area of the public mall development. Gates + Associates provided the landscape design for the entire development’s expansion, adding 185,000 SF to the project. This addition makes the project the largest outlet mall in the state of California.

Gates + Associates worked with Zahner’s ImageWall team to develop the artwall, which was shipped and installed by the architect’s contractor. The design is rolling landscape which depicts the surrounding area’s vineyards. Manufactured in Dirty Penny copper, the patina will continue to weather and grow in its depth over time. Since the copper patina is exposed to the outdoors, the oxidization will eventually turn dark brown, and then after a few decades, will become green.

The San Francisco Premium Outlets is Located in Livermore, California, the campus is part of the greater San Francisco region, and is located amongst some of California’s oldest vineyards. The development is state’s largest outdoor outlet shopping mall, and includes high end brand stores atypical of outlet malls, including Prada, Gucci, and Coach. The addition brought a number of new arrivals, including Versace, Jimmy Choo, Tory Burch, Rag & Bone, and Dsquared.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

Afternoon light cuts across the copper surface of the Livermore artwork.

Mission Bay Parking

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Parking Structure San Francisco Bay WRNS Studio L 2009 /by cmorris

Mission Bay Block 27 Parking Structure

Mission Bay Block 27 is a parking structure serving the UCSF community of San Francisco. Featuring a facade by Zahner, the WRNS Studio design is a noted work of architecture for parking structures.

Located in the Mission Bay Block 27 of San Francisco, this design by WRNS Studio for Alexandria Real Estate, houses 1,420 parking spaces on seven elevated levels. The structure features a metal screen with perforated imagery of California’s redwood forests. This facade was design-engineered by the Design Assist Group and produced by Zahner.

WRNS Studio desired an abstract pattern composed of four distinct oval cut-outs. They provided tree imagery and Zahner Design Engineers processed the imagery into the myriad of circular shapes to abstract the form. For the surface, the firm decided on a perforated bronze-anodized aluminum cladding, which covers the entirety of the metal scope for the garage.

Related Project

Contemporary Jewish Museum

3,028 sheets of blue iridescent cross-fire interference stainless steel clad the surface of the museum, which is formed in the shape modeled off of the Hebrew script for 'L'Chaim' which translates 'To Life'.

Mission Bay Block 27 Parking Structure at Alexandria.

Detail of the perforated aluminum facade system from within the garage.

Engineering drawing of the perforated facade layout used on the San Francisco parking structure.

How WRNS Created its Mosaic-Perforated Metal Facade

The aluminum’s punch-pattern was generated using a photograph of foliage. The image was run through several computer processes to rapidly produce the millions of custom perforated panels. Note: Zahner now offers an online tool for creating perforated metal panels at ImageWall for ShopFloor. This computer-to-machine language translation runs on the ZIRA™ Technology, a patented process (* Patent No. 7,212,688 B2 – May, 2007) for translating the architect’s imagery into pixelized metal, perforated and/or bumped panels.

This project was an experimental use of the ZIRA™ Process, as the individual punched shapes were integral to the project. Instead of the typical round and square punches, the designer selected four elliptical punch patterns which were custom-manufactured to complete the surface of the screen-wall. The ZIRA™ Technology allows architects, designers, and engineers to transfer an image onto the surface of metal using physical processes such as perforation, bumped and dimpled surface patterns, as well as waterjet cut patterns and other physical alterations.

Mockup of the WRNS concept, punched on aluminum plate metal.

Detail of the perforated zigzag aluminum system used to cool and ventilate the school's parking garage.

Exploratorium

October 12, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Landscape Architecture LEED, Museum San Francisco Bay EHDD Architecture Karli Woodward, Mark McGowan Grey, Silver 2013 /by cmorris

Exploratorium Plankton Wall at the North Pier

The Exploratorium is a ground-breaking science museum in San Francisco. Founded in 1969, the museum is known internationally for its pioneering exhibits with hands-on creative displays of natural phenomena. In 2013, the museum opened in its new location after a redesign by EHDD Architects. The design process opened up three times the amount of space for exhibits.

Zahner was brought into the design to develop one of the three artworks devised by Mark McGowan, Art Director for the Exhibit Environments at the Exploratorium:

“My goal was to use the building’s otherwise neutral architectural features to visually display things that would normally be invisible, to express something about the site and what’s there—the tides, the bay water, and the equipment that’s contributing to the museum’s net-zero energy goal—in a visual way.”

Zahner worked with the team to develop the Plankton Wall, a stainless steel artwall which is situated at the Northeast elevation facing the San Francisco Bay. As part of the Bay Observatory Terrace, the Plankton Wall is a semi-reflective surface showing a randomized grid of what appear to be patterned circles. These circles are abstract versions of sketches initially created by Karli Woodward, Living Systems Technician, of four different types of baywater plankton.

Each of the holes which compose the patterned circles were die-cut in Kansas City, composed of only 6 differently sized punches. The wall’s stainless steel panels were fabricated by Zahner in Kansas City, Missouri.

Best Examples of Residential Architecture featuring Zahner

Private residences as well as residential developments require safe design and engineering practices, as well as attractive design aesthetics and craft. Creating unique residential architectural details for endurance of both functional performance as well enduring aesthetics requires careful engineering and smart manufacturing. See below examples of projects including Zahner manufacturing for residential architecture.

Operable doors clad in the Zahner perforated metal open to the ocean bay.

Entrance to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Detail of the custom perforated iconography at the Exploratorium.

Photo of the Plankton Wall at the Exploratorium.

Detail of the ocean-facing Plankton Wall at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

View of the Plankton Wall from the Bay Observation Terrace at the Exploratorium.

Detail off the Plankton Wall view from the Bay Observation Terrace at the Exploratorium.

UCSF Parking Structure

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Parking Structure San Francisco Bay WRNS Studio Gold L 2012 /by cmorris

UCSF Mission Bay Medical Center Parking Structure

The new parking structure for the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) enhances the design aesthetic of both the UCSF Campus and the surrounding Mission Bay neighborhood. The ten-story parking facility was completed in September 2012 with WRNS Studio Architects and Rudolph & Sletten as a design build competition winner.

Like many of the facades Zahner has produced, the project’s budget was restrictive and required intelligent design maneuvering to meet the architects’ unique and compelling vision. The preset price per square foot was based on competition restrictions, so the elaborate design had to be streamlined to efficiently fabricate, ship, and install the facade. Zahner met this challenge without compromising the design.

Related Project

Contemporary Jewish Museum

UCSF Mission Bay Medical Garage at dusk.

Details of the perforated surface of the UCSF Mission Bay Garage.

Facade Design for Parking System at UCSF

When WRNS first approached Zahner, the architects had recently completed the schematic design phase. They had not yet won the design build competition, and WRNS knew they would have a constrained budget to produce the exterior facade system for their design. They needed a facade supplier who could commit to the design and budget prior to contract.

There is increased risk to commit to a design and budget during a competition, but this approach was possible because of the two firm’s relationship built on trust. Prior to this project, Zahner had worked with WRNS Studio on two successful projects (Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Block 27 Parking Structure). Zahner agreed to sketch preliminary designs and worked out a design plan with the architects to meet their budget.

The unconventional design approach meant that Zahner was preselected for the project when WRNS won the design competition. By definition, Zahner became part of the architect’s team. There was no bidding process to determine the facade installers, and their winning entry was contingent on the supply and install by Zahner at the predetermined price per square foot.

The design solution for the UCSF Parking Garage

The architect’s design posed particular challenges in coordination with steel and installation of extruding vertical fins around the structure as well as the layout and coordination of perforated patterns. Zahner’s solution made use of a common part, an anodized aluminum louver blade which was placed at variating angles to achieve visual vibrancy.

Determining the angles required consideration of design aesthetic, functionality, and economy. The architects selected angles that would bounce the sun’s light the garage to provide natural lighting. The team determined that the design could achieve a sophisticated look requiring the use of only five repeating panels throughout the structure.

Photograph of the storage facility, which shows the 4,400 fins used for UCSF.

Drawing shows the five repeating assemblies for the UCSF Parking Garage.

Crated panels for the UCSF Mission Bay Medical Garage.

UCSF Mission Bay Medical Garage in Construction.

These five unique but repeating panels were optimized by the Zahner Assist team for production and installation. Zahner was able to automate the changing angle of the blades using CNC production, resulting in a series of 8′ bays. This collaborative approach with WRNS Studio influenced the design’s functionality as it evolved, steering the engineering towards greater efficiency and lowered cost.

Because of the prior relationship built on trust with the architect, Zahner was able to commit to a very aggressive budget well before construction documents existed. This arrangement resulted in a tremendous value to the client. The architects’ design intent was fully maintained; and in some cases enhanced, while a strict budget and schedule were kept.

SFMTA Ticket Kiosks

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Transportation San Francisco Bay Lundberg Design Silver M, S 2011 /by cmorris

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Ticket Kiosks

The SFMTA Ticket Kiosks are a series of ticketing booths in San Francisco for accessing the cable car envisioned by Lundberg Design. Zahner manufactured the custom perforated metal components for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The designers wanted to wrap the top of the booth with imagery of the historic cable cars.

This effect was elegantly achieved by perforating the surface of stainless steel to create the light and dark tonal values of the original photographs. To achieve the mosaic-perforated imagery, ZIRA patented technology was used (designers can now create similar designs using ImageWall to generate custom perf).

Related System

SFMTA Ticket Kiosks

This technology enabled a smooth translation of the designer’s imagery to metal while also also ensuring panel-to-panel relational accuracy. This is crucial on a project such as this: The imagery is divided into a series of panels and wrapped around the sides of the small structure, so it was important that the perforations on each panel lined up with the next panel.

The photos above are from the Cable Car line are located where Powell meets Market in San Francisco. The second kiosk is located at Presidio Avenue and Geary Blvd, pictured below. Above is an image of the completed panels in the Zahner shop prior to shipping to San Francisco. Blue protective film protects the stainless surface from finger prints and dirt prior to installation.

Video and stills courtesy Ryan Hughes of Lundberg Design. Hughes managed the project from the early design phases to the project’s completion, working closely with Zahner engineers and fabricators throughout the process.

de Young Museum

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Museum San Francisco Bay Fong & Chan Architects, Herzog & de Meuron Brown, Gold, Green, Red XL 2005 /by cmorris

M. H. de Young Memorial Museum

Named for San Francisco newspaperman M. H. de Young, this building is a completely reworked redesign from the original museum, which opened in 1895 as an outgrowth of the California International Exposition of 1894. After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 which completely ravaged the original building’s structure, the de Young board began working to fund a restructuring of the building, and the resulting winner of the competition for its redesign in the late 1990’s was acclaimed Swiss architects, Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron.

Herzog & de Meuron developed the idea of a variably perforated screen exterior which would mirror the green foliage and forestry of the surrounding Golden Gate Park, San Francisco’s central park. The architects worked with Zahner whose engineers and software specialists developed a system which would allow unique perforation and patterned dimples, variably sized and placed throughout the exterior. This included near 8000 unique facade panels — the collective whole which formed patterns of light as seen through trees. This was the first iteration of the Zahner Interpretive Relational Algorithmic Process, or the ZIRA Process.

“

Craftsmanship in large buildings is supposed to be dead, killed by Modernist ideology and cost considerations. What this building says is that maybe craftsmanship has a high-tech future after all.

Time MagazineNone.

Aerial view of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California

Aerial view of the de Young Museum roof.

Inverted Seam roof system and channel design for the de Young Museum roof

Outdoor cafe under the de Young Museum canopy awning

At the time, this mosaic algorithmic process was emerging, but was undeveloped in the use of perforated and embossed metal. Zahner assembled a team of software developers and engineers to assist in this technological advancement.

The architects came up with a photo taken pointed up through the trees, and in several parts of the museum, light filters through the perforated system of holes, revealing shadows similar in shape and form to those of actual trees. ZIRA technology was developed to streamline this complex series of variable holes in the copper, allowing engineers to run chosen imagery through the algorithmic system, translating it to the thousands of copper plates.

Source imagery and installed panel system for the ‘Children’s Entry’ at the de Young Museum.

Above left, the surface of the ‘Children’s Entry’ was created using imagery from a photograph provided by the architects (right). The vantage point looks up into a sky obscured by trees. Similarly, the section of the Museum featuring this surface was initially open, recreating the effect on metal. Since installation, the area has been covered for moisture control.

“

… A sensual copper skin that will evolve over time.

Sarah Amelarauthor, Architectural Record..

Architects originally called for a light golden-hued appearance for the Museum. However, as the intentions evolved, a desire for the Museum to blend and emerge from its forested surroundings like an ancient indigenous structure.

De Young Museum cover feature in Architectural Record

The November, 2005 issue of "Architectural Record" magazine has placed the New de Young Museum on their cover and, in a section devoted to museum projects around the world [pages 104—115].

Patina transition over time on the de Young Museum

Zahner helped to guide this decision for the client. Understanding how copper alloys weather over time, and understanding the integrity and durability of the material is key to its selection process. Zahner brought the clients into the fold of this knowledge, educating the design team on how over the next few decades, the copper facade and roof would transition from its bright golden red, to a dark brown, to a black, and finally, after a decade or more, it will slowly emerge into earthy greens.

In clean air environments — which San Francisco generally has great air quality — this process can take much longer. Copper oxidizes quickly in polluted areas. In cleaner environments, this process could take twenty to thirty years.

The following information is a snapshot of the building statistics:

Area of copper panels on the building: 129,900 square feet of copper panels.
Area of copper on the roof cladding: 55,500 square feet of copper panels and 6,500 linear feet of custom battens.
Area of copper on the tower: 33,218 square feet of copper panels.
Number of panels — Main building: 5,757; Roof: 3,513; Tower: 1,845.
Number of perforations — Building: 920,699; Tower: 803,229
There are approximately 1,500,000 bumps of the surface. This includes the four levels of bumps that go in and four levels that come out. These bumps, along with the flat plane, results in nine different levels of surface texture.
Pounds of copper utilized. . .1,121,992. This translates too. . .2,201 cubic feet or 1 sheet of copper that is 1 meter wide by 21.6 miles long.
The 70,000 pounds of the custom alloy, custom bronze extrusions utilized for the tower system were also designed and engineered by Zahner.

Contemporary Jewish Museum

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Museum San Francisco Bay Studio Libeskind, WRNS Studio Blue L 2008 /by cmorris

The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco

Designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind with WRNS Studio, The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco features a facade and building envelope manufacture by Zahner. Originally founded in 1984 in San Francisco, California the museum’s mission was renovated with a new addition. The museum’s mission is to offer contemporary perspectives on Jewish culture, history, art, and ideas. The Museum reopened June 9, 2008.

3,028 sheets of blue iridescent cross-fire interference stainless steel clad the surface of the museum, which is formed in the shape modeled off of the Hebrew script for ‘L’Chaim’ which translates ‘To Life’.

Zahner was responsible for the design, engineering, fabrication, and installation of the facade and total building envelope, inclusive of the metal, glass, and substrate. The project uses the Inverted Seam roof and facade system, the most powerful roof and building envelope surface for water control, planar uniformity and long-term performance.

Zahner engineered the skylight windows to integrate into the Inverted Seam roof and building envelope system, inset with four-sided structural silicone glazing. The 36 custom skylights sit perfectly flush with the surface of the metal, giving the roof and siding a smooth, uniform facing.

Evening photograph of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-designed Contemporary Jewish Museum .

Cantilevered section of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

Daniel Libeskind examines the light reflectivity of one of Zahner's panels.

The metal panels of the Contemporary Jewish Museum at mid-day.

Blue metal panels of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco during construction.

At certain angles the metal panels reflect iridescent colors.

Aerial view of the blue metal panels on the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Franicsco.

Aerial view of the blue metal panels on the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

Detail of the blue panels on the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

The subtle raised edges on the surface of the metal are a custom touch designed by Libeskind. The architect was able to design a custom raised indentation with Zahner design consultants and fabricators using the custom indentations for automated alteration of the metal surface.

This is the first major project whose facade was produced by Zahner for Daniel Libeskind. Since then Zahner has completed the Libeskind-designed 18.36.54 private residence and summer home in Connecticut, and in 2014, Zahner provided art fabrication on his design for the Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial.