XL | Zahner

Argosy Casino

Hollywood Casino & Hotel Lawrenceburg

Formerly the Argosy Casino in Indiana, the Hollywood Casino & Hotel Lawrenceburg was designed by BDMD Architects.

Zahner provided the engineering, fabrication, and installation of the building envelope, interconnecting bridge, and decorative interior elements. Thousands of unique metal panels cover approximately 43,400 square feet of visible exterior surface. An elevated walkway, designed to replicate the region’s historic structural steel trestle bridges, is clad in a painted aluminum metal system by Zahner. Interior panels, decorative ceiling rings, and faux duct hangers were completed to the same exacting standards as exterior elements.

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Each of the wings were finished with a different alloy of stainless steel, to create a color distinction between the two. The east wing was finished using a brushed stainless steel surface. The west wing with PVD coated stainless steel panels for a copper hue.

Red metal custom cupola turrets in Lawrenceburg

Decorative metalwork at the bridge connection

Decorative custom corbel and gusset detail

Sidra Medical Center

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Healthcare Asia, Doha--Qatar, International, Middle East Pelli Clarke Pelli Blue, Green, Orange XL 2014 /by cmorris

Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar

The Sidra Medical Center is designed by Cesar Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli with the executive architect Ellerbe Becket in Kansas City. The design is a massive Research and Medical Center which will serve both the science and health for local Qatari’s in Doha.

Zahner produced the three massive ‘wings’ which salute the sky using ZEPPS, Zahner’s process for designing and manufacturing complex structural forms. The subtle dual curvature required precise engineering and intelligent organization of components.

The Sidra project was unique for Zahner in a few different ways. Most projects produced using the ZEPPS Process feature a surface skinned with a durable metal such as stainless steel or copper. The client requested a terra cotta ceramic tile rather than a metal surface. While most environments will find stainless steel to be the highest performance materials, in environments such as a Doha, where sandstorms can blast silica into the surface, a harder, ceramic exterior facade was required.

The project was also unique for Zahner in that it was the first structure to use the Export ZEPPS. This means that instead of preassembling ZEPPS megapanels at Zahner, the ZEPPS components were fabricated and shipped in a disassembled state to Doha. There, instead of sending a field crew to Doha, local installers worked from a manual produced by Zahner. The local installers manual to produce the hundreds of unique panels in an on-site facility nearby the construction site. The panels were then crane-lifted and set by installers on each floor of the building.

Aerial photograph of Sidra, substantially completed.

Export ZEPPS for Sidra

Under normal circumstances, the ZEPPS Panels are fabricated and assembled in the Zahner shop. Each completed panel is shipped to the job site, and under ideal circumstances, installed by Zahner’s own field install team. In the case of Sidra, these ZEPPS Panels were fabricated as parts, packed, crated, and shipped in cargo containers to the site where the parts were re-assembled on site by local Qatari installers contracted by Alce Engineering. Below, a Zahner worker organizes parts for crating and shipment.

To organize this overseas project required the production of digital and paper instruction manuals particular to the Sidra Project’s Export ZEPPS. Zahner Engineers worked with the Marketing Department at Zahner to accurately convey all aspects of assembling Sidra’s Export ZEPPS Panels for prompt installation onto the structure.

Photograph of the paper version of the Export ZEPPS™ Manual for Sidra.

Assembly of an Export ZEPPS™ Panel in Doha.

About the Sidra Medical Center

Sidra is part of a new medical zone on the Education City campus. The Sidra Medical Center will also include residential accommodations for about 300 nurses, a car park and a pedestrian walkway to Weill Cornell Medical College. Sidra Medical Center houses over 500 beds for patients.

At full operation, Sidra will employ over 2,000 full time staff, including a team of highly talented and accomplished physicians and scientists to help establish the medical and research facility as a genuine center of excellence.

The Petersen

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Automotive, Museum, Parking Structure Los Angeles--California Kohn Pedersen Fox Red, Silver L, XL 2015 Featured, Related Work /by cmorris

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California:

Situated on Los Angeles’ famous Miracle Mile, the newly renovated Petersen Automotive Museum has achieved an iconic status while creating open spaces which invite community engagement. The design encases the building in a red-painted corrugated aluminum rainscreen system which acts as the backdrop for a series of stainless steel structural ribbons. These scopes were engineered, manufactured, and installed by Zahner.

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) in New York with the construction management by Matt Construction in Los Angeles, Zahner was brought onto the project early on in the planning and development process. Starting under a Zahner Assist (Design Assist) contract, the construction team developed a fabrication and installation strategy with the engineers at Zahner.

This is the second project completed by Zahner with KPF. The two teams worked together prior on the IBM Headquarters in Armonk, New York.

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Nestled within a landscape of 450 wooded, rocky acres some 50 miles from Manhattan, the IBM World Headquarters exemplifies KPF’s demonstrated ability to respond to the natural context and produce an innovative work of architecture. Completed in 1997, the headquarters is the centerpiece of an existing corporate campus in this wooded setting with deep ravines slicing through the landscape.

Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Making the Petersen Automotive Museum

Design development for the Petersen Automotive Museum began in 2012. Principal Trent Tesch knew that the complex shapes would be best defined under a Design Assist contract with Zahner. Examining the forms gave the team an opportunity to approach their design with as much information as possible. Zahner Assist enabled KPF to bring the client into a conversation with Zahner.

Sharing models and preliminary drawings while the design was still conceptual allowed for conversations regarding costs and aesthetics to remain transparent, assisting the client during the decision making process.

The project made use of several Zahner technologies and methodologies: the ZEPPS Process for designing and manufacturing the building’s curved forms; the Angel Hair non-directional surfacing applied to each of the stainless steel skins attached to the curved forms; and Zahner Assist, Zahner’s method for developing complex projects into factory-produced realities. The project also includes an ImageWall custom perforated metal screen which continues the architect’s design, mimicking the stainless ribbons in a perforated metal graphic across the building’s parking structure. The Petersen Automotive Museum is the direct result of a design team confidently departing from convention.

Perforated metal screenwall by Zahner continues the Petersen Automotive Museum's sculptural motif.

Underneath the undulating ribbon facade of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

A perforated parking garage facade continues the stainless steel ribbon motif.

Detail of the facade of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Design Assist Mockup for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Design Assist Mockup at dusk for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The Mock Up as a Design Catalyst

As part of the Zahner Assist contract, we included a to-scale visual mockup. Mockups are included as part of this process in order to aid in design decision making and determine the best method for building any given form. The team selected the lower northeast corner of the building’s design to fabricate as a mockup section. This empowered the design team to determine how the ribbons would wrap around the corner, an integral aspect of the building’s design.

The mockup process provided Zahner crucial insight into how to best develop the red-painted structural steel armatures which are used throughout the project. The mockup also helped the design team establish the ideal color for the painted corrugated aluminum surface.

Zahner installers hang a ZEPPS Ribbon Assembly at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Zahner fabricators create the ZEPPS Ribbon assemblies for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

3D Model of a single ZEPPS Assembly for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Zahner field installers at the construction site for the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Creating the new Petersen Automotive Museum facade

The existing building, purchased by the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1994, was rectilinear and fairly straightforward in form. It was originally a department store. Six years after the store closed, museum founder Robert Petersen chose the site to house his automotive museum. Since the Museum is nearly devoid of windows, the site was ideal for safely housing Mr. Petersen’s collection without harmful exposure to sunlight.

Because the existing building contained very little glass and was box-like in form, it acted as a blank canvas for the design team. ZEPPS, the Zahner system for developing sculptural forms, was used to build curving stainless steel ‘ribbons’ which wrap the building, giving it a feeling of rapid motion. The result looks similar to the aerodynamic flow diagrams drawn in wind tunnel tests by automotive designers.

Using ZEPPS to Create Dual-Curving Forms

To build complex dual curving forms with the lightest structural loads, Zahner uses the ZEPPS process. ZEPPS stands for Zahner Engineered Profiled Panel Systems, and comprises Zahner’s approach to building complex, curvilinear forms. The crux of the system is the paring down of a complex design into manageable parts for manufacturing.

Using an architect’s 3D model, Zahner’s engineers examine geometry with a manufacturing mindset. Each curve is analyzed and developed into a series of patented aluminum structural components. These components are pre-assembled at the shop and compose the structural form for each ZEPPS Asssembly. Using aluminum extrusions rather than steel allows for a lighter load on the structure of the façade, and also allows for more economical fabrication methods.

The final step in creating with ZEPPS is to clad it in surface material. For the Petersen Automotive Museum, Zahner’s Angel Hair Stainless Steel surface was selected. After the structure is built, each ZEPPS is clad in the desired metal, and loaded onto a truck for field install. By breaking dual curves into units, ZEPPS creates precision within the manufacturing process, and allows for much quicker field installation.

Detail of the Petersen Automotive Museum's Angel Hair Stainless steel.

View of Wilshire Blvd during the construction of the Petersen.

Screenwall at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Underneath the Roof of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Structural Steel

A new structural steel exoskeleton was needed to carry the loads from the red corrugated rainscreen as well as the cantilevered stainless steel ribbons which arch over the rooftop to provide shading for a private event space.

Working with the designers’ 3D models, Zahner’s team of engineers developed a series of tree-like forms in structural steel to support the ZEPPS Ribbon assemblies. The structural steel skeleton was inspired by hot rod manifolds to serve the dual purpose of providing aesthetic cohesiveness as well as functional support for cantilevered elements of the design. The structural ‘trees’ support the ribbons that flow over the roof area, as well as the Fairfax Ave ground level ribbons.

The ZEPPS ribbons required custom curved structural steel within each unit. Zahner mapped out each curved radius using the 3D model, allowing for fabrication in the shop to be handled quickly and precisely.

Custom Corrugated Aluminum

Painted aluminum acts as the backdrop for the stainless steel ZEPPS forms, echoing the concept of a sports car in bright red intensity. The aluminum was completely custom, and unlike any standard corrugated pattern. The corrugated profile formed an exact 90 degree angle, versus the typical sine wave that is commonly seen in corrugated metals.

To accommodate for the custom nature of this design element, Zahner formed each of the corrugated panels in house, utilizing a custom die within the press brake.

ImageWall Screenwall for the Petersen Parking Enclosure

As a continuation of the stainless steel ribbons, the design team also selected a painted red aluminum ImageWall for the Museum’s Parking Garage. Using Zahner’s patented technology, ImageWall uses perforated holes to map an image across multiple panels. In this case, the image provides cohesiveness, and ties the parking garage in with the larger facade.

ImageWall Screenwall enclosing the Parking Structure of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Detail of the screenwall facade of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Parking Structure Screenwall at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Oakley Headquarters

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Corporate, Flagship, Workplace Los Angeles--California Langdon Wilson, Oakley, One Icon Design Colin Baden L, XL /by cmorris

Oakley Headquarters & Technical Center

The project features a blackened steel interior metalwork throughout, a spun aluminum architectural motif exterior, and a terne-coated stainless steel roof. The custom fabricated metal cladding was created from cold rolled steel plates and cast steel ‘bolt heads’. The Zahner-applied blackened metal finish produced an artistic, aged steel appearance.

Designed by Oakley director of design Colin Baden with Langdon Wilson Architecture, the headquarters and technical center was completed in multiple scopes. The project first began in 1997 and was completed in 1998. Years later the company would come back for additional scope, producing the Oakley reception desk in the same aesthetic.

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This wasn't Zahner's first collaboration with Oakley. In the late 1990's Zahner's engineered metal-fabricated systems were used the facade and interiors of the Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Interior and reception desk at Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

Interior metal at Oakley Headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California.

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Friend of Ridley Scott, Oakley CEO Jim Jannard wanted to recreate the atmosphere of Blade Runner for his California office … The result is spectacular.

Strategies MagazineNone.

Oakley Headquarters desk and interior metalwork.

Zahner Fabricator assembles the sections of the Oakley HQ Desk.

Oakley Headquarters entrance during construction.

Oakley Headquarter entrance upon completion.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Museum Charlotte--North Carolina Pei Cobb Freed Silver L, XL 2010 /by cmorris

NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina

A twisting stainless steel ribbon races around the perimeter of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zahner was brought into the project to build the structural form which wraps its facade. The building opened in May 2010, and it serves as a sprawling museum dedicated to racing and NASCAR history.

The building’s design was lead by architect Pei, Cobb, Freed. The firm envisioned a möbius strip-styled stainless steel roadway racing around the perimeter of the main building. The design of a möbius entails the concept of infinity, indicating a sort of infinite path for racing.

To create the building’s möbius required the design of a unique curvilinear shape. To produce this, Zahner engineers implemented the ZEPPS, the Zahner system for building unique architectural forms. Using ZEPPS enabled the architects to design and manufacture the building’s facade efficiently and within budget. It also enabled simple and straight-forward construction of an otherwise immensely complex shape.

The möbius is clad in Angel Hair stainless steel, a product developed by Zahner to reduce the glare and bright spots while providing a satin finish. Even in bright sunlight, the surface has significantly less glare than mill finishes on stainless steel.

Manufacturing the Unique Facade for NASCAR

The Museum went from design to completion in just over two years. The project’s expedient construction was due to good management by Turner BE&K, as well as a smooth design process.

The design and manufacture of the structural form of the stainless steel was provided by Zahner. Zahner engineers employed a Design Assist method to design the details of the ZEPPS forms.

These ZEPPS forms contain not only the shape and facade, but also electrical, lighting, insulation, and water-proofing. The intelligence of ZEPPS is twofold: you decrease the amount of rigid structural steel which doesn’t like to curve, and you automate aspects of the production of the aluminum forms. In the field, the construction crew receives numbered and pre-assembled parts.

The wall system that makes up the ribbon is constructed from aluminum panels that are approximately 8 foot in width. Wall heights vary with the tallest being in the region of 45 feet. By shipping these forms as preassembled units, the team was able to maximize efficiency in the shop, and maximize efficiency of installing the parts in the field.

“

“Zahner held to our budget, schedule, safety, and quality standards… The ribbon will indeed be the feature remembered by all who visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I highly recommend A. Zahner Company for any project which demands the qualities referenced above.”

Tom BarnettConstruction Manager at BE&K Turner Construction.at

A step-by-step process employed by Zahner included the method of splicing plates into specific dimensions and then joined together. Each panel is individually numbered, so construction knows exactly what spliced plate goes between designated panels.

CAD View of the moebius structure Zahner designed compared with the installed view.

Hanging a single NASCAR Hall of Fame ZEPPS Panel.

Detail of the metalwork also provided on the doors for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

ZEPPS structure that Zahner designed and built for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

MIT Stata Center

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Education Cambridge--Massachusetts Frank Gehry Partners Blue, Yellow XL 2004 /by cmorris

The Ray and Maria Stata Center at MIT, Building 32

Designed for the Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences programs at MIT, Frank Gehry and his architectural team at Gehry Partners envisioned a sprawling academic complex of visually amorphous structures which provide a combination of study and social space for students. The project is comprised of 47 unique elements, using a variety of materials, from brick to glass and architectural metals.

Zahner developed the geometry and cladding the structure with rain screen panels in stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium. As the facade provider, Zahner designed the structural forms to match the designer’s aesthetic, fabricated the forms, skins, and window units, and installed the facade onsite at the Cambridge, Massachusetts campus.

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The performance center was completed in 2003, designed by Frank Gehry Partners. Zahner has been involved with Gehry's firm since the beginning, and has been involved in a number of featured Gehry projects over the years. The Bard College was finished a year after Weatherhead at Case Western, and a year prior to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago. All three were built using Zahner engineering-design, fabrication, and installation.

Designing the Building Envelope for Stata Center

Because of the complex nature of the project, the designers used ZEPPS, Zahner’s structural system for building complex forms. Using ZEPPS allows the engineers to simplify the design into buildable components using 3D fabrication processes. Parts were then assembled either at the Zahner shop or in the field depending on their complexity and ease of shipment.

An onsite team of installers lifted and secured each ZEPPS assembly. In total there were 1,500 individual ZEPPS assemblies manufactured for the project. Each of these assemblies was lifted into place for this project and then surfaced with a metal skin in one of several specified metal surfaces. More than 10,000 individual skins were installed to the surface and roof.

One of the distinct advantages of the ZEPPS is that it allows fully functional window boxes, over six feet in height, to be pre-installed on these panels. For that reason, the system is often described as prefab for custom buildings.

Detail of the flatseam panel system for Stata Center at MIT.

Facade installers in their office at MIT.

Detail CAD comparison of the Giraffe building at MIT Stata Center.

Interior metalwork, mirror-polish stainless steel flatseam panels at MIT.

Mockup for one of the buildings at MIT Stata Center.

Construction comparison of the MIT Stata Center giraffe building.

Aerial photograph of MIT Stata Center during construction.

Sunrise glows over the Pisa building at MIT Stata Center during construction.

Vista building at MIT Stata Center during construction.

Twins building during construction revealing the ZEPPS panel understructure.

The Twins building at MIT, installation detail.

Miami Intermodal Center

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Transportation Miami--Florida Perez & Perez XL 2012 /by cmorris

Metro Rail & Bus Canopy at the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC)

The Miami Intermodal Center is a multi-transit hub serving the Miami Dade International Airport. The transportation project features Zahner manufactured and installed structural forms (ZEPPS) made in aluminum, glass, and stainless steel.

Designed by architects Perez & Perez, the construction team brought Zahner into the project to engineer, fabricate, and install the transit station’s exterior canopy. Zahner worked under Odebrecht of Brazil to produce this extensive project, completed in July 2012. The scope for Zahner includes the metal and glass for the metro rail canopy as well as the adjacent bus canopy.

The most visible aspect of the project is the unique curving train canopy whose window slits glazed-in throughout the whole. The multi-million dollar contract required much of the Zahner fabrication facility for nearly a full year of manufacturing the hundreds of massive ZEPPS assemblies for nearly a year.

Miami Intermodal Center wins Engineering Award

Italian firm Rizzani de Echer fabricated and installed all segmental bridges. The design of the three-level Metrorail station—which features glass fabricated in Colombia—caught the attention of ENR’s judges, with one calling it “visually stunning.” Zahner provided the engineered structure and surface, fabricating and installing the components for the Miami Intermodal Center at the Airport.

Photograph of a train leaving the Miami Intermodal Center.

Miami Intermodal Center metal clad ZEPPS® panels with Angel Hair® Stainless Steel.

Interior metalwork underneath the MIC Canopy.

Zahner used ZEPPS to manufacture prefabricated assemblies which were shipped to Miami. ZEPPS, is a Zahner building system for manufacturing unique forms. The prefab technology streamlines and maximizes efficiency for the construction of any unique design. It also provides flexibility and can be used to manufacture parts with all of the electrical, insulation, water-proofing, and fenestrations contained.

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The Main Canopy is composed of 156 ZEPPS assemblies. Each of these parts were preassembled in the Zahner shop. The semi-typical assemblies measure over forty feet long. The total length of the building is just under five-hundred feet in length.

The ZEPPS assemblies were tested and re-tested in a wind-tunnel at 150PSF to withstand 250MPH winds, or nearly twice that of a category five hurricane. The Miami Intermodal Center is situated just a mile from the airport, which is less than ten miles from the Atlantic ocean, so the potential for a hurricane is real possibility. After the panels were tested, each of the subsequent panels produced were designed and built using these specifications.

Each assembly provides a substrate for the stainless steel skins which provide the final cladding. These are finished with Angel Hair diffuse surfacing, which creates a gentle glow on the metal surface of these canopies.

Zahner shop welder tack-weld components on an assembly for Miami Intermodal Center.

Zahner Shop floor during the production of Miami Intermodal Center

Zahner field operators install the ZEPPS® Assemblies on the adjacent bus canopy.

Liverpool Mexico

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Flagship, Retail & Commerce International, Mexico, Mexico City Rojkind Arquitectos L, XL 2011 /by cmorris

Liverpool Interlomas Flagship Department Store in Mexico City

Liverpool Interlomas Department Store is a commercial mall development designed by Rojkind Arquitectos with a Zahner-engineered and fabricated facade system. The new Liverpool Flagship Store is part of the Paseo Interlomas Mall located in the Interlomas neighborhood of Huixquilucan a suburb of Mexico City.

Zahner was selected by Rojkind Arquitectos to design the Liverpool Interlomas Facade because of Zahner’s proven ability to design and produce complex curvilinear forms. The process was efficient, on-time, and under budget, which is a result of the BIM-informed digital manufacturing process.

“

Even though we had never collaborated with them, Zahner’s credentials and experience clearly indicated that they were the ideal candidate for this project.

The design and fabrication process we went through has been one of the most rewarding collaborations we have had in recent years.

Gerardo Salinas, AIAPartner at.atcategory

Liverpool Interlomas in Mexico City, designed by Rojkind Arquitectos.

DESIGNING THE LIVERPOOL INTERLOMAS FACADE

The architecture firm Rojkind Arquitectos won the competition to design the flagship store for Liverpool in Mexico City. Designed and built in just over a year’s time, the project’s fast-paced process was made possible by digital construction processes and having all contractors and fabricators on-board with the Building Information Model (BIM).

In early 2011, Architect Michel Rojkind and his design team met at the Zahner Headquarters in Kansas City. There they worked to define the details with the Liverpool clients, the installation contractor, the structural engineer, the lighting consultant, and Zahner’s own Design Assist Group. The teams worked together to design-engineer an integrated model, and then agreed on a section of that model to be built as a mockup.

The flagship store was produced to rebrand the chain with a contemporary image for its Mexico City shoppers, in the same way that other flagship stores such as the Neiman Marcus in Natick Massachusetts re-established their contemporary presence using architectural forms.

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Elkus Manfredi Architects designed the facade's undulations with perspective in mind. When travelers drive by, the structure appears animated and kinetic, an effect caused by the way the facade curves in and out. Zahner worked with the architects to design a curving facade panel system that is both aesthetically powerful as well as economically effective.

Rojkind and the Design Team meet at Zahner.

Exploded details of the Liverpool Interlomas ZEPPS Integration.

Liverpool Interlomas full section and skin details.

Detail of the mockup for Liverpool Mexico

Within a matter of weeks, a fully-functional mockup was produced and installed on the Zahner mock-up tower, pictured above. The mockup is a crucial stage of the design process, revealing issues to work out in the final iteration, and helping Zahner engineers and fabricators foresee the more difficult aspects of an upcoming project.

The mockup also assisted other contractors on the job. The installer in Mexico City was able to use the mockup to gain an understanding of how best to assemble and install the final components. Zahner worked with the entire design and ownership team to optimize the fabrication and shipping sequences for efficiency so as to meet the demands of the aggressive construction schedule.

Liverpool Mockup on the Zahner Mockup Tower.

Zahner artisans fabricate the Liverpool ZEPPS Components.

This facade functioned as a design-build project, defined by the Design Assist Group at Zahner. This means that Zahner owned the design of the anchoring and worked with the structural engineer on an integrated design. Using the Design Assist Group also means that from the very onset of the project’s planning stages, a team of intelligent designers and engineers at Zahner were defining the details which would ensure a smooth production and installation process.

After producing the mockup in January 2011, the team made subtle revisions to the project’s 3D model. The Liverpool project then quickly went to operations and fabrication. Code-named Project 7, The Liverpool Project was a fast-paced design, build, and supervised install. In less than a year the project went from drawings and renderings to completion, in November of 2011.

Building with ZEPPS

The Design Assist Group at Zahner used the ZEPPS Process to engineer and produce the massive panels which attach to the building’s structure and provide the uniform surface for the Angel Hair Stainless steel skinned surface.

The ZEPPS Assemblies were fabricated and assembled as complete panels in the Zahner Shop in Kansas City, where they were shipped on trucks to the job site in Mexico City. Building the exterior facade with ZEPPS drastically reduces the construction time because the panels simply bolt to existing connections on the steel structure.

Liverpool Installation and Construction.

Installers meet at the Liverpool Interlomas.

Liverpool Flagship Store nears completion.

The project features a diffused Angel Hair stainless steel material for its exterior an interior cladding. In select areas, the project also features Zahner’s GB-60 Process for bead-blasting stainless steel, and a number of bumped and embossed surfaces can be seen throughout both the interior and exterior surfaces.

Interior metalwork for the Interlomas Store.

Kowloon Station

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Airport, Transportation Asia, Hong Kong TFP Farrells Silver, White L, XL 1998 /by cmorris

Kowloon Station in Hong Kong

Kowloon Station is a rail transit station on the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express of Hong Kong’s MTR. The station provides in-town check-in service for passengers departing from the Hong Kong International Airport, with access to shuttle, bus, train, and other forms of transit.

This station in the Kowloon development in Hong Kong was designed by Farrells (TPP Farrells). The project included a masterplan for the surrounding Union Square, one of the largest air-rights developments in the world. This development included the tallest tower in Hong Kong, the International Commerce Center.

Zahner was brought into the project to provide above-ground exterior metalwork, as well as below-grade metalwork for the station’s interior. This scope includes a Zahner-manufactured aluminum facade, with aluminum and stainless steel interior metalwork. The station was completed in 1998.

Interior metalwork at Kowloon Station, Hong Kong.

Interior painted metal systems, Kowloon Station, Hong Kong.

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Irving Convention Center

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Convention Center, LEED, Parking Structure Dallas--Texas, Irving--Texas, Las Colinas--Texas Beck Group, RMJM Architecture, RMJM Hillier, Studio Hillier Brown, Gold XL 2010 /by cmorris

The Irving Convention Center in Las Colinas

Completed in June of 2010, the project is designed by RMJM + Hillier. The convention center is located in Las Colinas, a master-planned community within the city of Irving, which is itself situated halfway between sister cities Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

The project features a Zahner-engineered and produced copper curtain-wall. The entire surface of the project is custom perforated and bumped with a pattern unique to the building. The surface integrates the ZIRA Process for generating the embossed and punched surface.

The surface was installed as mill-finish copper, which means that the raw ‘red’ copper surface will go through a long process of patination. Within weeks of installation, the project had already begun to darken in areas, and within a year, the whole building had a deep bluish brown patina. This natural process is a result of the temperature, moisture, and pollution in the air, which causes the material to at first darken, and eventually change to greens and blues many years from now.

Achieving LEED Status

In 2013, the Irving Convention Center was awarded LEED Silver status for the built design’s sustainable development. Zahner played a role in ensuring the building’s construction would meet requirements:

From an operational standpoint, the “stacked” building gains efficiencies with its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, translating into a more energy-efficient structure. The vertical plan also meant a smaller footprint of land was needed.
The copper exterior is more than just a design element. The no-maintenance material translates into lower costs for the center, eliminating the need for painting every few years to maintain its appearance.
Perforations in the copper skin also provide an important role for energy efficiency, providing built-in shade while using the natural currents of the wind to create a cushion of cooling air between it and the building, decreasing the need for air-conditioning while in essence, shading itself.
The trusses of the massive 4000-ton steel structure were designed so that they could be sourced domestically; much of the steel came from recycled sources nearby in North Texas and Oklahoma.

Knowing that the pattern would overlap with itself in certain areas, the architects at RMJM Hillier experimented within the bounds of possible perforations to see how two layers of the same material would interact with each other. The result is a smart pattern not unlike the results of moire patterns.

Moire patterns from overlapping perforated metal.

Quatrefoil moire pattern appears in the double-layered perforated metal.

The surfaces above show details of the pattern used and how the frequentoverlaps throughout the project will result in clever patterning. The project was completed in early 2011.

The design is also unique in that at first glance, the material seems impossible. From a medium distance, the metal surface seems to float in space, because the circular shapes are pieced together via slight ‘bridges’ or connecting sections of copper. The effect is that from a near distance, the copper circular sections of the perforation appear to float.