M | Zahner

John Olver Transit Center

John W. Olver Transit Center

The new transit center was designed by Charles Rose Architects and features Zahner’s design-engineering and fabrication of the natural weathering copper facade. The facade includes intricately cut perforations integrated as signage, which continues around the building’s surface as light filtering copper-screen panels designed to weather and age naturally.

The train can be seen above entering the south side of the Franklin Regional Transit Authority, where it currently runs once per day in each direction along the Knowledge Corridor, from Washington D.C. to the border of Canada. The rail improvements allow for trains to travel at speeds of 80MPH.

The building has won six awards: American Architecture Award; The Chicago Athenaeum AIA New England Design Award; North American Copper in Architecture Awards; Society of American Registered Architects / NY Design Excellence Award; The Boston Society of Architects Design Honor Award; and the ACEC 2013 Gold Award.

First train rolls into Greenfield

911 Memorial Overland Park

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Memorial Overland Park--Kansas SFS Architecture Brown, Gold M 2015 /by cmorris

Remember, Educate, and Honor

The 911 Memorial at Overland Park, installed at the entrance to the city’s Fire Training Center, reminds first responders of the ultimate sacrifice their service may demand. The memorial was designed by SFS Architecture and includes artifacts and custom-fabricated bronze and steel artworks provided by Zahner.

A 14-foot, 2.5 ton steel beam from ground zero stands at the memorial’s center. Four bronze panels to beam’s West tell the story of the four downed flights, and a bronze memorial listing the names of those who perished on September 11th sits to the East. A weeping wall fountain, representing survivors, stands to the North while granite tiles pulled from the World Trade Center after the attacks pave the South entrance.

The memorial’s three-fold mission is to remember the victims, educate visitors, and honor the heroism by those who served on September 11th, 2001.

Memorial shows the original I-Beams from the World Trade Center in NYC

The Memorial’s History

In 2009, Overland Park firefighter Trevor Miller and Captain Paul Bishoff submitted an application to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey for a piece of steel from the fallen World Trade Center towers. After learning of the application’s acceptance, more than a dozen companies and individuals volunteered time and resources to build the 9/11 Memorial.

Quill

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Private Art, Sculpture Fayette--Iowa Steven Woodward Blue, Brown, Green M 1995 /by cmorris

Quill Artwork in Fayette, Iowa

Quill is a Steven Woodward artwork which was commissioned by Upper Iowa University and features Zahner art fabrication services. The 15-foot-wide sculpture was crafted in stainless steel, copper and aluminum. The artwork was inspired by the devastating tornado that hit campus in 1971, altering much of the terrain. As such, the artwork’s form takes on that of a cyclone, and is patinated to complement the nearby campus Green Goddess statue.

Quill is the second sculptural collaboration between Zahner and Woodward. The first collaboration, Books of Knowledge, is located at the University of Minnesota.

Related Project

Book Forms

Woodward worked closely with A. Zahner Company to manufacture the two massive metal book sculptures from copper, stainless steel, and weathering steel.

Catalyst Sculpture

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Matthew Dehaemers M 2008 /by cmorris

Catalyst: Kinetic Public Art in Kansas City

Catalyst is a kinetic sculpture in Kansas City by artist Matthew Dehaemers, engineered and produced using Zahner art fabrication services. Located at the intersection of of 31st Street and Troost Avenue, this public artwork was completed in 2010 for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Zahner engineers and artisans worked closely with Dehaemers to engineer, fabricate, and install the artwork. As a kinetic sculpture, the design included moving parts which were modeled digitally by Zahner engineers and the in-house design team. Zahner crafted the sculpture from galvanized steel, laser-etched stainless steel, and aluminum.

The sculpture’s form is inspired by the root of the Dutch word “Troost,” which means to “provide comfort, solace.” Its location on Troost Avenue is further informed by the diverse cultural perspectives of the area. Catalyst represents the past, present, and future of the street corner, which once served as the hub of Kansas City life in the early 20th century. Catalyst was Matt Dehaemers’ second collaboration with Zahner. His first collaboration was completed in 2008 and entitled Seven Sentinels.

Catalyst sculpture in aluminum, galvanized, stainless steel; custom engineering and fabrication for kinetic sculpture.

Catalyst sculpture looping video of its kinetic motion.

Metal fabricated landscape design for the Catalyst sculpture in Kansas City.

“My hope is for “Catalyst” to mean different things to different people as local citizens become stewards of Catalyst and the Troost corridor it represents … The form of sculpture for some may represent the form of a tree, or the abstraction of a spark of light or even yet the dawn of a new day as a sun unfolds its rays of light.” – Matthew Dehaemers

The 30-foot-tall structure stands above the MAX bus stop acting as an artful signal for the arrival and departure of the MAX transits. From far you can see that a bus has just left, or is currently arriving.

Kansas City hybrid buses traveling southbound will trigger Catalyst to unfold its wing-like arm structures. Approximately a minute or two later the arms fold back up awaiting to repeat the gesture minutes later for the next bus. LED lights have been installed and cast brilliant ever changing light across the surface of the structure during the night time, hitting the entire spectrum of color.

Seven Sentinels

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Kinetic Art, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Matthew Dehaemers L, M 2008 /by cmorris

Seven Sentinels artwork in Kansas City

Seven Sentinels is a kinetic artwork and permanent public installation by Matt Dehaemers. Zahner provided engineering, art fabrication, installation for the public artwork, located in Kansas City, Missouri.

The installation consists of seven equidistant, elongated and oversized parking gates. These were manufactured several times the height of a standard parking gate. Each of the seven pieces were engineered to individually automatically open as a kinetic sculpture. As visitors exit the facility, each parking gate rises to salute drivers leaving the New Municipal Vehicle Impound Tow Lot Facility.

Looping animation of the Nerman Museum kinetic light display by artist Leo Villareal.

The moving lights at the Nerman Museum

Learn more about the artwork Microcosm at the Nerman Museum in Overland Park, Kansas.

Seven Sentinels kinetic sculpture made in galvanized steel. Each of the parking gate sculptures salute exiting drivers.

Detail of the kinetic sculpture Seven Sentinels, a public artwork by Matthew Dehaemers.

Seven Sentinels kinetic sculpture. Each of the parking gate sculptures salute exiting drivers.

Related Project

Catalyst Sculpture

The parking gates were each crafted from powder-coated aluminum and galvanized steel. The sculptures react to incoming traffic, lifting their gates as cars pass underneath. The kinetic movement is a reference to soldiers performing a sword ceremony, and as such shows respect to vehicles exiting the lot. Seven Sentinels was completed in 2008. It is the first public artwork collaboration between Dehaemers and Zahner. Dehaemers’ second collaboration with Zahner, Catalyst, was completed in 2010 and stands at the intersection of 31st Street and Troost in Kansas City.

Each gate tower is 16 feet tall and the each gate is 12 feet long. The towers are placed 30 feet apart for a total of 180 feet from end to end. The artwork is made in galvanized steel, with powder-coated aluminum gate bars, parking control mechanisms, concrete, and a surface-mounted loop detector to trigger the artwork’s kinetic movement.

Aerial photograph of the kinetic sculpture entitled Seven Sentinels, a public artwork by Matthew Dehaemers.

Maggie’s Centre

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Healthcare, Hospitality Dundee--United Kingdom, Europe, International Frank Gehry Partners Silver M 2003 /by cmorris

Maggie’s Centre in Dundee, Scotland

Architect Frank Gehry’s first building completed in the United Kingdom, Maggie’s Dundee is a unique building featuring Zahner metalwork. The facility serves cancer patients in Scotland, and provides a caring environment for the patients and families during recovery.

Maggie’s Dundee is among the first of the centers designed and built for Maggie Keswick Jencks, who died of breast cancer in 1995. Jencks dreamed of a place where cancer patients could be treated as human beings, a center built around a kitchen, with books and caring staff. She never lived to see this dream realized. After her passing, her husband, architectural critic Peter Jencks, played a key role in commissioning and advocating the first center in

The Centre in Dundee, Scotland is the third such center. Designed by Frank Gehry Partners, the architect donated his services and the project was completed in 2003. Today there are over a dozen Maggie’s Centres all over the United Kingdom, designed by architects from Zaha Hadid to Daniel Libeskind.

This project involves a labyrinth in the structures front yard, and an elaborately curved stainless steel roof. Zahner donated labor and fabricated the stainless steel roof at cost, which was then shipped to Scotland and installed by local labor. The project was completed in the same year as Bard College, also produced by Frank Gehry Partners with Zahner.

Maggie's Dundee in Scotland, United Kingdom

Trinity Sculpture

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Interior Architecture Sculpture Shawnee Mission--Kansas Dierk Van Keppel Blue, Silver M 2009 /by cmorris

Interior Sculpture for Shawnee Mission Medical Center

A massive interior sculpture adorns the new atrium for Shawnee Mission Medical Center in greater Kansas City, Missouri. Zahner fabricated and installed the large-scale mobile, a metal and glass artwork conceived by Dierk Van Keppel.

The glass fixtures were cast and blown by Rock Cottage Glass, the art-glass studio of Dierk Van Keppel. Entitled Trinity Sculpture, the project was commissioned by the Shawnee Mission Medical Center. The aluminum and stainless steel by Zahner was manufactured by Zahner to encase the inset glass pieces by Keppel.

Related Project

H&R Block Installation

Zahner worked in both an art fabricator capacity, as well as a collaborator to Dierk Van Keppel. Keppel used glass blowing and fusing to create a number of fused glass pieces in flat form.

Guggenheim Canopy

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Exterior Architecture Museum, Public Art New York City Frank Gehry Partners Rose, Yellow M 2001 /by cmorris

Guggenheim Canopy at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Guggenheim Canopy, designed by Frank Gehry Partners, is a Zahner-manufactured installation which was on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City beginning in 2001. The artwork was erected for a Frank Gehry retrospective at the Museum in May-August, 2001. In addition to providing the canopy, Zahner also manufactured a number of mirror-polish stainless steel tables for the rooftop cafe.

The canopy artwork was manufactured using a titanium skin and aluminum structure. The form was made using ZEPPS, the Zahner-patented technology for building sculptural forms. This system was used to build the aluminum structure. The titanium was then clad over the aluminum substrate using a custom flat seam system.

The titanium’s luminescent coloring was made possible by a thick layer of oxide on the metal surface. There are two distinct overlapping forms, and each is colored using a unique color of titanium-cladding made by varying the oxide thicknesses. This oxide process is called interference-coating, and can be used to create a range of iridescent colors on stainless steels and titanium surfaces.

Guggenheim Canopy during its installation at the Guggenheim in NYC.

Detail of the two color tones used on the Guggenheim Canopy.

Guggenheim Canopy during its installation.

Guggenheim Canopy at the Zahner facility in Kansas City.

Structural bones of the Guggenheim Canopy.

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.