M | Zahner

Power & Light Bridge

The Kansas City Power & Light Bridge

While most bridges serve pedestrians or automobiles, the Kansas City Power & Light Bridge provides an electricity conduit. Designed by Helix Architecture + Design, the bridge is a utilitarian truss structure is clad with a perforated blackened zinc skin.

The 165 foot-long utility structure bridges the gap over the interstate highway, connecting the Crossroads Art District with the Power & Light Entertainment District, two of Kansas City’s hubs for arts & entertainment.

Zahner was responsible to the owner, the architect, and the general contractor to design, fabricate, and install an enclosure based upon the drawings, documents, and patterns provided by the architects.

Perforation types and patterns were developed through iterative design with the architect. The architect’s images and aesthetics were maintained during the process by using ZIRA, a patented system developed by Zahner. The patented program was used to translate the architect’s drawings into a series of bumps and perforations, the physical pixels which compose the bridge’s surface imagery.

At dusk, a rolling LED light system fills the bridge with pulsing lights, lasting throughout the evening. This surface interplay with light serves as a metaphor for the bridge’s functional purpose, transporting electricity. The architects at Helix were inspired by the physics of three-phase electrical power whose sine waves are represented by the emitting light through perforations on the cladding. The form of the bridge itself becomes a third sine wave, giving the skin undulations and shadows.

In addition to perforation, the zinc cladding was bumped and dimpled to provide texture and rigidity. These indentations occur at varying depths, representing a field of electrons through which electricity moves.

The exterior system uses Inverted Seam technology, a patented panel system which smoothly connects the 375 unique panels with minimal visible horizontal and vertical joints. The scalloped metal shapes add further visual interest to the solution and the overall composition is further enhanced by its illumination at night.

Pearl Marriott

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Hospitality, LEED Pacific Northwest, Portland--Oregon SERA Architects Gold, Yellow M 2014 /by cmorris

Pearl District Marriott Residence Inn

The Pearl District Marriott Residence Inn, designed by SERA Architects, is a project featuring a bumped and perforated screenwall supplied by Zahner. Named for its neighborhood, the Pearl District is a historic area of Portland. Local businesses liken the urban district’s buildings to oysters, whose hidden ‘pearls’ were the gallery and artists’ spaces contained within — hence the name.

The Pearl District Residence Inn boasts 223 guestrooms in its six story building. A series of custom perforated aluminum panels by Zahner provide privacy screens for the rooms and decorative shading along the front of the façade. These painted yellow screens also add an element of modernity to the surrounding historic warehouse structures, elevating the extended stay hotel from the typical guest experience.

Parametrically Designed Perforation and Embossing

When SERA Architects approached Zahner with their idea for the perforation pattern, it existed as a simple jpeg image of an evanescent starburst shape. Zahner’s team of design engineers used that image to create an algorithmic concept that mathematically defined each perforation. The process uses a customized ImageWall system to perforate imagery on the metal surface, and create subtle variation the building’s screen wall.

Pearl District Residence Inn Marriott in Portland, Oregon.

During the design phase, there was active communication between Zahner and SERA Architects regarding parameters and variables. This exchange of ideas was essential to reach the final design. In order to make the gradation blend in a more nuanced, subtle manner, dithering was applied during the engineering process. Zahner also worked with the designers to create a series of embossed and debossed bumps, which added texture as well as rigidity to the panels. This additional rigidity means that the metal could be specified at a thinner gauge, reducing the material cost for the client.

During this design engineering process, files were exchanged between Zahner and the architects, along with several different iterations of samples. Once the final design was determined, the files went from design engineering into production engineering.

Efficient Installation of Custom Perf Panels

The architects wanted to create seamless connection details with no visible fasteners and clean edges. The system used to achieve this is the Inverted Seam, a patented system developed for this purpose. In addition to the wall panels, Zahner provided vertical aluminum extrusions which provide the support structure. These vertical extrusions have slots so that the aluminum panels lower in and lock into place without any need for additional fasteners. This is a Drop & Lock connection.

Zahner’s locking panels require no additional hardware or attachment methods, making for a straightforward install and no visible fasteners. Each panel was also labeled with a unique code, corresponding to its location on the building. This streamlined process enabled the local installers to position and fasten the panels with ease, reducing the schedule for the client.

One Sun / 34 Moons

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Museum, Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City Steven Holl Architects Walter de Maria Gold M, S 2002 /by cmorris

Walter de Maria’s One Sun, 34 Moons Sculpture

In 2001, Zahner was enlisted to work on the master plan for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The building, designed by Steven Holl Architects, is a massive expansion, and Zahner provided various metalwork throughout the new construction and played a role in the renovations to its existing historic building.

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.

These ‘Moons’ are installed at the bottom of a large reflecting pool in front of the museum’s northern staircase. At the artwork’s center is a golden ‘Sun’ fabricated by Zahner in stainless steel, surfaced with gilded bronze.

One Sun / 34 Moons, by Walter de Maria, 2002.

The artwork is a collaboration in several ways. The artwork features a gilded bronze leaf application developed by Walter de Maria partners American Burnish in New York. The vision of Steven Holl can be seen in how the ‘Moons’ provide natural lighting for the parking garage underneath. Zahner’s expertise can be seen as both the massive engineered form as well as the long-term performance of the architectural metal as art.

For the artwork, Walter de Maria wanted a golden color that would appear bright in almost any light, direction, or shadow. Zahner’s team worked with the artist on various color options, and the textured gilded bronze surface was selected as the best option to meet these constraints.

In creating the form of the ‘Sun’, Zahner was able to apply engineering and fabrication expertise as well as an unparalleled understanding of metallurgy.

Selecting and specifying the construction materials for performance and durability required careful consideration of the engineered details, galvanic corrosion, and pH levels for the reflecting pool and water feature design to prevent moisture from deteriorating the surface.

Steven Holl & the Use of Light: 34 Moons

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Walter de Maria’s sculpture is the way that it integrates into the greater architectural vision of Steven Holl & Chris McVoy. Each of the ’34 Moons’ are actually part of a skylight design used to provide natural light to the parking structure below the surface of the park.

The light temperature of the neon illumination matches that of the moon; the architects’ use of both natural and electric light innovates and plays perfectly into Walter de Maria’s vision of the moon in an almost literal sense.

Photograph of the Walter de Maria artwork at dusk.

Detail of the gilded leaf, Nelson-Atkins, Kansas City.

Oakley Fifth Avenue

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Flagship, Public Art, Storefront New York City Oakley Colin Baden Black, Blue-grey M 2015 /by cmorris

Oakley Fifth Avenue, New York City

Zahner worked with Oakley’s architectural team to create the new Oakley flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The project’s scope included the development of a geometric facade with no visible fasteners, which could be installed on a 100-year-old building across one of the busiest streets in New York.

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.

For the Oakley Flagship at Fifth Avenue, the company’s unique ”Mad Science“ aesthetic shows through as a massive black geometric facade and canopy system for their latest retail experience.

Related Project

Oakley Headquarters

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.

Details of Oakley Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Developing the Design for the Oakley Flagship on Fifth Ave

One of the design challenges for this project, was that the client didn’t want to show or see any fasteners on the surface of the system. Zahner engineers and fabricators rose to the challenge, providing a connectionless facade.

The aluminum skin used Radius Reduction technology to create the geometric forms. These angular forms were v-notched using a custom milling system developed by Zahner for making a v-groove on unique panels. On this system, each of the holes were cut, as well as the perimeter shape for the forms. Each panel had ten to fifteen skins in 3/16″ aluminum, with 3/4″ steel structure. The finished surface was painted with acrylic polyurethane coating system, spray-applied with Matthews System paint. The design has 8″ between the panels.

Architect's renderings of the Oakley Facade for Fifth Avenue Flagship.

The existing building is more than 100 years old, which created unique hurdles for attaching a heavy load. Zahner project team coordinated steel, and coordinated the site, for three months while developing the model. During this process, the design team discovered code changes providing additional challenges. The offset couldn’t go more than 18 inches off of the building. Some of the pieces were canopies, so there were limitations on how far off the building it could go.

As part of the project’s Design Assist phase I, a mockup was made of the design. This mockup was displayed in Kansas City for the clients, which provided valuable feedback for the fabrication of the final product.

Mockup at Zahner in Kansas City for the Oakley Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Aluminum profiles with notches cut for clips.

Making the most efficient installation possible.

The large elements were to be hoisted on one of the busiest avenues in Manhattan. So providing The design was essentially three sections: the steel structure, the aluminum clip, and then the aluminum skin. The clip had all the intelligence. As such it is a very smart object. The connection between steel and aluminum facade, is a clip connection.

There is no mechanical connection operation required in the field. The skin drove the geometry, and the structure followed the skin, and then clip was the intermediate. Zahner made notches in the steel, and small cut-outs in the skin for the clip system. There were 100’s of clip types, and 1000’s of clips in total. Each panel had a spreadsheet, and there were columns in the spreadsheet that had. Zahner engineers call this process powercopies. A powercopy is a reusable parametric modeled component. The end result is a face with no face fasteners. Invisible plug welds were used on the front, and rivets on the back.

Zahner strung conduit for the sign and lighting. The signs were placed on the sculptural form before being shipped out. On-site, the final wiring was simply making a connection. The project was installed on site in a matter of days.

Installers lift the Oakley panel on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Point Pavilion

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Performance Center, Public Art, Sculpture Charleston--South Carolina BNIM Gold, Grey M 2004 /by cmorris

North Charleston Point Pavilion in North Charleston

The Point Pavilion at Riverfront Park in North Charleston, South Carolina is a fast-track work of public art designed by the architects at BNIM. Zahner design-engineered as well as fabricated and installed the entire system. This scope included the metal screens and hanging apparatus as well as the structural steel members which frame the artwork’s shape.

The client’s team used the Design Assist build method, meaning that Zahner played a collaborative role in the design’s development to reduce costs and improve the design’s efficiency and ease of construction. To facilitate structural analysis and fabrication constraints, Zahner developed a Building Information Model (BIM) which served as the entire project team’s BIM function for the duration of the project.

The main structure is made of 12” diameter galvanized steel pipe, rolled to a constant radius and cut to exact compound angles. The 3D model was utilized to produce templates of each cut. The welded frames were hot dipped galvanized post fabrication.

7/8” galvanized wire rope was strung between each frame to serve as a support for the perforated aluminum shading panels. The 3/16” aluminum panels were punched to a custom pattern as defined by the architect using custom perforation to reflect woven baskets that are indigenous to the region.

From initial concept to completed erection, the process took a total of six months. The entire process was streamlined to provide the maximum value to the client and to meet the project budget and schedule.

Detail of the Noisette metal panel system in North Charleston, SC.

Live performance at the Noisette Pavilion after completion.

Zahner's Tony Birchler and Wallace Engineering's Steve Huey test the structural load of the individual perforated panel mockup.

Weld inspection of the steel structure at Zahner headquarters in Kansas City.

Detail of the perforated aluminum plates on Noisette.

View of the shadows created by perforations from the aluminum panels overhead.

Structure of Noisette Pavilion, also designed-engineered and fabricated by Zahner.

Construction of Noisette as it nears completion.

View of the sky through Noisette's perforated aluminum panels.

Awards and Recognition

2005 — IPA Award for outstanding perforated metal
2006 — Illuminating Engineering Society of North America – International Illuminations Design Awards, Capital Section Award
2005 — AIA Young Architect’s Forum – Monsters of Design, Merit Award

Nissan Styling Studio

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Automotive Farmington Hills--Michigan Luce et Studio Silver M 2005 /by cmorris

Nissan Styling Studio and Technology Center

Nissan Design America commissioned Luce et Studio to design an elegant courtyard for the Nissan Design Group, where the company’s design team could privately showcase its new technologies and concept cars. Zahner worked with partners Wallace Engineering and Turner Construction to produce the courtyard for the campus.

Completed in 2005, the Nissan Styling Studio features a double layered perforated metal skin which has an offset spiral, 30 feet into the sky. The perforated screen allows light to enter while preventing viewers from peering in from the outside. This was a key aspect of the design, because the courtyard was used to display concept cars that weren’t yet available to the public. The oval shaped space at the Farmington Hills Facility is known as ‘The Egg,’ an exterior courtyard where final prototypes could be viewed in natural daylight.

Nissan Styling Studio and Technology Center.

Nissan Studio, generating a unique architectural moire at Dusk.

Photograph of the Nissan Egg during a heavy snow.

Interior metalwork for the Nissan Design Studio in Michigan.

Developing the Moiré Design as an Architectural Feature

As part of the project’s design development, Zahner produced a mockup for the architects at Luce et Studio. The mockup was manufactured and displayed at the Zahner HQ in Kansas City.

Nissan Styling Studio mockup at Zahner Headquarters in Kansas City.

Nike Scottsdale

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Flagship, Retail & Commerce Scottsdsale--Arizona TVA Architects Blue-grey M 2013 /by cmorris

Nike Scottsdale, Arizona — Concept Store

In early 2013, Zahner began working with Nike to produce a series of concept and flagship stores for several cities in North America, starting with an innovative store in Scottsdale, Arizona. The new stores, designed by TVA Architects in Portland, represent a shift for Nike towards a new immersive branded store.

The design build process for this project is among the fastest that Zahner has been a part of to date. The entire design, fabrication, and installation process was completed within the span of a single month at a cost below what the client had estimated.

Perfectly Perforated

Over the early 1990's, patterned usage of perforated metal began to appear. At the time, the pattern were limited by programming. It wasn't until the early two-thousands, when Herzog & de Meuron designed the de Young Museum, that perforated metal would truly enter into its own.

The Nike store in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Note the water misters used to cool visitors).

Detail view of the Nike store in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Sideview of the Nike flagship store in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Detail of the metal panel system used for Nike Scottsdale.

Meeting the Architect’s Vision

When the Nike/TVA design team first approached Zahner, they had already produced a fiberboard model of the desired surface and envisioned the facade as a durable architectural metal panel. Nike’s design emulated a pattern found on the soles of their shoes. They could reproduce the surface in rubber and plastics, but didn’t have a way of fabricating the surface in metal.

The architect's model, used to prototype the metal surface.

The model was sent to Zahner’s Design Assist Group, a team of engineers, shop artisans, and designers. The Design Assist Group serves as Zahner’s think tank for approaching complex and unique designs. The team worked quickly to determine what systems could work and developed a solution that made creative use of several existing technologies in the Zahner factory.

The resulting product was an embossed, perforated, and folded surface – a highly intricate and completely custom metal facade.

The Zahner-prototyped mockup, produced in aluminum.

View of the historic and current Nike logos on the Scottsdale store.

Improving the quality, reducing the cost.

Zahner’s design team begins with an idea that seems complex or unfeasible, and they simplify the process to reduce the unknown and eliminate the unnecessary. The result is an intelligently engineered product that saves time and cost for the client.

The installation process was also simplified by Zahner. Each panel was unitized and fabricated as a simple Drop and Lock™ system, so that the installers could efficiently install the panels. Because the surface is being installed on additional stores, it made sense to unitize and engineer these panels to reduce the margin for error and make the best use of field time.

Consistency and streamlining the installation process make it feasible for Nike stores to implement these facades in various other locations, giving room for the project to expand along with the planning of the upcoming Nike stores. The first store opened in Scottsdale, Arizona (February 2013). Similar stores with Zahner facades are being implemented in two more locations: Atlanta, Georgia (June 2013) and Cleveland, Ohio. (August 2013).

Overall view of the Nike store in Scottsdale, Arizona.

New World Symphony

August 15, 2016/in Interior Architecture Performance Center Miami--Florida Frank Gehry Partners Blue, Green M /by cmorris

New World Symphony Bar Canopy

Designed by Frank Gehry Partners for the New World Symphony Orchestra, Gehry’s office was brought in by the client for their past work on musical venues such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles for which Zahner provided Design Assist consultation.

The New World Center signified a transition for Gehry’s firm. While elements of his signature style can be found in various elements throughout, around, and even on top of the new building, the structure itself is simple.

Zahner’s involvement with the New World Symphony is particular to a architectural metal accent in the atrium of the new building. Zahner used a similar interference metal surface on projects such as Antoine Predock’s Tampa Museum of Science and Industry or Frank Gehry’s Experience Music Project.

However, neither of these projects has quite the blue-green tonality of the architectural canopy produced for the New World Symphony. This is because the material selected for the project is an unusual architectural metal. The project’s interior canopy is made in titanium, a surface which is known for both its expense, and its difficult workability.

Related Surface

New World Symphony

Creating the Curves of the New World Symphony Bar

This iridescent canopy presents a good example of how ZEPPS can be used to construct smaller architectural elements as well as art and sculpture. ZEPPS enables quick installation because the entire project is pre-engineered for smart installation, and it also provides the architects and artists with a digital model, allowing changes to be made via international conference meetings on the internet.

The New World Symphony Bar Canopy was broken down into buildable sections. Each of these sections is a ZEPPS Assembly, and these sections were small enough that installers could handle assemblies without the use of cranes.

Each of the ZEPPS assemblies was built and pre-connected in the Zahner shop. The ZEPPS forms are pre-skinned with an aluminum sub-surface, and then finished with Titanium skins and sealed in plastic to protect the surface from fingerprints.

CAD Image showing the totality of the bar canopy, viewed from above. ZEPPS&trades; Assembly sub-structure.

Fabricator in the Zahner shop grinds aligns ZEPPS® Panels.

Pre-assembled canopy, prior to skinning the titanium surface.

Two ZEPPS assemblies await installation.

Installing the New World Symphony Bar Canopy

The entire bar was pre-assembled at Zahner to test the connections and fit the blue-titanium skin surface. Then the ZEPPS assemblies where separated, packaged, and shipped to the New World Symphony Center construction site in Miami, Florida.

Related System

New World Symphony

The ZEPPS assemblies were designed to be small enough that interior installers could manage each section without the use of cranes. These assemblies are also lightweight due to the aluminum construction.

Zahner installers ensure the wiring is prepared for light fixtures.

New World Symphony Bar detail of irridescent titanium surface.

Zahner installers finish the titanium edges.

Detail of the finished titanium surface.

After installing the panels, field operators finish edges and connect gaps with additional smaller ZEPPS assemblies with the titanium skins.

Although Zahner was only involved in creating the interior metalwork, one of the most intriguing aspects of the symphony hall is the ongoing outdoor wallcasts, projected videos of performances for the general public. These outdoor events are free to the public, and have created a sense of community among Miami residents.

Murphysboro Sculpture

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Murphysboro--Illinois John Medwedeff Silver M 2010 /by cmorris

Carl Lee Park Pavilion and Bandshell in Murphysboro

The Carl Lee Park Pavilion and Bandshell is a sculptural form which features Zahner manufacturing and engineering technologies. Designed by artist John Medwedeff, this public art project is located at the town center of Murphysboro, Illinois. The project was completed in 2010, and measures 35′ long. The artwork provides a small amphitheater for the town’s public park where musicians perform outdoor concerts.

The project uses the same ZEPPS technology that Zahner developed on such buildings designed by Frank Gehry Partners and Randall Stout. These building designs required metal to curve and twist, all the while remaining highly accurate from edge to edge. Using ZEPPS, the patented technology for building unique forms, Zahner was able to design and manufacture the curvilinear framework for the Murphsyboro Bandshell.

Related System

Murphysboro Sculpture

Murphysboro Town Park Pavilion and Bandshell by John Medwedeff

Fabricating Public Art using a Digital Model

The Design Assist Team modeled the project using the artist’s maquette as reference. Zahner scanned the artist’s model and developed an art fabrication plan for the sculpture. The model’s design details were further developed by Zahner engineers, dividing the model into several buildable subsections.

These subsections were then fabricated at the Zahner shop, and shipped to the job site. There the installers connected the frameworks, and secured the stainless steel skins to the aluminum substrate.

By using digital processes, Zahner was able to closely match the artist’s original model, and produce a large-scale version in aluminum substructure with stainless steel sheeting.

Zahner used an Angel Hair stainless steel surface for its cladding, which was secured to the ZEPPS framework during installation by Zahner field crew.

Digital model for the Town Park Pavilion and Bandshell by John Medwedeff

Zahner installation crew installs the fabricated ZEPPS components for the Medwedeff sculpture

The final artwork is an exacting fabrication of its digital model.

Morphosis Exhibit

August 15, 2016/in Interior Architecture Exhibit, Museum Paris--France Morphosis M 2006 /by cmorris

Morphosis Exhibit at Centre Pompidou

On display from March through July 2006, a sweeping exhibit entitled ‘Continuities of the Incomplete’ was displayed at the acclaimed Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.

The exhibition includes designs by Morphosis and features a Zahner-manufactured aluminum/glass floor and custom guardrail system. Zahner was brought into the project to produce the complex metal system which encases the glass floor as an exportable aluminum and glass system.

The design’s inclining floor encases a series of models, videos, and the entire thought-process of the architects at Morphosis and it’s founder, Thom Mayne. The structural raised floor begins at ground level and gradually raises to two feet. The structure was engineered to withstand the hundreds of people who would traffic the show.

Raised glass flooring with slow-pitch at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Video screens show Thom Mayne of Morphosis underneath the glass flooring.

Visitors walk across the raised glass floor in custom shoe-covers.

Various exhibit materials displayed underneath the raised floor.

The custom engineered fin structure was designed and produced by a small group of engineers, and the entire floor was shipped to France where it was installed, without ever pre-assembling it in the Zahner facility in Kansas City. Upon delivery in France, the same engineers who designed the structure also erected it, and the aluminum floor came together seamlessly.

Zahner has worked with Morphosis on a number of project. In Oregon, Zahner produced the stainless roof and wall panels on the Eugene Federal Courthouse; in New York City, Zahner provided the custom perforated stainless steel facade for the Cooper Union New Academic Building. See all of the projects completed by Zahner for Morphosis.

DESIGNING AND EXPORTING THE ALUMINUM AND GLASS FLOOR ASSEMBLY

The Morphosis Exhibit in Paris includes a structural raised aluminum and glass floor. The system is on a slow incline, which begins at ground level and gradually raises to two feet. The structure was engineered to withstand the hundreds of people who would traffic the show.

Zahner engineers worked closely with the Morphosis design team to craft a system which would support the weight and provide ease of assembly for the non-technical install team in Paris.

In Kansas City at the Zahner facility, a mockup was erected, which provided insight into the system and confidence in the design plan. The custom engineered fin structure was manufactured as parts, and a small group of engineers installed the project France. The system was entirely built in a digital model and shipped without ever pre-assembling it in the Kansas City facility. There in France, the same engineers who designed the structure also erected it, and the aluminum floor came together seamlessly.