Highrise | Zahner

174 North Eleventh

July 27, 2017/in Exterior Architecture Highrise, Renovation, Residential Brooklyn--New York, New York City Kutnicki Bernstein Architects Green M 2017 /by cmorris

178 North Eleventh is mixed-use residential renovation designed by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects. The building features an antique patina on copper sheets provided by Zahner.

The seven-story building is a former button factory and manufacturing warehouse, developed by Great Point Properties to serve the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The building’s facade is divided between two distinct blocks of various sized blue-green copper panels produced on Star Blue copper, a standard antiqued copper patina developed by Zahner.

Related Project

Daeyang Gallery

The firm has developed a growing number of works with Zahner, starting with the the Studio Libeskind-designed Contemporary Jewish Museum in which WRNS served as Architect of Record. Since then, Zahner has worked with WRNS on a number of projects, develop their unique design concepts into custom architectural systems, featured below.

Facade for 178 North Eleventh with antique copper patina in Brooklyn, New York.

Detail of the custom facade for 178 North Eleventh with antique copper patina in Brooklyn, New York.

Detail of the antique copper patina in Brooklyn, New York.

1401 Lawrence

June 2, 2017/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Highrise, LEED, Parking Structure Denver--Colorado Beck Group Brown, Gold, Orange L 2016 /by cmorris

ne1401 Lawrence in Denver, Colorado

1401 Lawrence is a Beck Group-designed building which features a Zahner-manufactured entry screen facade as well as an interior perforated art wall made using ImageWall by Zahner. The screenwall serves as a natural ventilation surface for the residential tower’s above ground parking.

The new highrise is located in the heart of downtown Denver. The design integrates the historic fabric of Denver’s LoDo district with a refined and contemporary facade. The project is pursuing LEED Gold certification. The building’s exterior entrances are framed by a custom perforated metal manufactured by Zahner. Beck Group has worked with Zahner on a number of projects which require curvilinear forms and perforated metal, including the Harim Headquarters in Seoul and the Irving Convention Center in Dallas.

Related Project

Harim Tower

The Harim Group wanted its new corporate headquarters to reflect its focus on sustainability and caring for its employees and the public. Beck provided a unique design solution which introduced 86,000 SF of mid-rise office tower on a small but high-value site. The project includes a boardroom for Harim Group, high-end restaurants, and a café in addition to a range of office spaces.

Detail of the perforated and corrugated metal surface at 1401 Lawrence.

Interior perforated metal at the front desk for 1401 Lawrence.

Elevation showing the perforated metal soffit entrance at the 1401 Lawrence building.

Detail of the perforated and corrugated metal surface.

Two perforated metal entry facades for the 1401 Lawrence tower in Denver.

The building is a winner of the Design-Build Institute of America’s National Award of Merit in the Commercial Building Category and the NAIOP Colorado Office Development of the Year Award.

Waiea at Ward Village

March 20, 2017/in Exterior Architecture Highrise, LEED, Parking Structure Hawaii, Honolulu--Hawaii James KM Cheng Architects, WCIT Architecture L 2017 Related Work /by cmorris

Waiea Tower Parking Structure at Ward Village, Honolulu

Waiea is a residential tower and parking garage located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The building is designed by James KM Cheng Architect with WCIT and includes a Zahner-manufactured parking structure facade clad in custom perforated metal.

The design for Waiea is part of the Ward Village development in Kaka‘ako, a commercial and residential district in Honolulu. Waiea is among the first of several building projects that are redeveloping the 60 acres included in the Ward Village Masterplan. The development includes designs led by Richard Meier, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Solomon Cordwell Buenz and AC Martin.

“Waiea,” which translates to “water of life,” is located on an existing surface parking lot makai (ocean side) of the existing Ward Entertainment Complex and represents the only immediate development opportunity along Ala Moana Boulevard within the approved Masterplan that would not impact or force relocation of existing tenants.

Related System

Waiea at Ward Village

Waiea building parking structure facade in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Waiea tower and building parking structure facade in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The parking garage design uses ImageWall, a Zahner patented system for creating perforated metal. The designers developed a wave motif using the system, creating a perforated metal facade which pictures a wave across its surface. This motif is used throughout the building’s design, and repeated with the tower’s complex undulating glass facade.

The fabrication design also includes a custom embossed bump pattern across the surface. These indentations across the surface create both an appealing aesthetic as well as a rigidizing effect on the metal surface.

The building’s neighborhood of Kaka’ako has a deep history. It overlays elements of wahi pana (storied places), allowing the Waiea design to draw inspiration from time and place. Its design infuses cultural ideals and relationships between the ‘āina (land) and kānaka (people). The building introduces the stories of Hawaiian fishing gods Kū‘ulakai and his son ‘Ai‘ai, along with the genealogy of Kaka‘ako is woven throughout the building’s design. Its most prominent design feature is its sweeping glass facade. It is inspired by the essential life-giving role of water in Kaka‘ako’s landscape and the fishing nets used for sustenance by Hawaiians of both yesterday and today.

Detail of the Waiea facade panel hardware.

Larger perforation for ventilation hardware.

Block 21 Hotel

January 16, 2017/in Exterior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Highrise, Hospitality, LEED Austin--Texas Andersson-Wise Architects Brown M 2014 /by cmorris

Block 21 W Hotel and Residences

The W Hotel and Residences complex is a new centerpiece for the city, occupying a prime location in the skyline framing Austin City Hall and Lady Bird Lake. The design by Andersson-Wise Architects includes a covered entry clad in Solanum Steel, a preweathered steel manufactured by Zahner.

The multi-use project includes Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater, a 2700-person-capacity live music venue and recording studio for the venerable PBS television production. The complex has truly activated this part of downtown Austin while adding a new dimension to the city’s musical culture.

Conceived to set a higher standard for environmentally engaged design in Austin, the development has received Silver LEED certification and will be the largest building in the Central Texas region with this certification, and the only one that is mixed-use.

Block 21 Hotel and Residences in Austin, Texas.

A restrained presence is a key component of the entire complex. Massing and scale make a strong connection to the neighboring buildings, especially to City Hall, which is immediately to the south. At the street level, open air spaces invite gathering and access from Austin’s Second Street District, a growing urban neighborhood.

A landscaped public plaza on the southeast corner opens to cooling breezes off Lady Bird Lake and bridges to the W’s outdoor bar and restaurant, Trace. An adjoining open loggia provides a shaded passage from Lavaca Street to the hotel entrance.

Scratches to metal surface will self-heal as part of the Solanum Steel alloy's weathering properties.

Gulch Crossing

January 4, 2017/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Highrise, LEED, Retail & Commerce Nashville--Tennessee Earl Swensson Associates Brown, Violet S 2015 /by cmorris

Gulch Crossing Development in Nashville, Tennessee

In a design by Earl Swensson Associates (ESa), the Gulch Crossing development features Zahner patinated weathering steel in both its interior and exterior spaces. The dark patina on the weathering steel surface frames the building’s wood canopy, and provides a backdrop for the water feature at its entrance.

To produce the interior and exterior steel, the A588 alloy weathering steel was processed by Zahner with a custom patina process. This Solanum Steel process yielded 3000 ft² of 3mm weathering steel with the Solanum Steel patina, which was supplied to John W McDougall, Metal Fabricators. The Nashville-based company completed the metalwork and installation.

The site sits between a popular restaurant, retail, and entertainment district and a rail yard that was once the place where visitors first arrived to the city, standing where the rail lines shift direction to reconcile with the city grid. The rail line expression is reinforced with a linear infinity edge fountain running the length of the 100’ weathered steel and wood “boxcar” frame that extends beyond the building to create a sheltered outdoor plaza.

Interior weathering steel wall panels for the service desk at Gulch Crossing.

Weathering steel canopy for Gulch Crossing in Nashville.

Weathering steel and wood canopy crosses into the interior space.

Gulch Crossing provides a high walkability score, an uncommon feature for similar mid-rise buildings.

Weathering steel water feature backdrop for the Gulch Crossing entrance.

Weathering steel at sunset for the Gulch Crossing canopy.

Harim Tower

January 4, 2017/in Exterior Architecture Corporate, Highrise Asia, International, Seoul--South Korea Beck Group Silver XL 2016 /by cmorris

Harim Group Headquarters in Seoul, Korea

Harim Tower in Gangnam, Seoul is the Beck Group-designed headquarters for the Harim Group company. The building features a Zahner engineered cladding system and custom bumped and perforated stainless steel throughout the interior and exterior.

To reduce Korea’s high energy cost and to enhance the indoor air quality, Beck designed an operable window system for natural ventilation, high performance Low-E coated windows, LED light fixtures, building automation system, green roof, rainwater harvesting system and underfloor air distribution system.

Harim Group Headquarters entrance has a curving stainless steel facade system made by Zahner.

Curved metal facade of Harim Group Headquarters in Seoul.

Curved metal 'S' shape facade of the Harim facade in stainless steel.

Making the Curved Metal Facade for Harim Group Headquarters

Working under Mijie Industrial Company, Zahner developed a custom ZEPPS feature to produce an ‘S’ shaped recess in the building’s facade. ZEPPS is the Zahner system for developing unique forms and curvatures in metal. The ‘S’ shape for Harim Tower provides a unique aesthetic and design signature for the corporate headquarters. This recessed shape also creates a low pressure zone, facilitating natural ventilation on each of the floors.

The metal system Zahner provided was developed with a deep recess cavity for the lighting system. Zahner engineers introduced a modified ZEPPS hardware component which extended the panels 14″ from the building’ surface while retaining the precision curves.

Working with Well-Light, a Korean lighting design consultant, the team installed more than 10,000 LED lights of 4,000k color temperature which show through the building’s millions of perforations. “We tested several different color temperatures,” says Jay Chung, Director of Korea Operations at Beck Group. ”When we tried 3,000k color temperature lights it looked like the building was on fire. The 4,000k lights ended up giving us the perfect light. Plus they’re energy efficient.”

Detail of the curved stainless steel facade with custom perforated emboss panels.

Detail of the custom perforated emboss used to bump and perf the stainless steel facade.

Carmen’s Garden

December 30, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Highrise, Residential Asia, Hong Kong, International RMJM Architecture S 1998 /by cmorris

Carmen’s Garden residential towers in Hong Kong

Working with Eton Properties and RMJM Hong Kong Limited, Zahner provided a custom laser-cut stainless steel feature wall for Carmen’s Garden residences in Hong Kong. Built in 1997, the building complex consists of 3 residential towers housing a total of 190 units.

Zahner provided the art features at the building’s ground level. These custom stainless steel details were developed for the exterior garden and interior courtyard. Located on the Kowloon peninsula in Hong Kong, the artwork was developed to provide an artistic backdrop for the residence entry.

Rather than decorate a monotonous concrete wall, RMJM saw an opportunity to create a streetscape urban sculpture related to the landscaped quality of the surroundings. The design started as an abstract drawing of a tree inspired by Chinese paper-cutting. It developed into a 5 meter high pierced screen of stainless steel.

The artwork serves as a screen to protect the MEP machinery behind and intensifies the effect of the planting in front. The outer layer has a hairline brushed finish, and the inner layer has a mirror finish which reflects the exterior layer of stainless steel. This created the impression of multiple recessive planes. — Details of Architecture

Related System

Perforated Metal

Perforated metal has a long history in industrial use, but a fairly recent history in architectural applications. Zahner has been at the forefront of custom perforated metal since the earliest projects were made in the twentieth century.

Hong Kong art wall at Carmen's Garden residences in Hong Kong.

Photograph at night of the stainless steel art wall at Carmen's Garden in Hong Kong.

Detail of the custom laser-cut stainless steel panels at Carmen's Garden.

Ground-level art wall at the Carmen's Garden residences.

120 North LaSalle

December 14, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Interior Architecture Highrise, LEED Chicago--Illinois Murphy-Jahn Architects Gold M 1992 /by cmorris

muntz metal details in Chicago, Illinois

The high-rise at 120 North LaSalle was designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects and is LEED Gold® certified. Zahner provided exterior signage with an integrated lighting sconce in muntz metal to highlight the building’s address, entryway, and mosaic mural by Roger Brown.

Additional ceiling system elements, also created in muntz, were installed within the building interior. Paul Gapp of the Chicago Tribune, profiled the project, lauding the building’s unique design solutions:

“Helmut Jahn`s newest Chicago building at 120 N. LaSalle St. is a robust example of how good architecture can spring from the solution of difficult if prosaic problems.”

Muntz Metal signage at the entrance of 120 North LaSalle

Detail of the entry Muntz Metal architectural features

View upward of the mural and Muntz Metal architectural features

200 Eleventh

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Highrise New York City Selldorf Architects Brown, Silver L 2010 /by cmorris

200 Eleventh Avenue in Chelsea

The 19-story building is supported by a 3-story plinth which serves as a base for the 16 stories above it. This base’s material palette and massing (terracotta cladding and blackened steel window frames) is in harmony with the surrounding industrial buildings, and also serves to set the tone for the less subtle forms on the tower.

The tower’s design sensibility builds on the aesthetics of the neighboring areas. Architect Annabelle Selldorf pointed out in an Arch Record interview that “The streetscape is already starting to get lost among glass high-rises.” Instead of designing a building which challenges the neighborhood’s character, the architect developed a style which enhances the surrounding architectural style with an update.

The architects wanted to create a new kind of living experience by allowing residents in the high-rise to park outside their front doors on their floor. Residents access the car elevator through a driveway at the base of the building. Each car has an electronic pass that opens the elevator and automatically directs the elevator to the appropriate floor. Residents then proceed to their floor and park in their private garage.

The 19-floor residential tower at 200 Eleventh Avenue

Ribbon-like quality of the stainless steel forms at 200 Eleventh Avenue.

Detail of the 200 Eleventh Ave stainless steel facade.

Creating Integrated Architecture with Design Assist

The details of these stainless steel forms were roughly defined during the planning process, so that the finer details could be solidified with Zahner’s Design Assist team. This meant that the design would be fully defined for fabrication in the Zahner plant, and that the details would integrate tightly into the Selldorf design plan.

This kind of collaborative building process is key to the development of smart connections and high-end metalwork. Zahner worked closely with the architects at Selldorf to match their intent while operating within the constraints of the project’s stainless steel construction.

The mockup for the stainless steel metalwork at the Zahner factory in Kansas City.

Zahner welder Kerry Butler with the 200 Eleventh mockup at the Kansas City factory.

Animation shows the design iterations of the stainless steel connection detail.

The 3-frame animation shows the design assist process for the curving form connection, from the original 3D model to the final unitized system that Zahner would produce. The mockup that was produced at the Zahner fabrication facility features this final design connection that was used on the 200 Eleventh Residences. This highly crafted connection is finished with the Angel Hair texture on stainless steel.

W Hollywood

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Highrise, Hospitality, LEED Los Angeles--California Daly Genik, HKS Grey M 2010 /by cmorris

W Hollywood Flagship Hotel and Residences, Rooftop Canopy

One of the earliest completed architectural works which could be described as “generative design”, the rooftop canopy for the W Hollywood flagship was designed by HKS and Daly Genik. The design team’s concept was ahead of its time: the lightweight shingled surface which allows air and light to flow through its surface is both functionally and aesthetically forward-thinking, an aesthetic which became highly visible years after its completion.

Its form evokes the effect of a ruffled skirt, a concept which has become more prevalent since the structure’s completion. The design also provides a cooling effect both for its shade and breeze.

The 15-story award winning building is certified LEED Silver, winning the prestigious Millennium Award. Completed in 2010, the hotel is located in downtown Hollywood in California, an area which is becoming vertically dense with highrise buildings such as the W Hollywood.

Zahner was involved with the Daly Genik-designed curvilinear aluminum and steel canopy on the building’s rooftop garden. The canopy brings thousands of shingled aluminum panels to adorn the curving form which serves as a shade canopy for W Hollywood pool-side guests.

W Hollywood Hotel in CAD

Image © A. Zahner Company.

Architects from Daly Genik examine the mockup at Zahner.

The system borrows components from the ZEPPS process, which informed both the fabrication and installation process for the rooftop cabana. Zahner’s Design Assist team designed the details and engineered the structural canopy. The Design Assist team met with architects from Daly Genik to develop a section of the canopy as a mockup, which was constructed in the Zahner shop in Kansas City.

Architect's Rendering of the W Hollywood Flagship Hotel.

W Hollywood Further Reading

The highlight of the hotel’s rooftop pool area is a curving cabana wrapped in aluminum scales; it was designed by Daly Genik Architects, which also was responsible for the condominium interiors and the striking Douglas fir-lined lobby for the condo tower. Kevin Daly, a founder of the firm, said the W asked him to design the cabana as ‘a Venus’ flytrap for supermodels.

— Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times

Below are links to both external resources, articles, and press, as well as internal links to similar projects and products used in the W Hollywood Flagship Hotel.