Passive Security

Hamptons Beach House

Hamptons Beach House Residence on Long Island, New York

Hamptons Beach House is private residence designed by Aamodt / Plumb which features a protective aluminum plate screen facade fabricated by Zahner. The residence is located on a narrow barrier island on the south shore of Long Island, an hour and a half from Manhattan.

The property is exposed to Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Shinnecock Bay on the other. Extreme coastal weather conditions meant that the design had to reconcile the desire to openly experience the landscape with a real need for protection.

The solution was to create a tough exterior shell with an open, light-filled interior. Intricate shadow patterns, created by water-jet cut metal screens, move through the house as the day unfolds. More than ornament, the screens protect double height windows from hurricane force winds.

Hamptons Beach House residence designed by Aamodt / Plumb

Irving Courtyard

January 5, 2017/in Exterior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Education, Passive Security Kansas City Gastinger Walker Harden Brown, Orange L 2006 /by cmorris

Irving Courtyard Screenwall at Kansas City Art Institute

The Irving Courtyard Screenwall is a large gateway, entry and artwork designed by Gastinger Walker and made by Zahner for the Kansas City Art Institute, completed in 2006. The architecture firm worked with Zahner engineers and fabricators to design, build, and install the sculptural screen which protects the school’s northwest entrance.

The design uses a custom die and unique pattern. Zahner software translated the architect’s pattern into a machine language to custom perforate the panels. The material is a preweathered corten or weathering steel surface.

Related Project

Irving Courtyard

Exterior view of the perforated metal gateway entry for Kansas City Art Institute.

Custom obround die-shapes were used to create the oval perforation patterns in the weathering steel.

The large gate provides a sense of privacy while allowing for open events at the school.

The perforated metal gate motif continues onto the brick wall as an wall-mounted metal artwork.

Washington Elementary

January 4, 2017/in Exterior Architecture Education, Passive Security Sacramento--California HMC Architects Brown, Silver M, S 2016 /by cmorris

Washington Elementary School in Sacramento

Washington Elementary School in Sacramento features a number of unique metal elements manufactured by Zahner using ImageWall for custom perforated metal. Working for Landmark Construction with the designers at HMC Architects, Zahner provided the screens with custom perforated imagery on stainless steel and pre-weathered steel. These screen elements were used to provide passive security and signage while expressing the school’s creativity, science, and technology — marking a new shift towards practicing the STEAM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics).

To establish this new shift in education, Sacramento City Unified School District partnered with city leaders and Principal Dr. Gema Godina-Martinez to envision the transformative shift and redesign of Washington Elementary School. The school pursued a STEAM academic program, becoming a magnet for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math education.

HMC Architects was challenged to redesign classrooms and collaborative learning areas not only to support student-centered learning, but to also influence the culture of the school’s educational experience. The project had a tight schedule. This transformation needed to be completed in less than a year to meet the Fall 2016 grand re-opening.

North entrance with perforated images of

North entrance for Washington Elementary School in Sacramento.

When HMC Architects developed the gate design for Washington Elementary, one of the considerations dictating the design decisions was how to provide security for the elementary school students. The project team employed passive security design measures by developing an open-air security gate which would ensure student’s safety while also promoting a playful STEAM atmosphere.

The architects came up with a creative security solution: the picture perforation pattern is more open at children’s height, while densely perforated at adult heights of 4′ to 6′ — ensuring that young students have greater visibility while adults will have greater difficulty seeing into the open air school commons.

Passive Security in Architecture

If you're designing a building for security, it's important to think about how your design's defenses can be met sustainably — and to also consider how these measures can be achieved without antagonizing its inhabitants.

North screenwall at Washington Elementary.

North screenwall with the Washington Elementary in Sacramento.

DETAIL OF THE LOGO SCREENWALL FOR THE WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY IN SACRAMENTO.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

The contractor attached Zahner perforated panels to a galvanized steel structure.

South screenwall at Washington Elementary.

Detail of perforated stainless with Angel Hair finish at Washington Elementary.

Detail of the North entrance gate for Washington Elementary.

North entrance with gear motif on the school's entrance.

NORTH SCREENWALL WITH LOGO FOR THE WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY IN SACRAMENTO.

PHOTO © A. ZAHNER COMPANY.

Detail of perforated stainless steel at Washington Elementary.

Original signage for the Washington School House.

Perforated stainless steel doors at Washington Elementary.

Detail of the perforated stainless steel door.

Echo Dynamics

December 30, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Passive Security, Sculpture Little Rock--Arkansas Mikyoung Kim Silver L 2007 /by cmorris

ECHO DYNAMICs Public Art at Little Rock Courthouse

Echo Dynamics is a public artwork and water feature designed by Mikyoung Kim and manufactured with Zahner fabrication. The artwork is in front of the Federal Courthouse for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the United States District Court.

Mikyoung Kim Design introduced a concept which would provide a unique aesthetic to the building’s entrance, while also solving a security concern for the building. The artwork is both a fountain and a planter which protects the building using passive security from the street face of the park. Zahner worked with Mikyoung Kim to develop the concept as a stainless steel fountain, providing coordination with structural engineer, fountain consultant and mechanical contractor.

The green space provides a refuge from the urban downtown and the sculpture offers an invitation to pedestrians to utilize this place. Made using 14ga and 16ga stainless steel, the horizontal fountain allows water to flow through a series of descending troughs. Zahner supplied the welded coupling connection to mechanical plumbing as specified by Dan Euser Water Architecture.

Related Project

Arkansas House

The residential project's interior wood and metal surfaces act as an interior liner to the building's rough-to-the-touch Solanum Steel exterior architectural monitors. Flooring of rift-sawn cherry and walnut also act to form an interior liner. Taut and highly crafted, this refined surface acts as an interior liner to the exterior monitors clad in weathering steel shingles.

Pro Patria Mori

December 14, 2016/in Art & Sculpture, Landscape Architecture Memorial, Passive Security, Public Art Kansas City Ellen Driscoll M 2006 /by cmorris

Pro Patria Moria: Security gates for WW1 Memorial

Pro Patria Moria is a permanent artwork by Ellen Driscoll made using Zahner art fabrication services. Completed in 2006, the public work consists of two panoramic gates that form the entrance to the Liberty Memorial Mall and The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

Driscoll worked collaboratively with team at A. Zahner Company to design, engineer, and fabricate the gates. Each of the massive gates have a frieze inlaid with mosaic tiles. Beneath the frieze, laser cut steel panels depict soldiers marching, creating a panorama viewable from inside and outside Liberty Memorial Mall. The museum archives inspired the gates’ imagery while a line in Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” inspired the name for the work.

When the gates are open, they create an 80’ long panorama; when closed, they form two separate panoramas, visible from both the approach to the site, and when leaving. The archives of the museum provide the main source for the glass mosaic imagery, along with images of the artist’s two grandfathers who fought in World War 1, and trench maps from their scrapbooks.

Detail of the metal gate system with ceramic inlay by the artist Ellen Driscoll.

Detail of the metal gate system with ceramic inlay.

Detail of the laser-cut stainless steel gate system.

Detail of the photomosaic and perforated metal.

Concept drawing from the artist Ellen Driscoll.

Related Project

911 Memorial Overland Park

Okie Blanchard

December 9, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Arena & Stadium, Passive Security Cheyenne--Wyoming Davis Partnership Architects Silver M 2015 /by cmorris

Okie Blanchard Sports Complex

Designed by Davis Partnership Architects, the new stadium at Okie Blanchard Sports Complex features a unique metal panel system made by Zahner. The architects used the Zahner-patented ImageWall to generate and detail custom image-perf which form custom imagery of football motifs.

The custom system required a number of changes to the base ImageWall system, so the designers worked with ImageWall design team to develop their project. Using the ImageWall System, the architects were able to quickly iterate through a number of unique panel designs for the stadium.

Related System

Okie Blanchard

Additional Features of the Okie Blanchard System

One of the features of ImageWall which greatly increased the image quality across panels is the project’s use of Cross-Seam Perf. This is an innovation Zahner developed through the use of parametric design. Cross-Seam Perf comes standard with most ImageWall applications.

Most manufacturers of perforated metal don’t have a system capable of perforating across the seams, which means that each panel will have a picture-frame around the image. Punching the metal surface on both sides of the panels reveal gives the illusion of a continuous perforation across the metal surface without breaking each panel into picture frames.

The custom screen walls function as both passive security measures serving to prevent access under the bleachers while also providing a sports theme for stadium visitors.

Detail of the Okie Blanchard privacy screens.

Cross-seam perforation is a standard feature of ImageWall perforated metal.

In an effort to make room for a future junior high school on the campus, the sports and athletics program at East High School required re-planning and consolidation. Per master planning recommendations the much beloved original Okie-Blanchard stadium would need to be razed and replaced with a much-needed new facility. AVI, Inc. with Davis Partnership Architects was selected for the project encompassing 26-acres due to the team’s experience in outdoor athletics facilities and skill in incorporating natural topography into its designs.

Image output for the perforated metal used by ImageWall.

Jakarta Australian Embassy

December 7, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Government, Passive Security International, Jakarta--Indonesia Denton Corker Marshall Blue, Gold, Green, Grey, Red XL 2016 /by cmorris

Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta features a number of buildings manufactured in a variety of metal surfaces. The Embassy features an expansive palette of custom Zahner finishes and patinas on high-performance metal alloys.

The design by Denton Corker Marshall was the winning entry in limited design competition. The materials reflect not only characteristic colors of the Australian landscape but also convey something of the natural resources and mineral wealth. Each building at the Embassy is clad in a distinct metal, representing Australia’s wealth in these materials: copper, zinc, brass, steel and aluminum.

The Australian Embassy complex houses the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and 13 other government departments and agencies. Denton Corker Marshall’s design includes a massive complex, covering over 530,000 square feet of space.

Creating an Embassy with Enduring Metals

The building complex includes both housing as well as a chancery for the building’s staff. The Embassy chancery was clad in a full range of trademark metal materials made by Zahner. Each of these high-end surfaces are detailed to provide high-performance and endure city pollutants over time.

The building complex was split into a number of modules, each designed with a unique metal surface. Zahner custom-fabricated and delivered the facade systems for each of the towers, which are clad top-to-bottom in their respective metal surfaces.

The metal panels, manufactured by Zahner, include stainless steel, patinated copper and zinc, color anodized aluminum, and preweathered steel. In total, Zahner manufactured 70,000 panels and trims. These were engineered, fabricated, and shipped 13,000 miles — on time and within the budget of the project.

Signature Surfaces for the Chancery

The patinated materials and custom finishes developed for the buildings include a range of Zahner-developed products. Surface materials used include Star Blue Copper, a prepatinated copper material; Solanum Steel, a preweathered deep earthen-colored metal; and Hunter Zinc, a limestone-toned metal patina on zinc. The building also included anodized aluminum, made in both clear and gold.

In the Embassy’s official press release for the unveiling, the metals chosen provide insight into Australia’s mineral economy:

“The distinctive colours chosen for the Chancery are designed to represent Australia’s wealth in minerals such as copper, zinc, brass, steel and aluminium.”

The panels also feature a series of circular ‘bumps’, which offer added texture and dimensionality. The delineation of the embossed and debossed metal was done under close collaboration between the architects at Denton Corker Marshall and Zahner. Total Bangun Persada and Leighton served as the General Contractors for the project, with Aurecon Australia serving as the primary engineer. Zahner worked closely with Leighton Asia, whose team ensured good communication and success for the building complex construction.

Zahner has two production plants (one in Grand Prairie, Texas and another in Kansas City, Missouri), so the company was able to work in tandem between sheet production, engineering and shop-forming. This provided the massive output needed to cover the 330,000 square-feet of metal panels under the project’s aggressive 12-month schedule.

In an interview by ABC, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson lauded the building’s architectural design, and celebrated its ecological imperative:

“The Embassy showcases the best in Australian innovative design and cutting edge technology to make the most out of the Indonesia’s environment while minimising the impact on local water and energy sources,”

Construction of the new embassy, which commenced in 2012, cost $415 million. This is the biggest project that the Australian government has spent on a building complex outside the shores of Australia.

Features of the Building Complex

The new complex is at Patra Kuningan in the southern area of Jakarta. The Embassy includes a five-storey Chancery, accommodation for some Embassy staff, and recreation and medical centers. The grounds cover over 530,000 SF of space.

According to the official press release, the compound can withstand a one in 2,500-year earthquake and can move 600 millimetres in any direction. The Embassy complex uses low resource technologies such as collecting and using rainwater as well as solar hot water heating systems.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new complex, is how the ground’s massive banyan trees have put the Australian embassy into the Indonesian Guinness Book of Records. Four mature trees were relocated near the building’s entrance, the biggest tree relocation of its kind ever taken.

For this, the building received a Museum Rekor Indonesia (MURI) award. This award is in recognition of how the new Embassy celebrates the Indonesian national pride. Part of the Indonesian coat of arms, the Banyan tree is a symbol which represents for the Indonesian-Australian partnership, denoting how a single nation can have far-flung roots.

Among its green features are a living rooftop, rainwater harvesting, energy efficient air-conditioning and a number of solar hot water systems.

“The Embassy showcases the best in Australian innovative design and cutting edge technology to make the most out of the Indonesia’s environment while minimising the impact on local water and energy sources,” said Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson.

McCoy Federal Building

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Government, LEED, Passive Security Jackson--Mississippi CDFL Architects, Hargreaves Associates, Schwartz/Silver Blue, Blue-grey, Grey, White M 2013 /by cmorris

Dr. A.H. McCoy Federal Building Modernization

This upgrade to the McCoy Federal Building includes infrastructure additions to the main building and an ancillary building which serves as a security entrance to the main structure. Designed by Schwartz/Silver architects, Zahner provided the glass facade design along with its structural support system.

In 2010, the General Services Administration (GSA) commissioned Schwartz/Silver to upgrade the McCoy Federal Building Courthouse and GSA Facilities in Jackson, Mississippi. Zahner was brought on to construct the building envelope for the structure, under design assist contract. Zahner provided engineering, fabrication, and installation of the curving glass facade in addition to the various architectural metal surfaces.

McCoy Federal Building in Jackson, Mississippi.

Glass and steel extrusions, each 10 to 25 feet long, thread into ZEPPS Sections to hold 1,078 lites of glass for the design by Schwartz/Silver for the Jackson, Mississippi Federal Courthouse and GSA Building. Locked into place by over 2,000 quills of varying heights, almost every single lite of glass is unique; the lites vary in width and height as specified by Zahner engineering and programming specialists.

New building codes designed to protect sensitive buildings and airports require security check-ins to be performed in a separate building. The addition to the McCoy Federal Building will also improve various functionalities and accessibility, as well as marketability for the value of the property and those around it, a benefit of its use as an example of passive security. It also is suggested that the building will help continue to improve the community interest in the downtown neighborhoods by freshening the street-level image of the Federal courthouse and the downtown area.

The project was completed in 2013, and is LEED Registered and slated to receive LEED Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council.