Transportation

Wichita Riverfront

Keeper of the Plains Pedestrian Bridge in Wichita Kansas

For the city’s riverfront revitalization, Zahner worked under HNTB to provide the pedestrian bridge in Wichita, Kansas. Zahner’s scope included primarily the metal panel systems used at the base of the bridge, for which the team provided both fabrication and installation.

The pedestrian bridge is divided into two spans, which each meet at the rivers’ confluence. Zahner provided the metal panel system using raw copper, which means that a dark patina will quickly form on the surface. Over the years, this patina will weather and eventually take on an overall green appearance.

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Douglas Avenue Bridge

Designed in collaboration with Mark Spitzer Designs, the artworks are each made up of a number of stainless steel tower forms with lighting systems. The forms were inspired by Wichita’s aeronautical heritage and the Jayhawk sail boat, an America’s Cup competitor that is permanently installed adjacent to the bridge at the city’s historic boathouse. The towers allude to the ship’s bow and billowing sail, creating a ceremonial space for pedestrians crossing the bridge, and a beautiful site for the city’s river festival.

Keeper of the Plains Bridge in Wichita, Kansas.

Tsing Yi Station

December 14, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Airport, Transportation Asia, Hong Kong, International Wong Tung Green XL 1998 /by cmorris

Tsing Yi Terminal Roof in Hong Kong

Tsing Yi Terminal is an intermodal center and train station on the Tung Chung Line of MTR and Airport Express, located on Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong.

Designed by Wong Tung, the building features the largest copper roof in Hong Kong. Zahner manufactured the copper standing seam roof system with built-in gutters and associated flashing and fascia. The roof panels were installed as a pre-patinated copper. This means that the copper material went through a patination process in the United States, where it developed an advanced patina, a protective layer resulting from a built-up oxide on the copper surface.

Related Project

Kowloon Station

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.

Tsing Yi Station connects the island of Tsing Yi with the mainland of Hong Kong.

Installers complete the Tsing Yi Terminal Roof in Hong Kong.

Subtle curvatures along the profile of the Tsing Yi Station Terminal Roof.

Photo © A. Zahner Company.

Tsing Yi Station Terminal Roof includes custom fascia and flashing.

Tsing Yi Station Terminal Roof, running bond pattern on double-lock standing seam roof.

Zahner provided metalwork for the project. The roof edge folds over to create a clean, trimless appearance. A running bond pattern was designed for the double-lock standing seam. The project is one of a number works that Zahner has produced in Asia.

The project is located between Airport Station and Kowloon Station, another Hong Kong work of architecture featuring Zahner metalwork.

Winds of Aphrodite

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Parking Structure, Transportation Kansas City Crawford Architects Suikang Zhao Grey, Silver L 2008 /by cmorris

Bartle Hall Convention Center Loading Dock Remodel

Working with artist Suikang Zhao, Crawford Architects led a redesign of the Bartle Hall Loading Dock to provide both a face-lift and a functionality-lift. The new design features an expanded aluminum screen wall developed by Zahner, offering a uniquely artistic first-impression of downtown Kansas City. The project aluminum screen skin connects to a galvanized steel superstructure, and as night falls, thousands of computer-color-controlled LEDS light up the mesh screen.

Working collaboratively with Crawford Architects, I designed art that is integrated into architect and the north and west facade of the screen-covered loading dock. The basic design idea is about soften monolithic monstrous design of 70’s into tangible / feminine touch as if a piece of giant fabric flying from sky and happen to catch up the corner of the Convention Center. Layers of steel meshes creates changing moment of mystical appearance depending on weather and time of day, and is lit up by computer-color-controlled LED light in the evening.

Completed in 2008, the project required the transformation of a 70’s brutalist structure into a softened and tangible work, as if it were a giant strip of fabric flying from the sky which happened to catch the corners of the convention center. Because of the way that downtown Kansas City highways are organized, when visitors first exited the highway, they would see the Bartle Hall Convention Center’s loading docks, replete with overflowing dumpsters and big trucks unloading for the upcoming show.

Dusk photograph of the Winds of Aphrodite artwork on Bartle Hall Loading Dock.

Moire patterns on the expanded aluminum facade and artwork at Bartle Hall

Light filters through the Winds of Aphrodite's aluminum surface on Bartle Hall Loading Dock.

The formed expanded aluminum surface allows light to filter into the Bartle Hall Loading Dock.

The corner of the Bartle Hall Loading Dock renovation.

The other part of the problem was that it was hard for the large trucks to enter the space because the original space wasn’t well thought-out. Architects at Crawford re-designed the framework and brought in Chinese artist Suikang Zhao to bring a flowing perforated aluminum screen, produced, fabricated, and installed by Zahner. Zahner was also integral in the Design Assist Process, where the artists, architects and Zahner engineering directors and designers work to maximize and refine the end design.

Drawing of the semi-truck pathways taken at Bartle Hall's loading dock.

The result of all this preparation is a new Bartle Hall Convention Center that works. The triangular screens appear as sails flowing in the wind, allowing light to enter and disguising the view of the docks. The previously underused loading docks are now used by every big truck that unloads at Bartle Hall.

The architects’ redesign of the Bartle Hall Loading Dock included looking at the paths that a truck takes, making it more efficient for semi-trucks to pull in, unload, and depart from the loading bay.

Winds of Aphrodite by Suikang Zhao and Crawford Architects.

Entrance to the Bartle Hall Loading Dock in Kansas City.

Zahner installers during the renovation of the Bartle Hall Loading Dock.

Winner: 2008 Kansas City Capstone Award

SFMTA Ticket Kiosks

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Transportation San Francisco Bay Lundberg Design Silver M, S 2011 /by cmorris

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Ticket Kiosks

The SFMTA Ticket Kiosks are a series of ticketing booths in San Francisco for accessing the cable car envisioned by Lundberg Design. Zahner manufactured the custom perforated metal components for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The designers wanted to wrap the top of the booth with imagery of the historic cable cars.

This effect was elegantly achieved by perforating the surface of stainless steel to create the light and dark tonal values of the original photographs. To achieve the mosaic-perforated imagery, ZIRA patented technology was used (designers can now create similar designs using ImageWall to generate custom perf).

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SFMTA Ticket Kiosks

This technology enabled a smooth translation of the designer’s imagery to metal while also also ensuring panel-to-panel relational accuracy. This is crucial on a project such as this: The imagery is divided into a series of panels and wrapped around the sides of the small structure, so it was important that the perforations on each panel lined up with the next panel.

The photos above are from the Cable Car line are located where Powell meets Market in San Francisco. The second kiosk is located at Presidio Avenue and Geary Blvd, pictured below. Above is an image of the completed panels in the Zahner shop prior to shipping to San Francisco. Blue protective film protects the stainless surface from finger prints and dirt prior to installation.

Video and stills courtesy Ryan Hughes of Lundberg Design. Hughes managed the project from the early design phases to the project’s completion, working closely with Zahner engineers and fabricators throughout the process.

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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Miami Intermodal Center

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.

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.

Related Project

Tsing Yi Station

DFW Airport

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Airport, Transportation Dallas--Texas Corgan Associates, HKS, HNTB, HOK Silver XL 2005 /by cmorris

Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Terminal D

The new Terminal D at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport is the largest square-foot project completed to date using Zahner’s Inverted Seam roof and facade system. The new terminal was built to give international travelers a lasting positive impression of their arrival and departure from the United States.

The building envelope for this work includes approximately 500,000 square feet of surface covered with 11 acres of stainless steel cladding for the roof. Just over two miles of gutter and five miles of fascia panels adorn the roof. The entirety of the building envelope metal system was included in the scope for the Zahner team. Zahner worked with the architects at HNTB, Corgan Associates, and HKS, to complete this vast project.

Aerial photo of the DFW Airport Terminal D with Inverted Seam roof system.

Energy Efficiency

The Zahner Inverted Seam roof is part of the total low-energy solution for the project, reducing the cooling costs by more than 90 percent during peak electrical demand hours. The Terminal D development program includes design of the airport’s central thermal storage tank, a structure that utilizes less expensive electricity at night to create a store of ice to cool the terminal during daytime hours when rates are higher. The project was reviewed by the Clean Airport Initiative team of experts to evaluate incorporated features of sustainable design and to use it as a case study for upcoming guidelines for sustainable airport design.