L. William Zahner

Queen Anne’s Lace

October 18, 2017/in Art & Sculpture Private Art Kansas City Dierk Van Keppel, L. William Zahner Blue, Brown, Green, Indigo, Light blue, Orange, Red, Rose S 2010 /by cmorris

Queen Anne’s Lace artwork for Private Residence

Queen Anne’s Lace is an artwork made in collaboration with Dierk van Keppel for a private residence, manufactured using Zahner CNC-cut 1/2″ plate aluminum. The artwork draws inspiration from an image of the Queen Anne’s Lace flower found in the collector’s garden.

Zahner worked with Dierk Van Keppel whose studio at Rock Cottage Glass created the glass inlay for the artwork. The metal component of the piece was made in aluminum at the Zahner facility in Kansas City. The aluminum surface is processed with a GB-60 finish, providing a muted reflectivity.

Related Project

Queen Anne’s Lace

Detail of the Queen Anne's Lace artwork, showing how light can pass through the glass inlays.

Angel Gate

June 10, 2017/in Art & Sculpture, Interior Architecture Private Art, Worship Center Kansas City L. William Zahner Brown, Gold S 2003 /by cmorris

Angel Gate at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Angel Gate is a bronze and aluminum art feature which was manufactured at the Zahner facility in Kansas City. Commissioned by The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the bespoke metal artwork provides a functional gate entry into an inner worship space.

The artwork is made up of stacked plates of aluminum and bronze. To increase the contrast between the two metal components, Zahner created a stepped layout between each metal plate. This provided a bolder feel for the light gateway. The use of bronze accentuates the gold-gilded capitals of the two Corinthian columns in the doorway, visually integrating the gate with the church’s original late 19th century design and context.

Related Project

Queen Anne’s Lace

Zahner worked with Dierk Van Keppel whose studio at Rock Cottage Glass created the glass inlay for the artwork. The metal component of the piece was made in aluminum at the Zahner facility in Kansas City. The aluminum surface is processed with a GB-60 finish, providing a muted reflectivity.

Ornate gate design by Zahner for The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The interior metal gate open in the church's interior.

The gate closed at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Detail of the Angel Gate at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Spencer Art Museum

December 27, 2016/in Exterior Architecture, Landscape Architecture Museum Lawrence--Kansas Pei Cobb Freed L. William Zahner Blue-grey, Grey, White S 2015 /by cmorris

University of Kansas Spencer Art Museum Renovation

Custom raw zinc plate planters were designed and fabricated by Zahner for the renovation of the Spencer Museum as part of the new landscape for the building. New donor plaques were also engraved for the Museum.

In 2010, the Spencer Museum partnered with architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to develop a master renovation and expansion plan for its spaces. In April 2015, the Museum closed to the public for renovation. This 16-month project addressed the first part of the master plan and marked the first major renovation since the building’s opening.

Zahner was brought into the project by the Museum to provide landscape design. The company developed a design for the planters, and fabricated and delivered the zinc plate system. The zinc plates develop a white oxide layer, and will continue to weather and patina into a subtle grey-green over the years.

Zahner Headquarters

August 15, 2016/in Exterior Architecture Parking Structure, Renovation Kansas City Crawford Architects L. William Zahner Silver M 2011 /by cmorris

The North Dock Expansion at the Zahner Campus

Designed by Crawford Architects, the Zahner Headquarters façade features undulating ZEPPS assemblies. ZEPPS, the Zahner process used to create custom curving surfaces, are used in projects around the world. Typically, ZEPPS assemblies consist of structural aluminum fins and ribs which are then clad in stainless steel, zinc, or any other building skin material.

The design of the Zahner Headquarters, however, was inspired from examining the ZEPPS understructure; the assemblies were intentionally left exposed, revealing the beauty of the engineering behind what is usually covered over. Zahner engineered and produced the exterior façade, naming it ‘Cloud Wall,’ and subsequently developed an app for designers to easily create similar custom façade iterations online.

The billowing curtain wall features glass inset between each fin. Part of the Inverted Seam system, Zahner developed a patented Drop & Lock method for engineering and installing panelized dry-set glass. Installation is quick and easy via male and female connections.

With a nearly 40-foot high ceiling 10,000-square feet of added space, the expansion allows Union Sheet Metal Workers to easily fabricate large-scale ZEPPS and other assemblies.

A crane is used to hoist each panel into place.

Zahner Installers install the glass panels.

Zahner Headquarters viewed from the North.

Zahner Headquarters viewed from the East.

Photograph of the Cloud Wall during construction.

Zahner employees have a safety lunch in the shop prior to the Cloudwall Installation.

Photograph of the shop interior during the production of MIC.

Learn more about the Zahner Headquarters Expansion

Green Building & Design Magazine Crawford Architects June 2012.
Architect Magazine Zahner Cloud Wall September 2011.
Archdaily Zahner Factory Expansion September 2011.
Zahner Product: GlassFin™ Curtainwall
Zahner Product: Drop & Lock™ Metal Panel Systems

Hands of Man

August 15, 2016/in Art & Sculpture Public Art, Sculpture Kansas City L. William Zahner Blue, Green S 2006 /by cmorris

Hands of Man, Public Artwork

Hands of Man is an artwork by L. William Zahner, made as a gift to The Salvation Army in Kansas City. The artwork was produced by tracing the hands of Salvation Army employees. These hands drawings were scanned and cut in copper, using Zahner’s art fabrication facility.

After using machinery to cut-out the several hundred copper hands, these parts were hammered into the individual shapes to give them form and texture. The hands were then welded and sculpted to form a large-scale sculpture of a hand.

Zahner then used patination techniques to give the surface a mottled Star Blue patina on the surface of the metal before having the sculpture delivered to the Salvation Army Headquarters, based only a few blocks from the Zahner Campus.

The Hands of Man sculpture is a good example of how an artist can use Zahner public art fabrication service to build sculpture. Art services provided by Zahner will help assist artists to engineer, fabricate, deliver, and install public art.