Beauty Bars

How many people want to think about those metal grab bars in bathrooms that are now becoming necessary to install for the elderly and infirm? It seems that the very idea of these functional but cringe-worthy attachments seem to put a damper on design plans.

Well recently a number of City College Of New York students decided to change this, revamped the grab bar into a functional but visually appealing device. Student designs ranged from incorporating a toilet paper dispenser into the bar to a bar that contained an ipod holder. In the end, five student designs were selected, and have subsequently gone into production, picked up by New York plumbing-supply company Blackman and architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle. With these attractively designed grab bars, perhaps architects and designers can begin to sweat a little less when they need to make accommodations to their original designs.

Walking On Air

Talk about a soaring idea: Coverings Etc. has taken aluminum from the fuselages of waste-worthy airplanes to make what they call Bio-Luminum™ tiles. Melting the aluminum into blocks and slicing them into thin slabs, these innovative and modern tiles are completely recycled, and durable enough to be used for flooring and wall treatments. These tiles are sleek and sexy, and with their creation we will be ridding the world of massive lots devoted to airplane graveyards, one aluminum floor at a time!


In fact, metal floors are a growing idea in the industry and are a freshly elegant innovation when it comes to flooring. We're used to walking on hardwood or ceramic tiles, but how many times have you walked on smooth planks of nickel or decorated tiles of brass? Well now you can, and your floor will spruce up a room while never looking better.  Perfect for an elegant foyer, visitors will immediately notice the polished metal flooring beneath their feet, and are sure to marvel at the texture and color of such a unique feature.  


Lastly, seeing as floors take the bulk of rough treatment within a household (we do walk all over them don't we?), a metal floor will be able to stand the test of time: It's durable and won't ruin easily, and is also incredibly easy to keep clean. 


The industry of metal flooring is still just opening up and the possibilities are endless, but it's definitely worthwhile to begin thinking about customizing your own metal flooring so that you can get ahead of the game and literally walk on luxury.  

Hot & Cold

A little two-story house on Green Street has been stirring up quite a bit of heat despite its icebox exterior. Located in Brooklyn at 198 Green Street, the building underwent a daring residing in the hands of the owner, who intended to create a standout modern home. Now, 198 boasts an entirely stainless steel façade at its front that gives it a very sleek and modern feel, particularly when juxtaposed with the wooden slat homes next to it. The façade is also ornamented with a raised striated steel band that diagonally cuts the home on its surface into its two levels. Compact and metallic, the building has been cited to look like a refrigerator, garnering the property nickname “Sub-Zero House.”

After its unveiling, however, the fridge house has been stirring up a lot of controversy, pitting adoring Brooklyn residents against some violently detesting individuals. Members of the opposition claim the house now looks like an uninviting fortification, with one vocal resident claiming the owner should hang himself from one of the façade light fixtures. Others disagree, and we here admire the creativity with which the owner approached his renovation, daring to step outside the box and create a unique modern home that’s joined the pool of real estate gossip for which New York is famous in the first place. Besides, that glossy steel exterior sure looks nice in the sunlight, and that scandalously slanting band makes the building look cool—refrigerator nickname or otherwise.

Innovative Metal Architecture

How many wealthy New Yorkers can flaunt the fact that they can drive right up to their apartment? None, one would presume—until now.

Not long ago, Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects dreamed up a design for a building at 200 Eleventh Avenue which included a 15-space En-Suite Sky Garage System, literally allowing future residents to drive right into a car-lift that would take them straight up to their apartment-level garage space.

Somewhat surprisingly, Selldorf’s innovative vision got the green light, and the development now currently in construction has caught the eyes of many a passerby. With everyone in awe of the idea of parking on one’s own floor, the building has already been subject to a collection of nicknames, including “The One With The Sky Garage” and “The Glistening Tower of Parkage.”

While almost everyone’s eyes are firmly glued to this model of parking-perfection, what we’re looking at right now is the building’s construction innovations in its use of metals. The surface of the building’s base, which spans three floors, is currently being clad in durable contrasting tiles of cast gunmetal glazed terracotta. The material is a corrosion-resistant combination of bronze and zinc, is dark blue/brown gray in color, and provides the street level of the structure with a sense of inviting hospitality.

On top of this, large slabs of molded stainless steel that organically curve are framing the upper sixteen floors of the construction. Despite their still hidden placement behind scaffolding, these steel additions have already been observed in the sunlight to glisten with grace, providing New Jersey with a spectacular light show at sunset.

Responsible for the custom metallic innovation of this undulating façade is the A. Zahner Company, which located in Kansas City, Missouri, has been behind some of the greatest architectural metal finishes in its century-long existence. Can you visualize the cut-out swooping steel façade of the new Cooper Union Building at 41 Cooper Square? A. Zahner is responsible for that. Zahner has also had the opportunity to work alongside some of today’s big name starchitects including Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry.

To know more about one of the top go-to metal facade consulting companies in architecture, we decided to get behind the scenes of the metal façade of 200 11th Avenue and spoke with A. Zahner’s Architectural Liaison, Roger Reed, regarding the project.

In June of 2006, representatives from Selldorf Architects came to A. Zahner seeking aid to make the ideal metal design shapes they had in mind into reality. Zahner worked to alter Selldorf’s designs to perfection, noting that rather than stamp out the original components like car fenders, the route of making a mold form for each component would be far more effective.

Zahner also developed a system of attachment for the metal cladding by breaking down the building façade into three components—a vertical, a horizontal and the cruciform that intersected the two. While the vertical has a strong geometry break up the center, the horizontal element bows outward with an off-center break.

According to Architectural Liaison Roger Reed, Zahner “saw the cruciform as the key to getting the design successfully executed. That transition between the two forms [horizontal and vertical] is one of the things that defines the building.”

In terms of metal selection, Zahner presented Selldorf with several options, but knew that stainless steel would be the natural choice due to the ease and beauty with which it can be bent and fashioned. Because of the differing shapes and sections of the various components, welding, grinding and polishing out the seams were all crucial to production, and Zahner made use of their signature Angel Hair® Polish as a finish due to its reflectivity and texture.

Zahner produced many of the components for this project using robotic welding equipment, which produces consistent results with little mess and is excellent for making repeatable patterns. In addition, Zahner made heavy use of Digital Definition Technologies—using computer-modeling software that enables them to avoid wasting resources by physically building full-scale templates out of cardboard and steel.

With regards to obstacles faced during construction, Reed notes: “As with almost every project, the other trades present the biggest issues or obstacles. The cladding, in this case the metal, is usually expected to conceal the sins of those that come before us.”

If the trade responsible for concrete forms is successful in their role on the project, then it is easier for subsequent trades to come and succeed on their additions. Thus the stud framing system can then be easily placed, followed by the implementation of interior electrical and mechanical components, which are then covered by the exterior sheathing and waterproof membrane, and lastly the final exterior cladding.

“It all adds up,” Reed adds, “everybody has to understand the importance of their role because if any one of these elements are incorrectly placed, the impact can have a domino effect across the project. We always strive to communicate that philosophy to all involved.”

Regardless of any such obstacles, The A. Zahner Company’s work on 200 Eleventh Avenue is marvelous, particularly in the building’s ability to shimmer in the sunlight. Not only will future tenants of the building enjoy the luxury of parking at home, but they can also take pleasure in driving up to a glistening beauty of a structure.