It was just over ten years ago that perforated metal entered into a new era, a golden age for metal imagery created through selective perf. For many years, perforated metal was an industrial product. Today, perforated metal is part of a new renaissance.
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Over the early ’s, patterned usage of perforated metal began to appear. At the time, the pattern were limited by programming. It wasn’t until the early two-thousands, when Herzog & de Meuron designed the de Young Museum, that perforated metal would truly enter into its own.
Below is a listing of 31 inspirational examples of custom perforated metal, each manufactured by Zahner, which show how far the medium of perforated metal has grown — and also how much room there is for it to grow.
We begin with Herzog & de Meuron’s design for the de Young Museum, which features a perforated screen skin designed to mirror the green foliage and forestry of the surrounding Golden Gate Park. This skin was the first breakthrough use and development of the Zahner-patented ZIRA technology. This enabled designers to take a photographic image (in this case a view looking up through a canopy of trees) and use an algorithmic process to convert the image into an offset pattern that lines up seamlessly when assembled on the building.
Today we’ve designed multiple technologies based on the ZIRA patent, each of which enable designers to convert imagery — from the ImageWall app, to the Louvered ZIRA technology for louvered 3D perforations, to the custom automated embossing for generating unique dimples, bumps, and embossed shapes in the surface of metal.
Professor Kevin Klinger’s immersive design studio at Ball State University gives students a first-hand experience translating digital designs into a permanent installation. The students used generative processes to design perforation and folding patterns applied to a sculptural ribbon of weathering steel. They worked directly with Zahner to detail and fabricate the sculpture, which was then installed on campus where students could observe the weathering steel patina develop into the protective layer of oxidation that prevents it from corroding and gives it the bright umber tone it is known for.
Stretching across the submerged Interstate Highway 635 in downtown Kansas City, the Power & Light Bridge carries electricity across the primary conduits that service the city. Designed by Helix to evoke the sine waves of three-phase electrical power, the utility box is wrapped in a dynamic skin of 375 unique black zinc panels, assembled into a surface of undulating folds. A pattern of custom perforations, bumps and dimples was generated from an iterative collaboration between Zahner and the architect to resemble an electron field. Interior LEDs creates a show of light and shadow that make the bridge a distinctive new icon bridging the gab between Kansas City’s business district and downtown arts district.
Copper Union’s new academic building, known simply by its address 41 Cooper Square, features an ambitious design by Morphosis that covers a full block on Third Avenue from East 6th to East 7th in downtown Manhattan. The futuristic building is wrapped in a high-performance metal skin that controls sunlight and insulates in cold weather, resulting in a 50% reduction of heat load on the building. The pattern of custom perforations forms a number of opaque rectangles that scatter across the surface of individual panels, each of which is operable by custom actuator accessed from inside the glass windows on the interior of the building.
River Place II, also known as Silver Towers, is a structure of two identical 57-floor towers connecting by a six floor plinth. An interior courtyard within the plinth features an innovative use of custom perforated panels, a 75-foot light wall whose illuminations appears to be filtered through vines and branches. This ambient effect is achieved by translating a flora pattern designed by the architect into perforations on metal panels that are contained within glass and stainless steel lightboxes. This elegant motif is repeated in lighting and architectural fixtures throughout the rest of the building.
Heralded by critics as one of the most intelligently conceived performance centers in the world, the Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre is a traditional and experimental performance center for music, performance arts, and cinema designed by REX Architecture and Rem Koolhaus OMA. The exterior façade of aluminum columns resembles the billowed fabric of a closed curtain, but is actually an assembly of custom-fabricated metal panels. There is a line of perforations integrated into the panels that are backed by an interior LED, revealing a vertical column of text that makes the signage for the building.
The Lumenhaus is an eco-conscious portable housing prototype collaboratively designed by students at Virginia Tech. This solar, pre-fab housing project is based on Bauhaus principles imbued with 21st century technologies. Sliding screens with perforated metal flaps allow for the house to be opened into a free-flowing system where occupants are tied both to each other within the house and to the landscape outside of it. These screens also perform as solar barriers, deflecting the harsh rays of the setting sun.
The Fairmont Pacific Rim is a 44-story hotel in downtown Vancouver just blocks from the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean. The architects at James KM Cheng channeled this natural context into a custom perforated screen system that disguises the first few floors of the hotel’s office and parking structures.
The perforations in the metal surface provides natural light and air circulation, and their pattern gives the building a nuanced, organic visual effect. The image of Redwood trees was translated by ZIRA technology into the perforation patter, combined with bumps and dimples on custom Angel Hair-finished steel. The resulting effect is of a shimmering curtain on which trees appear to emerge and recede as if drifting through a coastal fog.
The San Francisco Cable Cars are a living piece of history that still traverse the city to this day. These two ticket booths for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency provide entry onto the cable cars while themselves representing the marriage of history and the present day. The top of the booths are wrapped in stainless steel that is custom-perforated to display historic imagery of the street cars, elegantly integrating their nostalgic image with the slick steel box of the kiosk below. At night, the panels are backlit with LEDs, creating a bold beacon visible from all sides.
Designed by RMJM + Hiller in , the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, TX is skinned entirely in a copper curtain wall. This wall is perforated and bumped in a custom-designed pattern that was carefully developed by the architect to achieve a specific optical effect. When the two layers are overlapped, it creates a moiré effect, and its uniquely designed die-punch pattern gives the skin an appearance all its own. This feeling of transformation in the building’s skin is added to by the elongated process of the mill-finish copper’s patination. First darkening and eventually changing to greens and blues, the building will continue to change over time.
Jan Hendrix is an artist that frequently collaborates with Zahner to produce sculptural works from his highly-intricate drawings. In , he worked again with Zahner as well as the architectural firm Legoretta & Legoretta to produce Helix, a public artwork and courtyard at HBKU Doha University’s student center. Hundreds of unique 20’x8’ aluminum panels form a 40’ high tower in the center of the courtyard and its surrounding interior and exterior surfaces. Using the ZIRA Process and working closely with the artist to digitally detail the image, Zahner ensured that the waterjet-cut panels would form a cohesive composition with smooth lines flowing across each individual piece.
The Dream Hotel in Downtown New York City is Handel Architects’ renovation of Albert Ledner’s iconic Ninth Avenue structure. Built in as an annex for the Maritime Union, the building was most recently known as the Covenant House homeless shelter. After the renovation, the building is now a world-class hotel, visible from the newly-completed Highline Park in Chelsea. The renovation clad the building in a stainless steel façade, which appears to be perforated by the building’s iconic porthole windows. The southern façade is a true custom perforated screen, with large round openings that carry over the typology from Ledner’s original design. Smaller perforations and a soft finish with medium reflectivity were developed for an ambient feeling that evoke’s the hotel’s name.
St. Teresa’s academy built the Windmoor Center and Chapel of St. Joseph to provide students and faculty with a light-filled, contemplative space. Designed by Gould Evans, this structure has a metal skin water-jet cut in the form of a delicate, feminine veil evoking the school’s namesake, St. Teresa, the patron saint of Lacemakers. From the exterior, it is a dramatic gesture that makes the new structure an anchor for the whole campus. Inside the building, it creates an intimate experience, casting intricate shadows across the walls of the Chapel.
Pendulum’s design for Kansas City’s Crosstown Substation takes a simple barrier wall around an electrical substation and incorporates elements of public art, architecture, and kinetic motion-based visual arts. A weathering steel ribbon bends and folds from the top of this wall. Its surface features a warm patina which will perform excellently against Kansas City’s seasonal weather and contrast boldly against the adjacent white surface of the wall’s base. Vertical panels break up the unprogrammed sections of the façade. Perforated cylinders bring this effect onto the sidewalk, projecting unique light and shadow effects on the concrete at night.
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The new nine-story San Diego Central Library is home to numerous artworks incorporated throughout the building. Spanning four floors of the building’s north façade, The Mast is an illuminated aluminum column whose diameter ranges from 8” at top and bottom and 12” at its center. The lower portion of the 70’ tall mast is perforated with a custom pattern that is backlit by an interior system of LEDs, creating a start-studded beacon that illuminates the concrete façade through the evening hours.
The Hoover Garage at Stanford Hospital and Clinics at Stanford University was designed by WRNS Studio in a simple and sharp design. To achieve the visual clarity desired, Zahner worked closely with the architects to develop a system of 3/16” perforated panels with cut and grooved backsides for a defined edge. An additional vertical extrusion was also designed that, compared to the originally-planned design for a steel member with its own complex support system, reduced parts and cost as well as satisfying the aesthetic goals of the clients.
This façade is one of three that skin the distinctive new landmark for Miami’s Design District. Leong Leong’s facade features a surface of curvilinear shapes punched and bent out of gold-colored titanium-coated stainless steel curves around the Southwestern corner of the open-air parking area. From the exterior, the highly textured and reflective surface creates a shimmering effect, like light on the surface of water. Inside, the wave-like openings create a patterned view of the city while allowing air to circulate naturally throughout the floors.
The above projects provide a window into the wide range of possibilities available to designers working with perforated metal. The future is for those creative enough to push further and imagine boldly — and most important, to stand firmly in the name of design.
Want to see more custom perforated metal? We do too! You can see more featured projects completed by Zahner with perforated metal, or take a look at what designers are creating with ImageWall, a Zahner-patented perf generator for designing your own perforated metal systems.
Or, simply contact Zahner, and we’ll help you brainstorm your design, get pricing, and develop your project with the help of our engineer.
Perforated metal is a type of sheet metal with small holes punched into it, creating a loose and lightweight material that can be used for many different applications, including ventilation, sound deadening, filtration, decorative accents, and shielding. As such, pattern-perforated metal sheets are commonly used in many developments and buildings, and their popularity is only increasing across many sectors.
The sheets themselves also have fantastic decorative styles available in just about any size and style. You would have likely seen architects, designers, and engineers make the most of perforated metal panels in many different ways. From steel to copper, aluminium and brass, they’re harnessed in feature walls, screens, railings, facades, filters and more. While they look great in many settings and add a depth of character, they provide much more than their architectural appearance.
With the right pattern, material and colour, you can control the atmosphere in the space by influencing the environmental effects of sound, light, heat and airflow. So, that leaves you with one burning question to answer to perfect your project; which perforated metal panels are right for you?
KNS Metals has everything you need to know below.
Perforated metal panels have many excellent applications, and selecting the best option for your project comes down to understanding its purpose.
Will it be used to control lighting? Do they need to absorb acoustics to make your space more peaceful? Or is it solely for aesthetic purposes? Selecting the right pattern is an integral part of meeting the goal of the panels.
KNS Metals can help you determine the best pattern for performance and produce high-quality panels for your project.
Before you can begin selecting the most attractive aesthetic for your metal sheets projects, be sure to also review any special requirements to shortlist your options. These include:
If your perforated metal sheet needs to withstand great stresses, it must be built with strength as the primary focus. While these panels can’t be used as structural supporters, they can still encounter various stresses like exposure to heavy wind or supporting people’s body weight. Strength in panels varies on material type, thickness and pattern; fortunately, your manufacturer can advise you on the strongest combination.
The perforations in metal panels influence a lot of their characteristics. Sheets with a greater number of thicker holes will have a lower strength, but the perforations also affect how suitable it is for a particular project. The distribution, sizes and shape of holes affect the overall efficiency of the panels, so it’s important to discuss your needs with your manufacturer. Quality providers will be able to create panels suited to the needs of your job.
Perforation shape has a minimal effect on strength and suitability and is mainly a concern of aesthetics. Pitch is another vital element in a panel style, and these arrangements give projects their unique and decorative flair. After all, perforations don’t just come circular; square, hexagonal and slotted holes can also enhance the appearance of many applications.
Below we’ll explain the most common hole shapes and their purposes:
At KNS Metals, we understand that selecting the right perforated metal sheets comes with some ambiguity – there is so much to choose from! This is why we offer more than just standard panels. We use specialised machinery such as Turret Punches to develop premium quality sheets that serve their appearance and functionality long into the future.