Sketches of Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry is one of the most inspiring people in todays realm of architectural design. I have seen the autobiography called "Sketches of Frank Gehry" multiple times. The first time I saw this film was in Mr. Allen's humanitities class, and it actually helped me understand what I wanted to do with my life.  Prior to seeing this video, I had thought i wanted to be a businessman like my father.  Obviously, after seeing this enlightening video, I had realized that this choice would not suit me best.

In Highschool, I was a CAD junkie. I spent all of my time in the CAD room hand-drafting, model making or doing computer modeling.  I never even thought that I could do this for  a living until I saw Sketches of Frank Gehry for the first time.  It made me realize that I should do architecture, after all, I had been doing work like this for the last four years.

Since I already been accepted into the University of Kansas business school, I had to fly to KU and present my portfolio to the dean of architecture, who proceeded to tell me that he loved my portfolio, but he didn't think I should be an architect.  My heart dropped and I figured I had just wasted two or three days for nothing.  Then he said that he is going to call Brian Hanabury of the Industrial Design department, and he pushed me out of his office to talk to him.

I met with Hanabury and he enjoyed my work, so he told me to submit a portfolio to the design department.  Needless to say, I was accepted to the ID program solely due to the "Sketches of Frank Gehry".

Zahner

For over 115 years Zahner has pioneered the architectural metal industry by applying aerospace engineering to the fabrication of art and architecture. Zahner is internationally renowned for intelligent engineering and precision craftsmanship on buildings throughout the world. The museum-level craft and engineering that Zahner consistently provides can be found in the Americas, Europe, Asia & the Middle East. (source:www.azahner.com)

This past week our Materials class had the privilege of experiencing Zahner's shop settings. Zahner usually has clients that are architects that want to have free-form/flowing buildings that require extreme engineering efforts. The client that I am most impressed by is Frank Gehry, whom Zahner helped produce his pavilion in Millenium Park, in Chicago. Seeing this sculpted pavilion every day produced endless questions for me to ponder, now I know some of the answers.

Zahners' primary materiall choices consist of copper, steel, aluminum, stainless, titanium, and certain types of infused steels.  More recently, Zahner has been experimenting with newer materials like copper infused glass, and other glass materials.  

With the current age of technology, most of Zahner's processes require CAD modeling, and CAM to produce a lot of the pieces that we see in the world today.  Most of Zahner's tooling is multi-functional, which allows Zahner to produce product more cost effective and efficiently. Although a considerable amount of processes are accomplished with the use of multi-functional robotic technology, some techniques are too intricate for them, requiring humans to step in and complete the job. 

Hallmark Cards

The Hallmark production center in Lawrence Kansas was first opened in 1958.  With a facility of 650,000 square feet, it produces nearly 12 million cards during a busy production week.  This facility is one of three manufacturing facilities in the United states.  Besides cards, Hallmark also produces ribbon, bows, film-wrapped items, invites, and stickers.  This facility accounts for nearly 40% of the Hallmark trade.

Materials commonly used by hallmark include paper, foil, film, corrugated cardboard, ribbon or bows (extracted mixture).  One thing that is noteworthy about Hallmark is that they only throw out 2.5% of their garbage, making them a highly sustainable manufacturer.

The cards are laid out digitally on the computer, then they are die cut, sorted and boxed.  All of the paper that is not utilized is to be recycled.  Depending on the style of card, there are a lot of finishes that can be applied. Most of these finishes are heat applied, some of them use glue.

Finishing technologies:

• halftone hot foil
• cloisonne
• textured prism background
• halftone dot prism
• prism without background
• flitter/laser
• puff print
• gold bronze 
• white lithography
• varnish
• flitter/flock

I found myself most impressed with how sustainable the company is.  With all of the materials and scraps that are produced, I imagined that the production floor would be covered with paper and other things.  Another aspect that impressed me was that nearly everything is produced in house!  With less out-sourced manufacturing, Hallmark is a dominating force in the world of cards. 

Star Signs

Star Signs is a local business located in Lawrence Kansas.  We had the opportunity to visit Star Signs to see how they worked in their shop, and to see what kind of tools they use.

Star Signs designs and manufacturers signs of all types for companies around the globe.  They specialize in signs for: civic and fine arts, sports and entertainment, corporate, healthcare, and retail.

To manufacture these signs, they first have industrial designers draw up a plan in the drawing room, then to the computers to stylize and finish the idea. Once the client approves the design, creation can begin!  Star Signs constructs their signs out of a variety of materials including:  polycarbonate, steel, aluminum, acrylic, vinyl, polyurethane, maple, walnut, etc.

Most of these materials are shipped in with stock sizes and measurements.  They have all the utilities necessary to fabricate signs from start to finish. some of these materials include a giant steel sheer, large CNC routers, full paint booth and also a curing room.

Not all of Star Signs is involved in huge industrial signs to be placed outside! They also incorporate large flat bed printers to lay out large murals that can be adhered to walls.

The thing I found most interesting about Star Signs is that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye.  I was particularly impressed with the amount of processes they can handle under one roof, as well as how many different products they are able to create simultaneously.

 large bed CNC (computer numerical control)

converted Ford automotive paint booth.

Reuter Organs

Reuter has been custom fabricating organs for nearly an entire century.  They build for clientele who wish to have organs in: churches, department stores, universities, theaters, or even residential areas.

Reuter uses traditional construction  methods when creating every organ.  From ideation to fabrication, everything Reuter does is 100% custom.  Commonly used materials in the organ building process include:  Iron, wood led, nickel, leather, brass, copper, computer chips, steel, chalk, bone, tin poplar, goat skin, zinc, walnut, kangaroo skin, oak, etc... the list goes on and on!

As for the pipes themselves, they are all made from hand rolled steel formed on a bed. After the metal is shaped around mandrels, they are soldered together and sent for tuning. Router also does all of the wood working and engraving on every organ!  With an entire wood-shop at their disposal, Reuter is one of the few all inclusive companies!

From start to finish Reuter does it all, and I am lucky to say I was able to see how their fine organs are built.