Wall cladding with stainless steel mesh: Concert hall

The wall cladding in the concert hall of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City/Missouri presented a particular architectural and acoustic challenge. The architects ultimately decided to go with ‘PC Tigris’ stainless steel mesh for cladding the walls.

The concert hall, named Helzberg Hall, has special architectural features, including walls of more than 20 meters in height, concave architecture and much more. Not only was the wall cladding to provide neutral acoustics but at the same time cater to the building’s very special architecture. The architects from Moshe Safdie decided on stainless steel mesh from GKD. A total of around 750 m² of ‘PC Tigris’ architectural mesh was used – framed in 101 mesh modules.

Special stainless steel mesh for special architecture

The architecture of the 285,000 m² Kauffman Center is reminiscent of a mussel. The open, glazed south-facing façade offers an impressive panorama outlook over the horizon. The concert hall of the events centre also impresses with its remarkable architecture: The 1,600 seats are located all around the stage, while an artistically designed organ stretches up to the ceiling in the heart of the hall. These are complemented by 20-metre high, concave-shaped bays, which taper from a width of five metres at ground level to three metres at the ceiling.

GKD’s stainless steel architectural mesh met all requirements including acting as an interior design feature for the sophisticated wall cladding as it is acoustically neutral and can be transported as individual mesh modules.

Tailor-made mesh system

The architectural mesh experts from GKD proposed a system made up of framed mesh panels arranged on top of one another. The individual panels are each two metres high, taper towards the top and cover a total area of 744 m².

Acoustics, mesh & architecture: custom solution

To ensure pure and clean acoustics it was essential that the sound waves did not cause the mesh panels to oscillate or generate background noise. To offer vibration dampening, the mesh module frames were separated from one another using arched nubs. The precise vertical alignment of the stainless steel mesh panels was made possible by the very tight manufacturing tolerances of GKD’s web technology.

The architecture inside the Kauffman Center also shines in a new light in a prominent position, while catering to the desired acoustics – thanks to the wall cladding system made of GKD stainless steel mesh.