Where Art Meets Architecture

SYMMETRIX COMPOSITE TOOLING SHAPES INNOVATIVE ARTICULATED WALL PANELS FOR LUXURY HIGH-RISE

Direct Machined Tooling used to manufacture fiber-reinforced panels

BRISTOL, R.I. 03/01/21 — Symmetrix Composite Tooling, a full-service composite tooling manufacturer of complex and innovative design, was retained by Kreysler & Associates to fabricate the tooling for the innovative One Thousand Museum luxury high-rise in Miami.

Designed by famed architect Dame Zaha Hadid in 2013, One Thousand Museum towers more than 60 stories over downtown Miami. The top floor, known to residents as the “amenities” floor, features an indoor swimming pool and lounge area with double height pane glass panels that allow for dramatic views of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Rising in an arc from the floor to the ceiling above the pool are articulated wall panels fabricated from fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP). The nearly 10,000-square-foot clamshell panels range in size from 18 to 29 feet tall and 23 feet in depth. Some individual panels were as large as 18 feet by 12 feet.

Kreysler & Associates (American Canyon, Calif.), a composite fabrication company that has helped revolutionize the use of FRP in architectural applications contracted Symmetrix to construct Direct Machined Tooling for the composite panels.

“Although we have our own in-house CNC milling and mold-making capability, we increasingly find ourselves turning to Symmetrix Composite Tooling as our production ramps up,” said Bill Kreysler, President of Kreysler and Associates. “Lots of folks have CNC capabilities, and lots of folks do composite fabrication. Symmetrix is unique in its ability to blend digital tool making with the craftsmanship needed to execute top quality FRP fabrication work. They are the only outside source we consider.”

The criteria for the panels were three-fold. The panels had to be lightweight, due to where they were being installed. As the tower is residential, the panels had to have a high fireproof rating. And because they were being placed above a pool, they also had to be highly resistant to corrosion from chlorine. Unlike most single-use tooling options, Direct Machined Tooling provided a high-resolution surface that could be directly molded against without additional preparation or editing.

The design brief for the panels called for a variance of 1/16” across the entire geometry. This tight tolerance was achieved by utilizing two of Symmetrix’ three 5-axis milling centers, one in Carson City, NV and the other in Bristol, RI.

Symmetrix Composite Tooling utilized its two remote facilities in order to deliver the molds in the compressed timeframe required. The two manufacturing sites were linked together via Symmetrix’s network to ensure accuracy among the two assemblies that were shaped simultaneously across nearly 3,000 statute miles.

“We were more than happy when Kreysler & Associates asked us to provide mold manufacturing for the One Thousand Museum project,” said John Barnitt, President of Symmetrix Composite Tooling. “The project was driven by a particular set of design criteria, which dictated the façade panel manufacturing process and the tooling method. By selecting particular composite tooling materials and methods an accurate (sub-millimeter) tooling surface could be produced, and in this case robust enough to meet the cycle demands of the job.”