NASCAR Hall of Fame

A twisting stainless steel ribbon races around the perimeter of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zahner was brought into the project to build the structural form which wraps its facade. The building opened in May 2010, and it serves as a sprawling museum dedicated to racing and NASCAR history.

The building’s design was lead by architect Pei, Cobb, Freed. The firm envisioned a möbius strip-styled stainless steel roadway racing around the perimeter of the main building. The design of a möbius entails the concept of infinity, indicating a sort of infinite path for racing.

To create the building’s möbius required the design of a unique curvilinear shape. To produce this, Zahner engineers implemented the ZEPPS, the Zahner system for building unique architectural forms. Using ZEPPS enabled the architects to design and manufacture the building’s facade efficiently and within budget.  It also enabled simple and straight-forward construction of an otherwise immensely complex shape.

The möbius is clad in Angel Hair stainless steel, a product developed by Zahner to reduce the glare and bright spots while providing a  satin finish. Even in bright sunlight, the surface has significantly less glare than mill finishes on stainless steel.