The motorcycle exhibition had an unusual installation: the California architect Frank O. Gehry wrapped the rotunda in shiny stainless-steel panels.

The car was undeniably exotic with its stainless-steel panels and upward-swinging doors.

It will be sheathed in perforated stainless-steel panels that cut down on wind.

The inner dome is a construction of stainless-steel panels, painted white and punched with one-sixteenth-inch holes to keep the weight down and help with acoustics.

Flynn pressed a button on the stainless-steel panel that was recessed in the stone pillar supporting the gate.

To protect against graffiti, glazed concrete was used for the walls and a circular community room attached to the library was made with stainless-steel panels, said David W. Prendergast, the building's architect.

Although side by side, the "up" monitor and the "down" monitor are separated by a sleek stainless-steel panel in the shape of a wedge.

The remainder of the unit was either painted silver or was composed of stainless-steel panels.

Steven Sclaroff, a designer, points out that Formica makes laminated stainless-steel panels, which create slick backsplashes for less than what a metalworker would charge for custom-cut stainless steel.

After spray paint disappeared from the system in the 1980's, it was replaced by a new, less obtrusive kind of graffiti: scratches etched into a train's windows or stainless-steel panels with keys and other sharp objects.