Copper in Architecture Awards

Apollo Development Corporation Riverpoint Center
Phoenix, AZ

New Construction

The Apollo Development Corporation Riverpoint Center in Phoenix, AZ, was originally designed to maximize the buildable area on the site while still providing ample public space for social interaction. These new buildings for the University of Phoenix sit on a 37-acre site that features structures that look as though they belong in the desert. The overall design concepts pay tribute to the region while showcasing the Apollo Group as a corporation designed to meet the needs of the future and a model for the 21st century education. The design is also environmentally responsive.

Three types of copper panels were used for the facade, which include vertical standing seam, vertical flat seam and horizontal flat seam. The vertical standing seam panel and vertical flat seamed panel were used in the expression of the 10-story building “wrapper” element. The flat panels were used at the soffit and sill conditions while the vertical standing seam panels were used to accentuate the verticality of the building facades. The flat horizontal panel was used on the 6-story buildings providing a simpler expression complementing but not competing with the iconic form of the adjacent 10-story anchor building.

The design team wanted to make sure that the project used materials that were durable, low maintenance, sustainable and from the region. Copper, being a native material to Arizona, was a driving factor in its use. Its natural look and patina work beautifully with its surrounding desert landscape. The copper is also a very striking material that enhances the iconic quality of the building resulting in a strong identity.

Architect

SmithGroup
Phoenix, AZ

Architect

Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architects
Las Vegas, NV

General Contractor

Sundt
Phoenix, AZ

Sheet Metal Contractor

Kovach Inc.
Phoenix, AZ

Owner

Apollo Group Inc.
Phoenix, AZ

Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation Phase 2
Phoenix, AZ

New Construction

This building, a new addition to the Copper Square area of downtown Phoenix plays a prominent role, both in its downtown location and its location as the campus gateway. Its beautiful copper skin was chosen as a showcase material for its color, durability, sustainability and importance to the state of Arizona.

This copper-skinned, steel-framed building includes a high-performance glass curtain wall on the north side and a translucent glass lantern feature, wrapping an exterior staircase. The project demanded an affordable, low-maintenance material that could blend in with a series of existing and new buildings on campus. The project also required development of shaded outdoor student spaces. The copper skin utilizes three different profiles in a randomly repeating pattern to create texture and a play of light and shadow. These same panels are perforated, providing air movement and shading at the exterior stairs and balconies. The result is an articulated copper box that meets urban, programmatic and budgetary requirements.

The design team was seeking a sustainable, affordable material that could offer an appropriate aesthetic identity for the Arizona State University downtown campus. They also wanted a material that would weather beautifully and naturally in the arid desert climate. Not only is copper a material that is a significant part of Arizona’s history and economy (Arizona has led copper production nationally for the last century), it allowed the design team a great deal of flexibility in terms of panel design. This led to a highly articulated copper envelope that complements other architectural buildings on campus while creating a unique identity for this gateway building. It is estimated that 80 percent of the copper that has ever been mined is still in use today because of its great recyclability. Inherent in its recyclability, copper is very sustainable.

Architect

SmithGroup
Phoenix, AZ

General Contractor

DPR Construction
Phoenix, AZ

Copper Fabricator/Installer

Kovach Inc.
Chandler, AZ

Beaty Lundin Visitor Centre
Britannia Beach, B.C., Canada

New Construction

The Beaty Lundin Visitor Centre at the Britannia Mine Museum seeks to connect the past, present and future of mining to the visiting public. The project is a testament to the adaptive reuse of existing building stock; a respect for site heritage through innovative and modern insertions in the landscape; a case study for social sustainability that informs and educates at this legacy copper mine site.

The project intends to communicate the contribution of mining and minerals to our society; the material history of the surrounding community, and the practices of environmental renewal and sustainability through architecture and design. The design approach was to embrace the eclectic nature of the existing fabric while using modern forms and materials to reinforce the predominant organization of buildings to create a tightly knit cluster with small interstitial spaces and passageways between. The Beaty Lundin Visitor Centre is decidedly modern in contrast to the heritage buildings on site, yet the building contains detail, texture and grain that is compatible with the neighboring structures. Making connections to the time and specificity of place is integral to the success of this project. Connections are made through pre-existing site constants – water, wood, concrete and copper. Adopting this palette allowed dialogue between new and old building forms and materials.

The new Visitor Centre is clad in a combination of dark-stained horizontal wood cladding, and pre-patinated copper panels (75 percent recycled content) that have developed a very site-specific blue-green patina due to the microclimate around Britannia Beach. High humidity causes the panels to vary in color daily and creates a lively and active response specific to the Oceanside setting. These copper panels also offer an educational opportunity about the type of metal mined at Britannia and the importance of sustainable use of natural resources. The design team deliberately chose materials and forms that respond to the many elements on site. Wood is carried through the new Visitor Centre and overall site in different guises; the rectilinear pre-patinated copper panels of the Visitor Centre speak to the modernity of the historic Concentrator Building, a wonder of technology when originally built. The footprint of the new Visitor Centre was expanded to embrace the neighboring buildings and structures, creating intimate interstitial spaces that juxtapose old and new.

Architect

TRB Architecture Inc.
Vancouver, BC

General Contractor

Parkwood Construction Ltd
Burnaby, BC

Copper Fabricators

KPS - Keith Panel Systems
North Vancouver, BC

Design Artists

Felt Studio
Toronto, BC

Boulder House
Boulder, CO

Restoration

When the homeowners of this home and carriage house admired the look of a standing seam metal roof on a neighboring home, he decided to rip off the 8-year-old asphalt shingles on his own 13,000 square-foot roof and replace it with 17,204 pounds of 20-ounce copper. He also requested that the 20-ounce copper half round gutters be installed with brass hidden hangers at every seam. He then finished off the copper theme with solid copper entry doors, copper garage doors, copper fascia, copper electrical box covers, and copper trim around glass block windows. Every window in the house was replaced with Five Point copper clad windows. His only concern in planning the project was the temperature of the copper roof.

Architect Steven Dodd of Boulder, and contractor Harry MacKendrick of Trimac West LLC of Longmont provided information that demonstrated the copper would be cooler than the asphalt shingle roof it replaced. The roof permit for the $500,000 copper roof was the largest reroof permit (in dollars) to ever be approved in the history of Boulder County, CO.

The roofing and gutter work was done by Front Range Seamless Gutters of Erie, CO. The copper was mechanically seamed onsite in an Englert Series 1300 1 ½ inch profile. The exterior walls of the main structure and carriage house feature native Colorado stacked sandstone and wood with knotty pine soffits and porch ceilings.

Material Supplier

Englert Inc.
Perth Amboy, NJ

Contractor

Trimac West LLC
Longmont, CO

Architect

Steven Dodd Architect Inc.
Boulder, CO

H.S. 615 Chelsea Vocational High School
131 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

Restoration

Chelsea High School is a Beaux-Arts style public school building, completed in 1905 as P.S. 38 under the architect Charles B.J. Snyder, then Superintendent of Buildings for the Board of Education. This 100-plus year-old landmark building was exhibiting significant exterior damage resulting from years of water infiltration. It became apparent that a cornice had been removed during a prior rehabilitation. The original design drawings revealed that the cornice was to be pitched towards the façade rather than away, with no method to shed water. This was likely an originating source of trouble for the building. However, when the cornice was removed, the supporting steel embedded in the masonry was abandoned and the area was covered in stucco. This allowed water to penetrate over time, greatly diminishing the structural integrity.

The only viable solution was to remove and reconstruct the tall parapet entirely to match the original condition. With the support of the SCA, OMNI Architects, P.C. was able to reintroduce the original detailing of the cornice to restore the historical integrity of this public school building. To reproduce the original copper detailing, they undertook substantial research to recover both the original 1905 design drawings, and archival photographs dating from 1906 and 1929. Cornice profiles were carefully recreated primarily from the high-quality archival photograph from 1929. Researching traditional methods of detailing and supporting copper cornices, they integrated historical techniques with contemporary practice, providing structural steel framing and allowing for internal weeping, dielectric separation of materials, and designing to accommodate complex installation issues. The detailed copper work included 14,000 square feet of 20 oz. copper in the cornices, integrated gutters and downspouts, vertical standing seam panels on the interior face of the parapets, flashing, snow guards, water tables coping, profiled ridge caps and epaulets and scuppers.

The copper cornice and gutter system not only provides additional protection for the façade, but returns grace and beauty to an inner-city public school that was in urgent need of attention.

Project Manager

OMNI Architects, P.C.
New York, NY

Owner

New York City School Construction Authority
Long Island City, NY

General Contractor

Technico Construction Services Inc.
Long Island City, NY

Roofing Contractor

R. Smith Restoration Inc.
Huntington Station, NY

Sheet Metal Contractor

B&B Sheet Metal Inc.
Long Island City, NY

Hylton Performing Arts Center at George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

New Construction

The Hylton Performing Arts Center entertains, educates, and enriches the lives of people living in the Northern Virginia community by providing a series of diverse and accessible programs in its state-of-the-art venues.

The exterior and interior copper work occurred exclusively at the Theatre building, which involved a unique architectural design consisting of curved and angled walls, while the roof was fully cladded in architectural copper. The size of the copper roof was approximately 16,000 square feet and the copper wall was approximately 33,000 square feet. In total, there was approximately 80,000 lb. of cold-rolled copper sheet and coil material utilized for the building’s exterior.

The roof and wall panels both were constructed utilizing a standing seam configuration, with the roof panels using a double lock system and the wall panels utilizing a single lock system.

At the primary theatre seating and performance area, decorative and curved copper were used for ceiling fins (8 locations). With a depth of up to 6 feet, they were installed to cover plywood sheathing at each of the ceiling and column-beam locations.

This extensive project took approximately six months to complete.

Sheet Metal Contractor

The James Myers Company, Inc.
Beltsville, MD

Principal Engineer

Restoration Engineering, Inc.
Fairfax, VA

Hawaiian Temple Remodel
Honolulu, Hawaii

Ornamental Applications

This Hawaiian temple was originally constructed in 1919, and sits upon a 6,000-acre parcel known as the Laie Plantation. It underwent its first extensive remodeling in 1976 that resulted in a new front entrance, enlarged patron and administrative facilities, and converted the progressive-style ordinance rooms to stationary rooms equipped for motion-picture presentation of the endowment.

In 2008, it was closed again for two years of structural and seismic upgrades and for restoration of the ordinance rooms to their original appearance and progressive-style presentation. Allen Architectural was responsible for the re-creation of the baptismal font for the temple. The entire font was created from a combination of fully machined bronze components, cast bronze components and glass. This Baptismal Font serves as the centerpiece of this elaborate temple.

Sub-Contractor for the bronze

Allen Architectural Inc.
Talladega, AL

Laird Norton Addition at the Winona County History Center
Winona, MN

New Construction

Located in Winona's downtown historic district overlooking the Mississippi River bluffs, the Laird Norton addition at the Winona County History Center enhances the distinctive character of the museum's 1915 Armory while establishing a welcoming architectural presence that beckons museum patrons with permanent and changing exhibits, public programming and community outreach. Occupying a former parking lot next to the existing museum, the Laird Norton addition is a contemporary design that celebrates the past in scale, material and detail.

The addition reinforces the urban street edge while respectfully taking massing cues from the existing Armory building. The second level's copper-clad form, separated by an exterior terrace to highlight the Armory's southwest corner, respectfully defers to the height and scale of the older building. A corbelled brick colonnade along Johnson Street follows the Armory's language of deep masonry openings, its telescoping rhythm moving pedestrians toward the Armory's historic entry. The addition's palette of traditional materials of copper and brick, compliments the dark brown brick of the Armory while the contemporary detailing differentiates the old from the new. The exterior copper cladding is a series of custom, 4-mm copper-faced composite wall panels fabricated from two metal facings bonded to solid, extruded thermoplastic core. The site-assembled panels are similar to horizontal lap siding and measure 12-inches high in random lengths. The panels are fastened to the back-up wall by hooking the bottom cap into the previous panel and attaching the top with cleats. The exposed mill finish allows the copper to weather gradually and patina naturally.

Visitors arrive through the Armory's historic arched entry and reconfigured vestibule. From there, they step through a large opening in the Armory's original south-facing exterior wall to the addition and its light-filled, at-grade lobby. The exposed brick wall becomes a touchstone to the past that visitors connect with as they move between the lobby, the existing gallery and the second floor of the new addition. Inside the addition, reclaimed materials form a living history within the new space. All interior millwork—floors, ceilings, stairs, and casework—is built from old-growth white pine salvaged from a neighboring livery building that once stood on the adjacent block. Indigenous limestone salvaged from a razed car dealership is used for the vestibule and terrace flooring, stair risers and elevator door frames. A large multipurpose room located on the second floor provides space for educational and community activities. Large windows frame expansive views of a historic courthouse across the street and the lobby below. The focal point inside the room is a suspended, perforated copper ceiling that relates to the copper cladding on the exterior; the panel's pattern is a modified version of the perforated wood wall in the lobby that screens the staircase leading to the second floor. The copper ceiling is a series of 4-mm copper-faced composite panels that are CNC-cut in a custom perforated pattern. The holes are carefully coordinated with the lighting, sprinklers, speakers and drop-down projector; soft acoustical material is placed directly above the copper holes for acoustical absorption. Each 29-inch by 29-inch panel is chemically treated to create a variegated copper patina and finished with wax.

Architect

HGA
Minneapolis, MN

General Contractor

Alvin E. Benike, Inc.
Rochester, MN

Sheet Metal Contractor

M.G. McGrath Inc.
Maplewood, MN

Loeb Visitor Center
Newport, RI

Ornamental Applications

This project is an exhibit celebrating the Colonial History of the Jews in Newport. It was completed and opened as the Loeb Visitor Center in 2009. Located adjacent to the Touro Synagogue National Historic site, the two story visitor center features a grand stair linking the two exhibit levels. The railing of the stair is made of nickel silver (a copper alloy, white in color) tubing bent to a graceful curve. Located behind the large street side windows, the stair railing is visible both inside and outside the building enclosure. All the permanent exhibit elements are trimmed with the same nickel silver material along the top and bottom.

Architect

Northeast Collaborative Architects, LLC
Newport, RI

General Contractor

H.V. Collins Company
Providence, RI

Fabricator

South Side Design & Building
Brooklyn, NY

Massachusetts House
Lenox, MA

New Construction

This house in the Berkshires engages its wooded site through terraced gardens, a large south-facing porch and a wall of glass. The garden walls are built with stone salvaged from the foundations of a nearby ruin, and extend from the site through the house, organizing the interior spaces along the way. The simple form of the house, clad in copper, cedar shingles and mahogany-framed windows, connects the structure to equally simple New England precedents. A further nod to local precedent is made through the copper clad roof, dormers and chimney. Both stone and copper are used in the home's interior — the stone as interior walls and fireplace, and the copper in the fireplace, chimney and box bays containing the bookshelves in the living areas. All interior copper was treated to match the anticipated weathering of the exterior copper walls and roof, to allow a seamless integration of inside and out.

Design Team:   Mark McInturff FAIA - Design Principal, Christopher Boyd AIA - Design Associate

Architect

McInturff Architects
Bethesda, MD
http://www.mcinturffarchitects.com

General Contractor

Quadresign
Chatham, NY

Sheet Metal Contractor

D.J. Wooliver & Sons, Inc.
Lanesborough, MA

Manufacturer

Revere Copper Products, Inc.
Rome, NY

The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul
Montreal, Canada

Restoration

The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul serves a thriving intercultural Christian family in the city of Montreal. Designed by noted architect Harold Featherstonaugh and built in 1931-32 in what was then Montreal's luxurious Square Mile, the building’s gothic revival style is expressed with an elegance of line and simplicity of detail. The original copper roof was more than 77 years old and nearing the end of its normal life expectancy within its urban surrounding.

To respond to the new energy codes and norms, the roof was required to be insulated. So, a 17,500 square-foot, copper batten seam copper roof system was conceived and installed. Selective demolition works consisted of removing the existing copper panels, gutters, downspouts and underlayment down to the existing structure and installing a new waterproof membrane, foil faced polyisocyanurate insulation, plywood sheeting, roof shield underlayment system and 17,500 square feet of 16oz. copper batten seam roofing panels with notable custom details.

Architect

DFS Inc. Architectue & Design
Montreal, QC

Sheet Metal Contractor

Couverture Montreal Nord Ltee.
Saint-Leonard, QC

Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre
Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

New Construction

The Trent Community Sport & Recreation fulfills a commitment to its student body and the City of Peterborough by creating a dedicated sport and recreation center to serve its rapidly growing north-end population. Through the expansion and renewal of Trent's existing Athletics facility, the University has been able to offer a full-spectrum of indoor and outdoor athletics and recreation programs, as well as forge new alliances with sporting organizations seeking access to high caliber facilities. A seamless combination of new construction and renovated spaces achieves a complete regeneration of the facility that respectfully integrates with the strong architectural character of the campus, while advocating a new model of re-use and sustainability.

Originally conceived in 1969 by one of Canada's most prominent architects, Ron Thom, Trent University's campus has evolved from a strong conceptual vision inspired by its rugged surrounding landscape. Expressed as an integrated village of modern structures, closely aligned with the river, the original campus buildings utilize copper in a defining series of layered roof forms, which are complemented by a consistent palette of concrete, glass and wood. A similar approach has been taken in the design of the newly expanded Athletics Centre, with copper used to define a large folded roof element above its new fitness and climbing center.

Copper offered several distinct advantages over other metal cladding systems in its flexibility and sustainability as wall and roof cladding, its weatherproof properties and low thermal expansion value. Installed using a traditional standing seam technique, the material creates a sense of texture and scale that animate the large surfaces and imbue the building with a sense of timelessness and natural beauty that is well suited to its collegiate setting. Copper was similarly used in re-cladding parts of the existing building. This enabled the boundary between new and old to be further blurred and provided a light weight, cost-effective cladding system that required no additional reinforcement of the existing structure. It also plays a significant role in achieving LEED Silver certification through its intrinsic durability, low maintenance, high recycled content and ability to be regionally sourced under the LEED guidelines.

Copper played an important role in the design through its intrinsic functional and aesthetic qualities, which set it apart from other comparable cladding systems. Perhaps its most important contribution, however, has been in its deeper resonance in reflecting the character and aspirations of the university; enabling the project to speak to both past and future in one distinctly modern statement.

Architect

Shore Tilbe Perkins+Will
Toronto, ON

Copper Manufacturer

Canadian Brass and Copper
Concord, ON

Sheet Metal Contractor

Commercial Sheet Metal Inc.
Mississauga, ON

General Contractor

Graham Construction and Engineering Inc.
Alberta, ON