Copper in Architecture Awards

Wovoka
Lake Tahoe, NV

Wovoka is named for the Northern Paiute mystic who was born in the Smith Valley area of Nevada in 1856 and whose religious pronouncements spread the Ghost Dance among Native American tribes across the West. Wovoka's principle of living in harmony and truth was the owner's personal inspiration, and it laid the foundation for the project. The objective was to develop a home that was both innovative and in accordance with its location: its pattern geometry should honor the towering topography of the Sierra Nevada; its aesthetic should be respectfully borrowed from the region's first peoples.

The program was a unique, three-structure residential compound on the shores of Lake Tahoe: a single-level accessible home with a master bedroom and two guest suites; a six-car garage with a workshop and caretaker's unit; and a beach and boathouse structure at the water's edge.

The architect sought unique solutions to meet the program objectives. When they could not source existing technologies that met their needs, they developed their own.

Copper was chosen as the metal of choice due to its natural ability to transition in harmony with the landscape and the seasons. Over time it transforms from a shiny copper to a penny-brown to a verdigris-green that matches, in turn, the sunlight, tree trunks and foliage. Some materials get uglier with age, but copper gets more beautiful. Copper is utilized for the following architectural features: entry gate - one enters the site through a motorized gate with interlocking panels of copper sheets and mesh; and roof – which comes into view when nearing the lake. The roof is made of custom-designed tree-branch-stamped 20-ounce copper shingles, approximately 18" x 48", and interlocked standing seams (set on a diagonal to resist ice dam formation). The copper shingles are used on all of the roofs throughout the project, including the garage and gatekeeper's house, the main house, the rear-yard gazebo and beach/boat house awnings; roof fascia - the edge of the roof articulates the copper panel seams with an extension of cold roof beams called batten points. These highly sculptural batten points on every structure create dynamic light and shadow patterns (depending on the position and angle of the sun) on the building facade and ground throughout the site; chimney caps and finial - the chimney caps are made of copper inside and out. Atop the main chimney is a nine-foot copper finial designed in the angular Wovoka motif; front door - the teak front door is surrounded by inlaid copper panels and is topped by a copper-framed window; garage doors - custom copper panel garage doors with overlapping batten details and colored-glass diamond windows provide a rich and long lasting garage facade. The copper work associated with this project was truly created by hand. Most of the panels, roof-edge batten points, and details were fitted on site by excellent copper craftsmen using an on-site break to fabricate the interlocking copper system and connections. The interlocking panel system (with no soldering) allows for panel movement (expansion and contraction), designed to increase longevity for many generations.

Architect

Sheet Metal Contractor

Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI

The Visual Art Center at Western Michigan University consists of large public exhibit areas, a student exhibit area, classrooms, and student lounge space. The building uses form to express and delineate public functions such as student exhibits, main exhibits and lectures. While most areas of the building serve both the public and the student population, the areas listed above represent those of interest for the vast majority of events.

The formal expression on the exterior of the building helps define the layout and identify likely destinations for those unfamiliar with the Visual Arts Center. The destinations are further clarified by the internal planning which places the entries to the exhibits and lecture halls at major visual intersections. The exhibit areas - the most prominent and important aspect of the building - are wrapped in a dynamic bent copper plane forming both the roof and south wall, while allowing light to bleed in via north-facing clerestory glazing. The copper skin peels away to allow the Miller (Plaza) connector to pierce through and then cut back at certain points to allow light to enter and to frame views.

The copper skin is further articulated to start hinting at the interior program. Careful study of the articulation reveals its expression of circulation zones and the split between main and student exhibit areas. The lecture areas, wrapped in a metal skin, undulate in plan but are formally more restrained in section, thereby avoiding competition with exhibit areas. Large expanses of glass on the east face of the lobby/reception area, separate the metal planes from the visually heavier precast concrete panels that clad the rest of the Center.

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Sheet Metal Contractor

The Arrabelle at Vail Square
Vail, CO

The Town of Vail, Colorado, is in the middle of its "Billion Dollar Renewal." At the centerpiece of this revitalization was The Arrabelle at Vail Square. After winning the bid, The Roofing Company was knee deep in copper. The Roofing Company was challenged with the fabrication and installation of 1366 lineal feet of copper cornice at the eaves of 15 different copper roofing locations. These 20-ounce copper cornices were made in-house and required many hours of layout and fabrication. Some of these had stretch-outs that required the cornice to be constructed out of two pieces of copper in order to meet the designed profile. Prior to copper roofing installation, the 15 different cornice profiles were made. The Architect's cornice designs were not stock profiles, necessitating in-house fabrication of every piece. Each of the fifteen profiles incorporated convex and concave radiuses, as well as standard bends. After profiles were optimized and drawn in CAD, the contractor's shop staff spent many hours developing their bending plan for each profile. Fabrication took approximately one hour per ten-foot piece, with anywhere from thirty-eight to one hundred seventy-four bends per piece. Cornice sections were fabricated just prior to installation to minimize storage time and potential for damage. Tradesmen installed copper cornice, shingles and standing seam roofing while on site.

A Copper Development Association (CDA) professional was engaged to deliver a three-day course to reinforce field staff skills. All fitting, cutting, and soldering was performed on site. Due to the inconsistent nature of wood and steel framing, considerable time was spent adjusting cornice substrates to ensure lines were straight and miters met perfectly. Each joint, horizontal or vertical, was fully soldered per CDA recommendations.

The Architect required that no exposed fasteners be used, which required field staff to solder many joints (including vertical and overhead) that would typically be riveted, then soldered. When winter conditions set in, copper cornice areas were tented to allow soldering to take place. Copper flat-seam shingle installation was performed in accordance with CDA practices, including the continuous soldering of panel seams at slopes less than 3:12. Each façade's copper shingles were unique in size and layout, incorporating eight distinctly different patterns into the project.

Standing seam roofing included straight and concave applications, also installed in accordance with CDA practices. At straight roof areas, double-lock seams were used, with field staff hand-seaming each seam. Batten standing seam panels were used at convex roof areas to maintain an ultra-clean look, with CDA details utilized whenever possible. The successful project ended with a stunning product and great relationships between all parties involved.

Cotractor

Architect

Colorado College Cornerstone Arts Center
Colorado Springs, CO

Located at the juncture between downtown Colorado Springs and Colorado College, the Cornerstone Arts Center reflects the essence of the location, complete with paths converging on and crossing the site, views toward Pike's Peak, and an aspiration to the sky. The 15” x 57” custom, oxidized copper panels connect this vision to earth, in this complex and dynamic Antoine Predock design.

The building design embodies the improvisational quality of the interdisciplinary arts to which it will be home. Housing a main auditorium, a film screening room, two black box performance studios, inter-disciplinary experimental arts gallery, music and dance rehearsal rooms, digital media labs and shops, classroom and office space, the interior spaces are designed to facilitate a collision and interaction among the multitude of fine and performing arts disciplines.

Sheet Metal Contractor

Architect

Grey-Bruce Health Centre
Owen Sound, ON, Canada

Chosen from 38 architectural proposals, Salter Pilon Architecture Inc. in association with Lett Architects, were commissioned to provide full-service consulting and architectural services for the new 5,600 square meter (56,000 square feet) Grey-Bruce Health Centre in Owen Sound, Ontario. The multi-purpose facility houses offices/workstations for 155 people, classrooms, laboratories, training areas, and consultation spaces. The three-story building, situated on a prominent site beside Owen Sound harbor, is rapidly becoming a local landmark.

Part of the structure's appeal is the extensive skin of vertical copper cladding over much of the exterior. As it patinates, the copper will evolve to the familiar green colour common to the eastern part of Canada, and will be a striking compliment to the other cladding materials used, primarily stone and cedar. The copper was installed by Semple Gooder Roofing, a Toronto-based firm, with many years of experience with copper systems, both for restoration and new construction projects. The copper panel wall assembly consists of approx. 9,000 square feet (12,000 lbs) of 20 oz flat lock copper panels installed in a staggered pattern. The copper panels were installed on top of a Roofshield underlayment over a metal substrate.

The Centre also incorporates a full range of green building design concepts. The Grey-Bruce Health Unit Board is committed to establishing a benchmark for healthy living by creating a healthy building for its operations. The innovative design includes collection of rainwater for use in waterclosets and the use of natural ventilation in the office spaces. The current design reduces energy consumption by 53% of the Model National Energy Building Code.

The project is targeted for LEED Gold certification. Salter Pilon and Lett Architects will also be specifying and designing all the furniture for the project, including workstation and furniture standards. To further the green aspect of the project, the facility was developed on a reclaimed "brownfield" site on the Owen Sound Harbour. This project is seen as a catalyst for development in the area.

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Architect

Sheet Metal Contractor

Glendale Community College Life Sciences
Glendale, AZ

The Glendale Community College Life Science Building is a 63,000 square-foot facility with state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms for instruction in biology, psychology, and nursing. The building was the first designed after the adoption of a restructured master plan calling for a focus on densification. This focus led to the development of a larger facility housing multiple departments. Accordingly, the project was faced with architectural challenges associated with density, context, and scale, for which architectural copper became a solution. As the first three-story structure on campus, the Life Science Building presented an interesting contextual problem. Without specific precedents from which to draw, the project needed to simultaneously recognize the existing campus while becoming a model for future development. Recent building additions to the campus introduced a variety of metals to the original material palette of clay masonry and painted concrete. The design team embraced metal paneling as an approach for its economy and flexibility. Copper offered a local material that would resonate with the desert location, and compliment the colors and textures of the campus. The design team analyzed the campus buildings to understand their fundamental geometric rhythms and patterns. The studies showed a regular cadence of columns, windows, and reveals, juxtaposed against fields of masonry and corrugated metal panels. The interplay between vertical and small scale horizontal lines on the existing buildings began to inform the direction for arranging copper panels on the Life Science Building's façades. Collaborating with the metal fabricator, the design team developed a kit-of-parts using standard panel profiles. Working within the constraints of the fabricating process, we determined the variables that could be used to bring more diversity to the system. The manipulation of panel length, coupled with variegated copper fin lengths between panels, enabled three panel profiles to provide considerable design permutations. The sun's incident rays informed the textural distribution of the copper components. On the north façade, where direct sunlight is minimal, the copper panels present a smooth appearance. The north stair tower, representing the single moment where copper panels meet the ground, became the genesis for the textural gradation. As one moves around the building from the highly glazed north façade to the sun-drenched south façade, the copper components transition from smooth to highly articulated. The copper panel façades of Life Sciences behave as a living element in their own right. Left to patina naturally, the copper components provide a fitting architectural expression for this facility. The various widths and depths of the copper components create dynamic compositions of light and shadow. Through the changing patina and shadow patterns, nature's temporality is effectuated in the building's façades.

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Sheet Metal Contractor

Blessings Golf Clubhouse and Fred and Mary Smith Razorback Golf Facility
Johnson, AR

The objective for the Blessings Golf Clubhouse was to develop a contemporary structure, unique to the Ozark Mountain region that resists the prevailing historicist precedents most commonly represented as an antebellum home or a hunting lodge. The Clubhouse acts as a type of covered bridge which creates an entry portal that operates as a breezeway framing the eighteenth green, and through alignment with the companion building to the north, the University of Arkansas Razorback Golf Center acts as a threshold to the Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course beyond. Conceived as an animate form, the building receives the visitor beneath its cool and shaded underbelly, not unlike the clefts and caves found in the nearby hills.

Materials for the building exterior were chosen to provide a timeless palate that will age gracefully with little maintenance. The second-story volume, a multi-textured copper tube in pre-fabricated standing-seam and flush seam copper panels, sets up views primarily to the golf course through large glass-window walls and porches. The copper volume, in shifts and cantilevers, establishes a detached relationship to its stone base. The patina of the copper has a richness and warmth that compliments iron deposits and sedimentary colors in the native stone, used as material for the builiding's base. The building is aligned, along its western edge, with its companion building to the north, the University of Arkansas Razorback Golf Center, a practice facility shared by the University of Arkansas golf team and Blessings Golf Club members.

Standing seams of copper walls align precisely with roof seams and window openings, forming a folded shell, an elytra that extends beyond the stone body as cantilevered wings to shelter terraces at each end of the building. The copper skin loosely wraps the building and provides a sense of imperviousness to the activity around it. Acting as a silent mask, the copper-clad wall conceals the building's internal activities from motorists along the adjacent state highway and also provides a sense of time through copper's developing patina.

An orthogonal box set against the tree-lined valley, the building's copper surface is given volume by its minute separation from the dry stacked Ozark stone base beneath. This strategy of disengaging the wall from its base, adds an element of mobility, levity, and autonomy to the shell. The Blessings Golf Clubhouse and the Razorback Golf Center attempt to demonstrate that conventional commercial building systems can be transfigured into a design solution that recalls an established lineage, that of the traditions of the game of golf, while simultaneously transcending customary responses by commenting on the present.

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Sheet Metal Contractor

Douglass-Truth Branch of the Seattle Public Library
Seattle, WA

Renovation and expansion of the historic branch library increased the size of the landmark building from 8,000 to 16,500 square feet. The new addition was designed to respect the landmark library building while reflecting the changes that have occurred in the community and the library program in the 90 years since the historic structure was built. Copper was chosen as cladding on the new structure for both aesthetic and technical reasons. Built in 1914, the original structure was the first publicly funded branch library in Seattle and originally housed the city's collection of Jewish literature. Over time, as the demographics of the neighborhood changed so did the library's name and collections. The Douglass-Truth Branch now holds the largest collection of books and ephemera related to African-American culture in the Pacific Northwest. The addition contains a below-grade reading room. A monitor brings generous amounts of daylight into the new structure and frames views looking back to the historic building. The wall of the addition facing the historic library is glazed, reflecting the color and details of the landmark building by day and allowing light inside the addition to spill out at night. Copper roofing and siding on the addition makes a connection between old and new. On the one hand, it provides a surface that complements the brick walls, terra cotta trim and tile roof of the historic building, and will age gracefully over time. On the other, the material provides a taut, lightweight skin that wraps seamlessly around the clean, abstract form of the addition, emphasizing the minimalist aesthetic of the contemporary structure. Copper's malleability, allows for custom detailing that could not be accomplished with other materials.

Architect

Sheet Metal Contractor

Hoboken Terminal Rehabilitation Phase II
Hoboken, NJ

Constructed in 1901 as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal Complex, Hoboken Terminal was designed in the Beaux Arts style by architect Kenneth Murchinson. The terminal was a milestone in American transportation development, combining rail, ferry, and pedestrian facilities in one of the most innovatively designed and engineered structures in the nation. Overall, Hoboken Terminal is clad in extremely intricate architectural copper. Unfortunately, severe corrosion to underlying steel members and delayed or inappropriate maintenance combined to necessitate extensive restoration of the terminal.

The $11 million Phase II of the rehabilitation called for a complete restoration and/or replacement of copper elements on the exterior of the ferry slips.

Schtiller & Plevy used more than 100,000 pounds of copper and 25,000 pounds of stainless steel bars for the fabrication and installation of elements on six slips. The workers installed new and old refurbished copper on the new substrate, consisting of concrete and ¼-inch by 2-inch stainless steel armature (structural ironwork). The design team's structural engineer required this abnormal thickness of the armatures to prevent any wind uplift of both the existing 100-year-old copper and of the new copper.

Sheet Metal Contractor

Architect

Onondaga County Courthouse Building Envelope Restoration
Syracuse, NY

The Onondaga County Court House, designed by renowned architect Archimedes Russell, is a symmetrical four-story building modeled after Italian Renaissance prototypes. The Court House, which opened January 1, 1907, was unique for its incorporation of a built-in vacuum sweeping system, concealed wiring and telephone lines, and five hydraulic elevators. Situated in the heart of downtown Syracuse, New York, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as part of the Montgomery Street-Columbus Circle Historic District.

Roofing elements are varied and uncommon. They consist of copper-clad domes of diverse sizes, arched clay tile roofs and low-sloped bituminous membrane roofs. The copper work is the dominant, architecturally defining feature. The building's low-sloped membranes were reroofed in 1956 and again in 1980. To mark the Court House's Centennial, the Onondaga County legislature approved the restoration of the entire building envelope.

The roofing restoration project encompassed approximately 43,000 square feet, with one large central dome and four smaller satellite domes, each made of copper. These were all original to the building. Many of the building overhangs and smaller domed copper roof areas have flat copper surfaces; the original design was replicated. Each of the two side clay-tile domes has a large cruciform-shaped finial at its peak. Several missing vertical elements, noted in older documents, were added to restore the finials to their historic design intent.

The lead professional design firm, Klepper, Hahn & Hyatt of East Syracuse, New York, researched the existing construction, studying what was in place and why failures had occurred. They then established the performance requirements for the project, specifying the level of quality and detailing and working closely with the general contractor, Hueber-Breuer Construction Company, and the roofing contractor, Henderson-Johnson Company, both of Syracuse.

Henderson-Johnson retained the services of Canadian sheet metal contractor Heather & Little of Markham, Ontario. There followed a highly collaborative effort to replicate the features and improve the detailing and performance of the copper roof elements. The interests and expertise of the design team complemented the expertise and abilities of the fabricator to produce outstanding results. Every effort was made to match the existing forms and elements. In all, more than 35,000 pounds of 20-ounce copper were used.

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Roofing Contractor

Sheet Metal Contractor

New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Building
Fredericton, NB, Canada

Located in one of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, the New Brunswick Legislative Building is the building that houses the provincial assembly. Opened in 1882, it was designed by architect J.C. Dumaresq following the destruction of the original building (known as Province Hall) by fire in 1880. It was designed in Second Empire style, the signature style of Saint John following the fire. One prominent feature of the Legislature is its 41-metre wide dome.

The fabrication of the dome in copper was a key part of the restoration project. It included replacement of decayed wood framing and sheathing with new wood construction where required, and the replacement of deteriorated galvanized steel cladding with copper, as was the original architect's intention. The new 16-oz. copper cladding featured the ornate forms of the original dome. The weatherproofing was improved with the addition of waterproofing membranes and roof-shield fabric underneath the cladding. Ventilation was designed into the project to improve performance of the new building envelope and longevity of the original timber structure of the upper unheated portion.

The restoration was carried out by Heather & Little, Toronto-based specialists in ornamental metal restoration, in association with New Brunswick companies and tradespeople. Heather & Little are perhaps North America's most prominent copper fabricator and contractor. Some of the many projects they have been involved with include domes and roof structures for Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, the Manitoba Legislative Building, the Thomas Jefferson Congressional Library in Washington, D.C., San Francisco City Hall, and the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, for which they also received a NACIA Award last year

According to a company representative, the detail of the hand-crafted copper fabrications required to copy the original metalwork was as varied and complex as any of the other important projects on which they have worked.

The architect for the restoration of the site was D.M. Steeves & Associates of Fredericton, New Brunswick, who is heavily involved with restoration issues, both in his everyday practice, and through his involvement with groups like the Fredericton Heritage Trust.

Sheet Metal Contractor

Architect

St. Patrick's Basilica
Montreal, QC

Located in downtown Montreal, St. Patrick's Church was opened on March 17th, 1847 to serve the needs of the Irish immigrants who had come to the city in great numbers due to the famine and other troubles. The church was built in the Gothic Revival style on a promontory overlooking the City of Montreal. Its spire could be seen by all. Over the years the city grew to the north, east and west, surrounding the church with modern-day Montreal.

St. Patrick's Church was raised to the status of Minor Basilica by His Holiness, Pope John-Paul II in 1989 because of its historical importance as the mother church of the English-speaking Catholics of greater Montreal. In view of its key role in the history of Montreal, the Basilica has been designated both an Historical Monument by the Government of Quebec and, in 1996, a National Historic Site of Canada

St. Patrick's recently underwent its fourth major restoration, at the cost of five-million dollars. The restoration was paid for by a Provincial Government subsidy and by contributions from corporations, foundations, and individuals. Part of this restoration included an extensive new copper batten-seam roof, fabricated from 16-oz. copper sheet, as well as an ornate new copper spire.

The restoration was guided by architect Fernando Pellicer, Werleman Guy McMahon Architects, an architect who has been involved with many copper restoration projects of this type. The installation was carried out by Couvreur Verdun Inc, a roofing company with extensive copper experience in Quebec.

The new copper roof will provide the basilica with many decades of trouble-free service and will eventually weather to a beautiful green colour typical of copper roofs specific to Montreal.

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