Exotic or Unusual Applications
Project Name: Copper Storefronts, Chambers & Warren Streets
Location: New York City, New York
Architect: Li Saltzman Architects, PC
Contractor: NIKO Contracting Co., Pittsburgh, PA
Copper Applications: Copper cladding of storefronts, doors & windows
Project Description: This striking project involved fabricating and installing new copper clad storefronts, copper clad doors and copper clad windows to match the originals that were originally installed in the 1920's but had since been removed. The doors are clad with copper on all sides and edges and are 36" x 96" x 2.25" thick. The use of copper really sets this storefront appart from the typical and humdrum.
Project Name: Moline Public Library
Location: Moline, Illinois
Architect: OPN Architects
Contractor: Russell Construction
Fabricator: Metal Design Systems, Inc.
Copper Applications: Flat lock exterior wall cladding
Project Description: The design program for this new, 70,000 square foot public library called for a state-of-the-art library structure that incorporated timeless building materials and design elements that would serve the community of Moline well into the latter half of the 21st century. The OPN design team chose 11,000 square feelt of untreated as well as pre-patinated copper wall cladding finishes to compliment their use of brick, stone, aluminum and glass for the building exterior surfaces. Copper’s natural beauty, long life, and outstanding peformance helped create this strikingly handsome, maintenance free building of which the community is very proud.
The copper wall cladding adds striking visual appeal through the use of a “running bond” flat seam pattern on the natural copper surfaces combined with an overlapping diamond-shaped pattern in a pre-patinated copper finish. All of the panels were constructed of flat lock copper composite panels, 2 mm thick.
Project Name: State Emergency Operations Center
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Architect: DeStefano and Partners, Ltd.
Contractor: River City Construction, LLC
Copper Applications: Exterior rain screen
Project Description: One of a new generation of facilities designed to manage security threats and emergency operations, this new 50,000-square foot building houses mission critical technology and offices for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and its affiliate agencies. A layered design approach facilitated delivery on an extremely aggressive, 19-month schedule. The essential, secure "box" of the structure was designed to be constructed quickly and weatherproofed in only three months. A copper rain screen configuration for the exterior wall allowed work to proceed inside and outside almost simultaneously. The exterior perforated copper screen creates a degree of lightness and elegance and protects the facility while isolating sensitive parts of the project from electromagnetic pulses that might be caused by lightning or electrical storms. [Photographs are courtesy of Barbara Karant, of Karant + Associates, Inc.]
Project Name: New England Biolabs
Location: Ipswich, Massachusetts
Architect: JungBrannen Associates, Inc.
Contractor: John Moriarty & Associates, Inc.
Copper Applications: The exterior walls of this project are constructed of a curtainwall system that incorporates field-patinated composite copper panels, snap-on mullion cover caps and custom profile horizontal copper fins. The exterior doors and hollow metal frames are also clad with field-patinated copper sheet. Additionally, there are exterior copper light bollards along stairs and pathways, exterior copper lights in the building entry vestibules and canopies, raw copper flashings, scuppers and downspouts at the penthouse roof, and sheet copper flat seam roofs at the entry vestibules.
Project Description: Having experienced tremendous growth and success, coupled with a constantly evolving array of new products, New England Biolabs needed a larger, state-of-the-art biotech facility dedicated to their ongoing research efforts. With this in mind, JungBrannen designed a three-story, 208,000-square foot facility with 40% dedicated solely to research and production labs. The new, build-to-suit research and production labs are located in the rural setting of Ipswich, Mass., on a surviving great estate. The building, designed for LEED Certification, is heavily clad in various shades of green, field-patinated copper panels and is sited on a soft, rolling landscape.
There is a smooth transition among the various materials that make up the exterior skin of the building, namely, the copper panels and the inset, pale green glass curtainwall which runs the length of both sides of the building. Unique to this curtainwall are the horizontal copper fins with snap-on mullion cover caps or "eyebrows" located above and below the glass. These eyebrows act as shading devices and minimize the building's heat gain. Similar subtleties can be found throughout the architectural design which contribute to the "Green Building Principles" employed in this project.
Project Name: Het Oosten Office Pavillion 
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Architect: Steven Holl Architects
Copper System: Prepatinated, perforated copper panel screen system
Project Name: Harvard Chapel
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Architect: Moshe Safdie and Associates
Copper System: Prepatinated, profiled copper panel system
Project Name: Ceridian Corporate Headquarters
Location: Bloomington, Minnesota
Architect: Hammel, Green and Abramson, Inc.
Copper System: Laminated copper facing on a thermoplastic core on a stainless steel subgirt system
Project Name: Olympic Training Center
Location: Chula Vista, California
Architect: Tucker Sadler and Associates
Copper System: Custom seam profile on concrete structural system
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Featured Projects
- Standing Seam Roofs & Walls
- Batten Seam Roofs & Walls
- Flat Seam Roofs & Walls
- Horizontal Seam Roofs & Walls
- Interiors
- Exotic or Unusual Applications
Submit Your Project!
Architects and contractors who have completed recent projects are invited to submit their projects for consideration to be featured in this section by completing the Project Submission Form.
If you have already completed the submission form, you can email it to CDA [include representative image(s), if available, as an attachment to the email]. The submissions will be reviewed by CDA and if deemed appropriate for inclusion, you will be contacted by the assigned Architecture Regional Manager for verification and details.
CDA has also developed the Copper in Architecture Handbook which is a comprehensive resource presenting as much information about copper's properties, existing technology and application to the educational design and construction field as presently exists. CDA's architecture handbook is part of a multi-faceted program geared to the student, architect or contractor who is involved in the design or installation of copper, brass or bronze as an architectural element.
