FACADES, LOUVRES & RAINSCREEN
Aberdeen Art Gallery. Photo: ©dapple photography.
Post Hotel, Gothenburg. Photo: ©Chris Hodson.
CONTEMPORARY COPPER REGENERATION Although copper was one of the first metals used by man and one of our oldest building coverings, it has been rediscovered by architects as a thoroughly modern material. But with its timeless and naturally developing qualities and a growing palette of colours, surfaces, forms and applications, copper is particularly well-suited to enhancing the regeneration of period buildings with contemporary interventions, exemplified by a range of projects. Here, Graeme Bell, Nordic Copper Sales & Marketing Manager at Aurubis, looks at some examples. AURUBIS
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ith the 20th century and international modern movement came a fresh approach to architectural copper away from its historic role as a durable roof covering to a thoroughly contemporary material, recognising unique architectural properties and characteristics. Copper is now used as a skin for facades, roofs, interiors and architectural elements of all shapes with minimal constraints and a real sense of design freedom. The natural development of a distinctive patina defines copper with colours changing over time, determined by and reflecting location environmental conditions. But modern factory-applied surface treatments now provide straightaway the distinctive and unique brown oxidisation and blue/green patination to selected levels. Essentially, they bring forward natural environmental changes without taking away the integrity of copper as a living material. Copper alloys, including brass and bronze, add to the extensive material palette available today. FC&A – MARCH – 2021
Aberdeen art gallery A clear demonstration of copper’s use as a contemporary cladding material referenced by historic architectural use of the material, without simply copying the old, can be seen at the Aberdeen Art Gallery. Part of Hoskins Architects’ award-winning regeneration scheme, a striking contemporary rooftop addition is clad in copper panels, reinforcing copper’s historic presence on the city’s civic roofscape. The extension was designed as a highly sculptural element, responding to the proportions and colours of the historic granite frontages. It is defined by vertical, scalloped panels – some perforated for transparency – of light brown pre-oxidised copper: a thoroughly contemporary design but sharing materiality with the buildings’ classical copper dome. Repairs to the dome itself were carried out using green prepatinated copper, complementing its existing historic patination. As with the 28
original, all the new copper will develop naturally over time, characterised by its local environment.
Post Hotel, Gothenburg In Gothenburg, Sweden, original copper detailing heavily influenced major additions transforming the redundant central Post Office building – a listed national monument – into a 500-bedroom landmark hotel. Architect firm Semrén & Månsson’s deceptively simple strategy was to close up the gap in the original building’s horseshoe-shaped plan with a new twin-tower intervention. This comprises one wing clad in green prepatinated copper, the other slate – both materials used on the old Post Office roof. Where the wings meet, they rise up together, as a pair of monolithic forms – a pair of hands in prayer, above the original roof seen from the main square. Copper was central to the architect’s concept from the start, referencing the original: the new building was perceived as a young relative with the same DNA. Three different intensities of green prepatinated surfaces were selected, created by varying the amount of green over a dark brown background. The combination of these elements enabled the creation of rich, animated copper surfaces for the new tower. Corners are expressed with a modern take on traditional vertical ‘quoins’, seen on the original building, expressed as thin strips, sometimes incorporating flush glazing amongst the copper.
