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EDITORIAL
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WINNING WAYS WITH COPPER It is a pleasure to open this issue with the results of the 2017 European Copper in Architecture Awards. But there is far more to read as well, with a wide selection of other projects from around Europe and well beyond, and our second ‘Copper Inside’ interior design supplement. This year’s 18 th Awards programme (pages 4-9) again revealed some of the best contemporary European architecture. Congratulations to those who received awards or were shortlisted and thanks to everyone who participated. We are also grateful to all those of you who voted via copperconcept.org for a ‘Public Choice’ winner.
In Sydney, a prominent apartment building – and 2016 World Architecture Festival Finalist – is characterised by perforated copper ‘wings’ protecting south facing balconies (pages 24-25). Also showcasing copper in conjunction with brick is a high-rise tower with surrounding buildings in Birmingham (pages 26-29).
Moving on from the Awards, we visit a metro station ticket hall in Helsinki where floating copper elements, envisaged as ‘leaves’, play a purely aesthetic role (pages 10-13). In contrast, alternating houses in an Amsterdam regeneration development are enwrapped in a protective, golden copper alloy skin forming walls and roofs (pages 14-17).
Next, copper plays the leading role in a technology building in Cottbus, Germany, to deliver its slick horizontality (pages 30-32). In Vantaa, Finland, a complete external skin of prepatinated copper now protects a weather-worn brick church (pages 33-35).
Our central feature explores the extensive and innovative application of copper alloy – again, for both walls and roof – on a new museum at the heart of Chengdu, China, demonstrating the material’s particular suitability for massive new buildings (pages 18-23).
Our final pairing considers museums in the desert. At a UNESCO World Heritage site in Saudi Arabia, bronze complements the stone walls of new structures as well as historic mud remains (pages 36-37). Similarly, copper features as part of a limited palette of enduring materials for a visitor centre celebrating a Bronze Age archaeological site in Sharjah, UAE. We hope you enjoy reading this issue. The Editorial Team
Order your free printed copy and read magazine back issues on copperconcept.org Copper Architecture Forum 43, December 2017
Publisher: Nigel Cotton, ECI Editor in Chief: Robert Pintér
Copper Architecture Forum is part of the ”European Copper In Architecture Campaign”. It is published twice a year and has a circulation of 25.000 copies.
Editor: Chris Hodson RIBA
The magazine is distributed to architects and building professionals throughout Europe – and beyond – in English, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish languages.
Editorial panel: Birgit Schmitz, De Kazimierz Zakrzewski, Pl Marco Crespi, It Nicholas Hay, UK Nikolaos Vergopoulos, Gr Nuno Diaz, Es Olivier Tissot, Fr Pia Voutilainen, Se, No, Fi, Dk Robert Pintér, Hu, Cz, Svk, Ru Yolande Pianet, Benelux
E-mail: editorialteam@copperconcept.org Address: CAF, European Copper Institute, Avenue de Tervueren 168 b-10, B-1150 Brussels, Belgium Layout and technical production: ECI Printing: Copy & Consulting Kft., Hungary
Editorial team: Ari Lammikko, Chris Hodson, Graeme Bell, Herbert Mock, Hermann Kersting, Robert Pinter birgit.schmitz@copperalliance.de kazimierz.zakrzewski@copperalliance.pl marco.crespi@copperalliance.it nick.hay@copperalliance.org.uk nick.vergopoulos@copperalliance.gr nuno.diaz@copperalliance.es olivier.tissot@copperalliance.fr pia.voutilainen@copperalliance.se robert.pinter@copperalliance.hu yolande.pianet@copperalliance.eu
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CONTENTS
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18 – 23 COVER: Chengdu Museum
36 – 37 2 WINNING WAYS WITH COPPER – editorial comment 4 – 9 COPPER IN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS – summary of the results and judges’ comments from the 2017 Awards programme 10 – 13 COPPER FOREST – the strong image of a new metro station is softened by its ‘foliage’ of independent copper leaves 14 – 17 GOLD AND SILVER BOATHOUSES – a canal-side development uses golden copper alloy to reference its locality’s shipyard heritage 18 – 23 A GOLDEN COPPER ALLOY ARTEFACT – inspired by its ancient exhibits, golden copper alloy covers a massive new museum 24 – 25 COMPLEMENTARY COPPER – applied to distinct details, copper is one of the high-quality materials on this elegant apartment building
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Sichuan, China
Photo: Arch-Exist
26 – 29 COPPER IN THE PARK – pre-oxidised copper cladding plays a unifying role in this student complex set in a historic park 30 – 32 HIGH-TECH COPPER – a sleek dark box epitomises copper as a thoroughly modern material for today’s technology buildings 33 – 35 COPPER TO THE RESCUE – damaged brickwork facades of a 1990s church are now shielded by a protective copper screen 36 – 37 A LIVING MUSEUM – a bronze clad visitor centre heralds the transformation of the Atturaif Living Museum into a world-class tourist venue 38 – 39 COPPER FOR THE BRONZE AGE – copper’s exceptional durability singled it out for the harsh environment of a desert museum
© Copper Architecture Forum 2017 COPPERCONCEPT.ORG 3
AWARDS 2017
Copper in Architecture Awards
copperconcept.org/awards
The results of the 2017 European Copper in Architecture Awards have been announced, as judging panel moderator and Editor Chris Hodson reports. The European Copper in Architecture Awards programme celebrates the beauty and versatility of copper and its alloys through some of the best contemporary architecture. It also seeks to expose to a wider international audience inspirational projects, some of which might otherwise go unrecognised. The judging panel for this eighteenth iteration of the biennial awards consisted of four architects, all recipients of previous awards: Ebbe Waehrens (BBP ARKITEKTER, Copenhagen), Maxime Enrico, (LAN, Paris), Ville Hara (Avanto Architects, Helsinki) and Craig Casci (GRID Architects, London).
WINNER
MAERSK TOWER Copenhagen, Denmark C.F. MØLLER ARCHITECTS This major research building was designed as a sustainable landmark, in dialogue with the city and university, acting as a catalyst for positive urban development. The 15-storey tower rests on a series of low buildings containing common functions including auditoriums, classrooms and canteen. The facade is a grid comprising vertical copper fins that give varying shadow effects and changing apertures for the researchers’ workplaces throughout the day. The façadehigh windows with their copper fins, a third of which have sun-activated movable sections, help to reduce significantly the cooling energy requirement. The fins are truncated triangular copper-clad units split into two parts. Alongside the static part a sensor-controlled movable ‘wing’, covered with expanded copper, shields the glazing, moving in step with the sun’s path across the sky. The expanded copper maintains transparency for a pleasant, diffuse daylight and outlook over the surroundings. It also gives an open feel to the building suggesting that the city can look in on the Tower’s research. [Featured in our 42/2017 issue, page 22] Photos: Adam Mørk
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Entries were assessed from photographs, drawings and descriptions submitted by their architects. Overall architectural design, response to programme and context, importance of copper to the scheme and its detailing were all considerations. Choosing from the 35 entries, with major public buildings alongside modest domestic schemes, presented a real challenge and generated lively debate. But the judges eventually agreed on a shortlist of 8 projects that stood out from the rest with a diversity of typologies and design approaches – and some exceptional architecture. They then went on to select an overall Winner and two Commendations. Our website users also had their say with a Public Choice poll Winner.
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A major landmark building prominent on Copenhagen’s skyline, the Maersk Tower nonetheless delivers on other levels as well. The conceptual development of its complex programme offers a fresh, more openly interactive research building typology. The response to its urban context is impressive with a curved form making it slim and elegant. And the project’s design qualities extend to exceptional detailing throughout and the innovative use of copper for the gently animated copper facades that define the building. A unanimous judges’ choice, the Maersk Tower is a clear Winner.
AWARD WINNING PROJECT
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COMMENDED
BOSRUCK TUNNEL Austria RIEPL RIEPL ARCHITEKTEN Photo: Otto Hainzl
New portal structures for this road tunnel comprise a series of screens, made up of profiled and perforated brass cassettes, to partially conceal operational and safety facilities. Brass was chosen for its durability and resistance to road salt, following 30-year simulation trials.
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Golden copper alloy elevates utilitarian structures and this robust response to the dramatic location enhances travellers’ experience at speed.
[Featured in our 42/2017 issue, page 20]
COMMENDED
LAHTI TRAVEL CENTRE Finland JKMM ARCHITECTS
COMMENDED
Photo:Mika Huisman
This transport hub consists of a 60-metre long bus terminal canopy, enclosed lift and stair structures, local bus stops and a road tunnel underneath the centre. Together, these copper elements – including perforated and mesh material – create an easily perceived entity in a complex city environment.
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The uniting and enhancement of disparate everyday structures with copper is an exemplar of good design in the public realm.
[Featured in our 40/2016 issue, page 32]
AWARDS 2017
PUBLIC CHOICE WINNER
HYDROPOLIS Wrocław, Poland PRACOWNIA PROJEKTOWA ART FM Photo: Michal Lagoda
PUBLIC CHOICE WINNER
Roofed and clad in copper, this new entrance pavilion with an innovative ‘water printer’ sculpture celebrates the conversion of a remarkable 19th century reservoir in Wrocław into the ‘Hydropolis’ knowledge centre. Pre-oxidised copper adds the finishing touch to the entrance hall interior.
SHORTLISTED
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The new copper pavilion seems an entirely natural setting for the water sculpture, without competing with its historic neighbours.
[Featured in our 41/2016 issue, page 24, and on video at: copperconcept.org/video]
COMMUNAL STAGE Trondheim, Norway HUS ARKITEKTER AS
SHORTLISTED
Photo: Matthias Christoph Herzog
A focus for regeneration of Trondheim’s town square, this canopy has an outer skin of perforated and hand-patinated copper, middle layer of natural copper and inner stainless steel reflector. It transforms into an animated beacon at night with artificial lighting from the inner circle reflected throughout the screen.
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The canopy drum itself is innovative, cleverly conceived and beautifully executed – and must be fascinating to see in operation.
[Featured in our 41/2016 issue, page 4]
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SHORTLISTED
WALMER YARD London, UK PETER SALTER ASSOCIATES Photo: Helene Binet
On this intriguing and intimate courtyard scheme of four houses, copper is used to clad various roof forms – relying on the expertise of craftsmen to execute the various styles, numerous roof pitches and complex junctions – as well as bespoke gutters, canopies, door furniture and other details.
SHORTLISTED
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A complex, almost inscrutable scheme defying current architectural stereotypes, designed and crafted with a love of materials and detail.
ROW OF SIX HOUSES IN THE BARN Milano, Italy STUDIO ROBERTO MASCAZZINI ARCHITETTO, GINO GUARNIERI ARCHITECTS
SHORTLISTED
Photo: Simone Bossi
This replacement of an old barn incorporates some of the demolition material within metal mesh gabions to form both walls and roofs. These alternate with copper zones containing all the openings, which are fitted with vertically folding, copper-clad shutters that open mechanically.
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A fascinating concept and juxtaposition of copper and rubble to form both walls and roof make this a brave scheme.
AWARDS 2017
SHORTLISTED
SUVELA CHAPEL Helsinki, Finland OOPEAA Photo: Mika Huisman
SHORTLISTED
This new multi-purpose community complex serves one of Helsinki’s most multicultural districts. All spaces are on one level and the complex wraps around an intimate central courtyard. The exterior shell of the whole complex is entirely clad in copper to emphasise the unity of the building.
Copper in Architecture Awards Craig Casci, GRID Architects (left) “It was heart-warming to see projects of all sorts benefit from investment in good design and high quality materials like copper”
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With a real sense of social purpose this scheme looks to overcome multicultural challenges, fitting well into the urban fabric on its corner site.
copperconcept.org/awards
Ebbe Waehrens, BBP ARKITEKTER (middle, left) “The winning project delivers on many levels and is very much a part of the city, where it anticipates how copper will evolve over time”
Maxime Enrico, LAN (middle, right)
Ville Hara, Avanto Architects (right)
“The winning and shortlisted projects have very different qualities but they all show that you can make great buildings with copper, whatever their uses”
“Judging these awards was hard because of the totally different types, scales, design approaches and contexts, but also the quality of entries”
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COPPER FOREST
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by Matti Kallio A symbolic, diagonally inclined box emerging from below ground and forming part of a new Metro station is defined by its ‘foliage’ of independent copper leaves. An extension of the Helsinki Metro system, ‘Western Metro’ has been the largest infrastructure project in Finland since 2009 with 13 stations – each unique in character. One of three stations designed by HKP Architects, Tapiola Sports Park is dramatically announced by its Ticket Hall building. But this also connects to the local area with part of its inclined roof designed as a small amphitheatre serving events in the town square. The design sought to create a fluent and secure interior for passengers with a clear progression from Ticket Hall via long escalators linking the platforms below. Project architect Jukka Ollikainen explained: “One of our main tasks has been to eliminate the feeling of being below ground, with sunlight and spacious views through the Ticket Hall playing a crucial role.
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RAISED COPPER FOLIAGE “Here, copper leaves, behind the diagonal glass wall, add interest and create a lively interplay of light and shadow changing with different lighting conditions – a kinetic beauty reminiscent of a forest.” In the Ticket Hall, sunlight through the copper foliage creates changing patterns on the granite floor. A similar effect occurs on the ridged white facades behind the copper foliage grid system.
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The diagonal box Ticket Hall has a double façade. Its separate outer layer of copper ‘foliage’ comprises 445mm x615mm x 4mm leaf units of pre-patinated copper in 3 shades of blue/green. Each leaf is fastened to an acid-resistant stainless steel cable system, with 4 connectors at the cable intersections. The cables form a parallelogram-like, level grid connected to a stainless steel frame with secondary support beams attached to the background wall. Cable ends have compressed turnbuckle mechanisms for tensioning the grid.
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Here, copper leaves, behind the diagonal glass wall, add interest and create a lively interplay of light and shadow changing with different lighting conditions – a kinetic beauty reminiscent of a forest.
Architects: HKP Architects Copper Installer: Alupro OY Copper Products: Nordic Blue and Nordic Green (Living and Traditional surfaces) Photos: Matti Kallio
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GOLD AND SILVER by Chris Hodson Linking street and canal, this stylish Amsterdam housing development, replacing old industrial buildings, uses golden copper alloy and ‘silvergrey’ metal to acknowledge the area’s long history of shipyards.
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BOATHOUSES Strategically, Arons en Gelauff architecten’s design is organised into two bands of housing – each very different in character. Defining the street frontage are two brick blocks, either side of a narrow passage entrance, with the metal-clad canal-side housing beyond.
Together, they enclose a communal, green courtyard, which serves the waterside housing entrances, and includes semiprivate areas. The development is car free thanks to garage parking below the courtyard. The entrance route opens out into the courtyard and continues through to the canal. Here, it widens and steps down to touch the water and separates two staggered terraces of metal-clad houses.
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GOLDEN COPPER ALLOY These houses have deep floor plans and are set perpendicular to the water, inspired by traditional Amsterdam canal-side housing. Individual houses are highlighted by a narrowing top storey – a modern take on traditional steep gables – tapering from front to back and generating a private roof terrace alongside. A metal skin wraps up and over each house, encasing generous glazing to both elevations. This alternates between ‘silver-grey’ metal and a golden copper alloy, from one house to the next.
Architect: Arons en Gelauff architecten Copper Product: TECU® Gold Copper Installer: Elshof, Olst, NL Photos: Luuk Kramer
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A GOLDEN COPPER ALLOY
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ARTEFACT
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In 2007 Sutherland Hussey Harris, in collaboration with Beijing based Pansolution, won the international competition for a new City Museum for Chengdu in Sichuan, China. Here, they explain the project, Inspired by the ancient bronze, gold and jade artefacts that form part of the museum’s permanent exhibition.
The building sits on the West side of Tian-Fu Square – a new central focus of Chengdu. It presents an East façade of commensurate scale and proportion to embrace and address the huge scale of this new square and establishes a strong formal relationship to it with a simple enclosing rectilinear profile. The building celebrates this relationship to the monumental public space by extending an internal promenade of public foyers and circulation behind the entirety of the veiled façade.
The new Museum extends to over 65,000m2 and includes exhibition space for Natural History, History and Folk, and an 800 seat Chinese Shadow Play Theatre, as well as a 1000m2 Temporary Exhibition space. A huge challenge was to provide 30m clear span exhibition halls with a structure capable of withstanding an earthquake measuring up to 8 on the Richter scale. Sections of the building also cantilever over the subway network tunnels. The solution was a rigid diagrid steel lattice that forms the structural shell.
It also envelops a new undercover outdoor public space - a monumental gateway through the building. Here, people can gather, cultural events can take place and even the local street market extends through to the square. This also creates an important connection between the C16th Huang Cheng Mosque, the most significant in South West China, and the main square.
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The skin forming facades and roof is expressed as one homogeneous material – a golden copper alloy.
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Architects: Sutherland Hussey Harris with Pansolution International Design Co Copper products: TECU® Gold, TECU® Gold mesh Photos: Arch-Exist
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A PRECIOUS SKIN OF GOLDEN COPPER ALLOY The long narrow site is exploited to give all the public areas a dramatic relationship with the new square via the East elevation. The remaining three façades then enclose the largely hermetic exhibition halls, represented as a giant crafted artefact in the city cloaked in a precious skin of golden copper alloy rigorously profiled to play with light, shade and texture whilst accommodating all the technical requirements for ventilation grilles. Aside from the East face this skin is ‘lifted’ to reveal glazing at street level, allowing a more intimate human scale and relationship with the interior.
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The skin forming facades and roof is expressed as one homogeneous material – a golden copper alloy which holds its colour well with age – but designed in such a way that it modulates and folds to present a variety of qualities. This is done through the tessellation of the skin profile and the arrangement of solid and perforated mesh panels, arranged to suite functional requirements inside. The solid panels catch the sunlight dependent on their orientation and the mesh panels positioned where openings are required or where mechanical equipment needs to be ventilated. Meanwhile, the Eastern face is protected by a skin of perforated golden copper alloy mesh on a tension cable facade, coordinated with the folding geometry to maximise views out across the square. This also provides shading for the interior from the harsh glare of the Eastern sun and mediates the foyer spaces between outside glare and the dimmer environment of the exhibition halls.
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COMPLEMENTARY A World Architecture Festival Finalist in 2016, this apartment building in a prominent Sydney location is defined by its complementary, high quality materials including copper, as its designers SJB explain. Commanding expansive views over Sydney Harbour, 10 Wylde Street is a 7-storey building of 22 apartments set in an urban fabric originating from early colonial grand residences and the first apartment buildings in Australia. This rich heritage demanded an architectural response that was sympathetic while contemporary and innovative.
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The design needed to be sufficiently rigorous to form a permanent, positive addition to the dense and complex urban fabric. High quality materials were essential in achieving this and we selected copper as a natural, sustainable material that will age gracefully. The building envelope was defined by the previous building on the site and the resulting sight lines from adjacent properties. The northern façade elevated above neighbouring buildings is characterised by its transparency and fineness of detailing, with thin metal window framing, slender columns and folded copper edge details. This open elevation is contained by the elongated roman profile brick masonry forms of the other three facades.
AWARD WINNING PROJECT
COPPER PERFORATED COPPER WINGS Distinctive copper ‘wings’ to the rear, south façade enable small triangular balconies to project from the monolithic masonry, screening them from direct sun and directing views towards the city and harbour. A subtle pattern of perforations in the screens provides solar shading and privacy from adjacent buildings.
Architects: SJB Copper Installer: ARC Copper Product: Nordic Standard Photos: Brett Boardman
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COPPER IN THE PARK
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Distinctive pre-oxidised copper cladding plays a unifying role in Glancy Nicholls Architects’ competition-winning design of the Chamberlain Hall complex for the University of Birmingham. Set in a protected historic park, the new complex replaces 20th century buildings that proved unsuitable for modern, sustainable student accommodation and unfeasible to improve. Conceived as a landmark tower with three adjacent, linear ‘finger’ wings, the complex provides 726 student rooms, with communal facilities in the ground floor of the tower. The footprint of the new complex sits within the perimeter of the previous buildings, minimising impact on the surrounding parkland.
The architects’ ambition was to create a cohesive concept using materials and building forms to tie together the development as a whole. On the three ‘finger’ wings, brickwork matching local buildings acts as a ‘grounding’ material with pre-oxidised copper cladding as a striking, robust and high-quality finish above. The ends of the wings overlooking the park are highlighted by copper frames, projecting out to add solar shading.
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UNIVERSITY LANDMARK Intended as ‘a landmark for the University within the wider city skyline’, the tower is based on a cranked X-shape plan with two elements, one 21-storeys, the other 17-storeys, linked by glazing overlooking two local landmarks. The taller element is brick, contrasting with its copper-clad neighbour. The copper cladding on all the buildings incorporates perforated copper panels for natural ventilation to bedroom units and living spaces, opened internally. by Chris Hodson Architects: Glancy Nicholls Architects Copper Installer: CGL Facades Copper Product: Nordic Brown Light Photos: Alastair Carew-Cox
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Copper is a natural product that changes over time. The preoxidised finish accelerated the process, changing the copper from a shiny material to a rich brown finish more in keeping with the site.
/Project architect Parminder Degan/
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HI-TECH COPPER The latest addition to the Brandenburg Technical University campus in Cottbus, Germany, is a sleek dark box epitomising copper as a thoroughly modern material for today’s technology buildings. Its designers Bez+Kock Architekten discuss their rigorous approach to planning and materials.
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A sleek dark box epitomising copper as a thoroughly modern material for today’s technology buildings.
The new Institute of Information Technology, Computer Centre and Archive building is a four-storey, square form set within a row of existing institutes along the green central axis – Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee. The plan is symmetrical with entrances on both south (the main entrance) and north sides, and open stairs to upper floors on east and west sides. A ring structure places rooms on both sides of the corridors, organised around a rectangular courtyard. On the north and south sides, open lounges connect circulation spaces with the courtyard. Vertically, functions are arranged according to the frequency of visitors with seminar spaces on the ground floor. These rooms are located directly from lobbies, which double as lounges and have direct access to the courtyard. Office spaces are located on the first and second floors. PC laboratories are directly assigned to these spaces and located across the hall, oriented to the courtyard. The third floor has limited access and houses high-security spaces for the University Computer Centre.
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BANDS OF PRE-OXIDISED COPPER External façades are clad with horizontal bands of preoxidised copper, interrupted by ribbons of glazing. As a cladding material, copper is particularly suitable for curved corners, matched by the glazing. Directly under each ceiling a thin ribbon of glass, with integrated light-directing elements, brings light deep into the interior spaces.
Architects: Bez+Kock Architekten Generalplaner Copper Installer: Schabos Copper Product: TECU® Oxid Photos: © Stephan Baumann, bild_raum
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Internally, the building is dominated by the colour white – applied across floors, doors, built-in furniture and concrete walls with plank formwork. In contrast, individual accents of the rich, dark pre-oxidised copper are found on the Entrance area service wall, display cases, door handles and other interior elements, echoing the elegantly detailed façade.
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COPPER TO THE RESCUE by Chris Hodson and Matti Kallio
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Designed by architect Olli Pekka Jokela and completed in 1992, Hämeenkylä Church in Vantaa, Finland was defined by its two main elevations, comprising a monolithic mass of pale yellow brickwork. But years of weather damage such as ‘frost wedging’ (the repeated freeze-thaw cycle of water within the masonry) or similar problems, perhaps made worse by the inclination of its tapered walls, left the brickwork beyond practicable repair. The solution was a new external skin of pre-patinated copper, retaining the original architectural expression but with a fresh materiality and indefinite lifespan without maintenance.
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A NEW SKIN OF PRE-PATINATED COPPER A steel framework was constructed just in front of the failing brick walls, with pre- patinated copper cladding completely protecting the masonry from the weather while still allowing it to ‘breathe’. The new copper skin precisely follows the original inclined brickwork and fully accommodates the retained, original fenestration composition.
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The pre-patinated copper provides a continuous surface to the monolithic form, relieved by close horizontal banding...
The impressive natural lighting into the building that characterises its original design and views out from the interior remain unaffected. The copper continues over a huge rectangular opening that announces the church entrance at the head of an approach ramp and the adjoining tower. The pre-patinated copper provides a continuous surface to the monolithic form, relieved by close horizontal banding, referencing the brickwork beneath.
Architects: Olli-Pekka Jokela Copper Installer: Suomen Ohutlevyasennus Oy Copper Product: Nordic Green Living Photos: Matti Kallio
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A LIVING MUSEUM
Photo: Ayers Saint Gross
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Photo: Ted Henderer
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a new bronzeclad visitor centre heralds the transformation of the Atturaif Living Museum into a world-class tourist venue and UNESCO World Heritage site, as Daniel Henderer of architects Ayers Saint Gross explains. The Atturaif Visitor Reception Centre location is special as it is facing the ruins of the historic mud/adobe palace of the al Saud rulers of the First Saudi State. The rear of the building follows the Wadi Hanifa with solid stone walls, terraced and covered by an overhanging lightweight bronze roof.
CONTRASTING YET COMPLEMENTARY The Visitor Reception Centre will welcome guests to Atturaif and provide facilities, information, and guidance for visits to the 25-hectare site. Copper and copper alloy roofs and wall cladding are rare in Saudi Arabia but bronze was chosen here as a contrasting, yet complementary material to the historic mud structures and local stone walls, as well as for its natural patina.
The front of the building also has a bronze roof with deep soffit, which slopes upwards to promote views of the historic palace and site from the interior. The building’s solid stone walls, curving on plan, are connected by perpendicular bronze-clad walls and glazed openings. Architects: Ayers Saint Gross Copper Installer: Armetal Metal Industries Co Copper Product: TECU Bronze
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COPPER FOR THE
by Chris Hodson
SINUOUS PLAN
Set in the deserts of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, a multi-award winning visitor centre celebrates a Bronze Age archaeological site and features copper as part of a restrained palette of enduring materials.
The sinuous, curvilinear plan form terminates in a copperroofed reception and exhibition area, fragmenting into copper-clad folded elements spanning the café, with glazing opening out to the landscape. Copper proved to be the ideal material for the complex geometry, with careful detailing and fabrication by the cladding specialists, working closely with the architects.
The Mleiha Archaeological Centre is at the heart of an ecotourism project to protect the rich archaeology, environment and wildlife in the region, creating a coherent setting suitable for potential World Heritage Site status. Focused on and wrapping around the circular Bronze Age Umm an-Nar tomb – considered the most impressive grave building of the many ancient funeral sites in the area – the new building was designed by Dabbagh Architects and conceived as a double curve mirroring the spectacular Fossil Rock mountains nearby.
Architects: Dabbagh Architects Copper Installer: Arabian Profile Copper Product: Nordic Brown Light
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Given the historic importance and eco aspirations of the project, durability and sustainability were paramount in material selection. Principal architect Sumaya Dabbagh explained: “Alongside the regionally-sourced sandstone, we chose contrasting copper which is recyclable and will weather organically over time, thus enhancing its natural beauty. Apart from its obvious contextual relevance to the Bronze Age site, copper is exceptionally durable with low maintenance – essential in this harsh desert environment”.
BRONZE AGE
Photo: Gerry O’ Leary
Photo: Shurooq
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INSIDE COPPER
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EXPERIMENTARIUM, COPENHAGEN Our covers feature a new science centre, remodelled from a former bottling plant. It incorporates a copper-clad helical staircase spiralling up through the building’s atrium, leading visitors to four floors filled with new experiences. Conceived as an abstract version of the DNA strand’s structure, the 100m long staircase is clad with 10 tons of copper.
Architect: CEBRA Copper Product: TECU® Classic Copper Installer: AE Stålmontage Photos: Adam Mørk
INSIDE COPPER by Chris Hodson
Welcome … to the Copper Architecture Forum interior design supplement, celebrating the diversity of applications of copper and its alloys inside buildings.
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In this issue, we explore copper-clad sculptural staircases, dramatic ceiling spaces and hotel reception areas, as well as a modern take on chandeliers. These are just a few examples of today’s innovative designs inspired by copper.
B&B PUERTA DEL SOL HOTEL, MADRID Another copper staircase takes centre-stage – this time welcoming guests to a smart, boutique hotel. Simply and crisply detailed, the reflective copper surfaces add an elegant ‘high end’ quality and richness to the enclosed lobby area, enhanced by copper pendant light fittings.
Architect: Luis Vidal + Architects Copper Product: TECU® Bond Copper Installer: TR Biocom Tendencias Photos: Víctor Sájara
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MONDRIAN HOTEL, LONDON This transformation of a 1970s building into a luxury hotel, with transatlantic cruise liners as its inspiration, makes extensive use of copper for its interiors. In particular, the main Reception is, what designer Tom Dixon describes as,
“a massive structure inspired by a ship’s hull piercing through from the outside canopy into the lobby and right through past the elevators into the restaurant, all clad with copper”
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Designers: Tom Dixon Design Research Studio Photos: Peer Lindgreen
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Photo: André Morin, Dominique Perrault Architecture ADAGP
CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES Recent renovation of the Dufour Pavilion aims to provide a modern, functional facility for tourists. The main area features a light-filled ceiling space in waves of brass mesh and reflective solid forms, with additional contemporary brass ‘chandelier’ luminaires. Brass is also used for custom-made furniture, signage and other elements throughout the project.
Architect: Dominique Perrault Architecture Artistic direction, chandeliers and furniture design: Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost Design Copper Product: brass
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Photo: Pavillon Dufour, galerie, Christian Milet
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Copper Architecture Forum
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