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Concept
Copper in architecture
Summary
Copper has earned a respected place in the related fields of architecture, building construction, and interior design. From cathedrals to castles and from homes to offices, copper is used for a variety of architectural elements, including roofs, flashings, gutters, downspouts, domes, spires, vaults, wall cladding, and building expansion joints.
The history of copper in architecture can be linked to its durability, corrosion resistance, prestigious appearance, and ability to form complex shapes. For centuries, craftsmen and designers utilized these attributes to build aesthetically pleasing and long-lasting building systems.
For the past quarter century, copper has been designed into a much wider range of buildings, incorporating new styles, varieties of colors, and different shapes and textures. Copper clad walls are a modern design element in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Some of the world's most distinguished modern architects have relied on copper. Examples include Frank Lloyd Wright, who specified copper materials in all of his building projects; Michael Graves, an AIA Gold Medalist who designed over 350 buildings worldwide; Renzo Piano, who designed pre-patinated clad copper for the NEMO-Metropolis Museum of Science in Amsterdam; Malcolm Holzman, whose patinated copper shingles at the WCCO Television Communications Centre made the facility an architectural standout in Minneaoplis; and Marianne Dahlbäck and Göran Månsson, who designed the Vasa Museum, a prominent feature of Stockholm's skyline, with copper cladding. Architect Frank O. Gehry's enormous copper fish sculpture atop the Vila Olimpica in Barcelona is an example of the artistic use of copper.
Copper's most noteworthy aesthetic trait is its range of hues, from a bright metallic colour to iridescent brown to near black and, finally, to a greenish verdigris patina. Architects describe the array of browns as russet, chocolate, plum, mahogany, and ebony. The metal's distinctive green patina has long been coveted by architects and designers.
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A metal roof is a roofing system featuring metal pieces or tiles exhibiting corrosion resistance, impermeability to water, and long life. It is a component of the building envelope. The metal pieces may be a covering on a structural, non-waterproof roof, or they could be self-supporting sheets. Lead and Copper have played a significant role in architecture for thousands of years (see: copper in architecture). Lead was one of the first and easiest metals to smelt and with a low melting point, could be easily formed watertight.
Roof
A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temperature, and wind. A roof is part of the building envelope. The characteristics of a roof are dependent upon the purpose of the building that it covers, the available roofing materials and the local traditions of construction and wider concepts of architectural design and practice, and may also be governed by local or national legislation.
Building material
Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products are in use, some more and some less synthetic. The manufacturing of building materials is an established industry in many countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific specialty trades, such as carpentry, insulation, plumbing, and roofing work.
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