Copper has earned respect in fields related to architecture, building and interior design. From cathedrals to castles, homes to offices, copper is used in a variety of architectural elements including roofs, flashing, gutters, downspouts, domes, pinnacles, vaults, walls 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 have utilized these attributes to construct beautiful and long-lasting building systems.
Over the past quarter century, copper has been designed into a wider range of buildings, including new styles, a variety of colors, and different shapes and textures. Copper clad walls are a modern design element in both interior and exterior environments.
Some of the world's most prominent modern architects relied on copper. Examples include Frank Lloyd Wright, who specified copper in all of his architectural projects; Michael Graves, an AIA Gold Medalist who has designed more than 350 buildings around the world; Renzo Piano's preformed cladding of copper for the NEMO-Metropolis Museum of Science in Amsterdam; Malcolm Holzman's copper cladding in the WCCO Television Communication Center's copper battery tiles make the facility stand out among the buildings in Minneapolis; Marianne Dahlbäck and Göran Månsson, who designed one of the standout features of Stockholm's skyline - the Vasa Museum, with 12,000 square meters of copper cladding. Architect Frank O. Gehry's huge copper fish sculpture above Vila Olimpica in Barcelona is an example of the artistic uses of copper.
Copper's most famous characteristic ranges from bright metallic colors to iridescent browns to near blacks and finally to a greenish patina. The architect described the brown as a range of browns, chocolate, plum, mahogany and ebony. The unique green antique color of this metal has long been used by architects and designers.
This article describes the practical and aesthetic benefits of copper in architecture, as well as its use in exterior applications, interior design elements and green buildings.
Advantages
Corrosion resistance
As a building metal, copper has excellent corrosion resistance. Copper forms a tough oxide-sulfate patina coating that protects the underlying copper surface and resists corrosion over time.
Copper corrodes at a negligible rate in uncontaminated air, water, deoxidizing non-oxidizing acids and when exposed to salt solutions, alkaline solutions and organic chemicals. The rate of corrosion of copper roofs in the rural atmosphere has been less than 0.4 millimeters for 200 years.
Unlike most other metals, copper is not subject to the undercutting corrosion that can lead to premature roof failure. For copper roofs, the supporting substrate and structure usually fail before the copper on the roof does.
However, architectural copper is susceptible to corrosive attack under certain conditions. Oxidizing acids, oxidizing heavy metal salts, alkali metals, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, ammonia and some sulfur and ammonium compounds can accelerate copper corrosion. Precipitation in areas with a pH below 5.5 may corrode copper, possibly before the formation of a patina or protective oxide film. Acidic precipitation known as acid rain is due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion, chemical manufacturing, or other processes that release sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Corrosive corrosion may occur when acidic water from non-copper roofs that cannot neutralize acidity (e.g., tile, slate, wood or asphalt) falls on small areas of copper. Line corrosion can occur if the drip edge of an inert roofing material is placed directly on copper. A solution to this problem may be to lift the lower edge of the shingle with a diagonal strip or to provide replaceable reinforcement strips between the shingle and the copper. Proper dewatering design and detailing reduces the residence time of acidic water on metal surfaces and can prevent most atmospheric corrosion problems.
Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, has good resistance to atmospheric corrosion, alkalis and organic acids. However, in some drinking water and seawater, brass alloys containing 20% or more zinc may suffer corrosive attack.
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