european copper in architecture 16 -2013

EUROPEAN COPPER IN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS 16

INTRODUCTION

The biennial European Copper in Architecture Awards programme continues to grow in stature, not only celebrating exemplary and innovative uses of copper and its alloys in contemporary design but also exposing to a wide international audience projects of real quality - some of which might otherwise go unrecognised.

The 2013 judging panel, which met in London, consisted of four architects, all recipients of previous Copper in Architecture Awards:

1. Einar Jarmund (Jarmund/Vigsnæs, Norway)

2. Craig Casci (Grid Architects, UK)

3. Davide Macullo (Davide Macullo Architects, Switzerland)

4. Anu Puustinen (Avanto Architects, Finland).

They assessed all the entries from photographs, drawings and descriptions submitted by architects.

2 INTRODUCTION I copperconcept.org Photo: João Morgado - Architecture PhotographyPhotos: Chris Hodson

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INTRODUCTION I 3

This sixteenth iteration of the Awards generated a record 82 entries from around Europe, presenting the judges with a daunting task. They were impressed by the high standard demonstrated across the entries generally, with many examples of good buildings delivering their programmes well and contributing to their surroundings.

Firstly, they settled on ten shortlisted projects that stood out from the rest, revealing a real diversity of typologies and approaches, and excellent architectural qualities. Each of the ten shortlisted entries was then fully debated and compared with the others, initially revealing differing opinions, which ebbed and flowed amongst the four judges. Eventually, a clear consensus was reached revealing three particularly strong – and very different - schemes meriting Commendation … and a clear winner of exceptional quality (shown here and on the covers, as well as on pages 4-7. Photos: João Morgado - Architecture Photography).

Photo: João Morgado - Architecture Photography


4 WINNER I copperconcept.org

ARCHITECTS’ DESCRIPTION - SUMMARY

The buildings of the market square - and the space defined by them - characterise the urban landscape of Guimarães. The transformation of the marketplace into a multifunctional space dedicated to artistic, economic, cultural and social activities - within the scope of the European Capital of Culture 2012 - allowed for its reintegration into the urban fabric as a key area of the city space.

Although it was intended to maintain the scale and existing formal relations, a new solution was proposed for the building that promotes a strong relationship with the square and beyond. The new building uses a radically different language to its surroundings, with a succession of volumes marked by the juxtaposition of contrasting surfaces. The external skin - a grid of metal profiles in brass on ventilated façades and glazing - accentuates a range of textures. The brass profiles pass in front of partly-concealed windows, transforming the façades from opaque to translucent.

WINNER

PLATFORM OF ARTS AND CREATIVITY, GUIMARÃES, PORTUGAL

ARCHITECT

PITÁGORAS ARQUITECTOS

Photos: João Morgado - Architecture Photography

WINNER I 5

This series of volumes and dissonant elements, resulting from decomposition of the basic masses, originated from the need to create a variety of different spaces in the exhibition area, creating a tension evident in the volume of the building and the relationship with the space of the square, making it the main feature of the design. For the square, a proposal was formulated using large concrete slab paving, as a counterpoint to the surrounding buildings, characterized as a large multifunctional meeting area – a natural public space.


6 WINNER I copperconcept.org


JURY COMMENTS

Pitágoras Aquitectos’ regeneration of the ancient centre of one of Portugal’s most historically important cities is defined by unifying abstract cubic forms, veiled by a grid of brass profiles. The judges spent time discovering the numerous qualities of this inscrutable entry on several levels. The more they looked, the more was revealed.

The design is a confident response to the challenges of working within a UNESCO and City of Culture site. Pulling together a diversity of old buildings, the regeneration gives a new civic heart to the city – looking to the future as well as the past. It is telling that the project was designed by locally based architects.

WINNER

PLATFORM OF ARTS AND CREATIVITY, GUIMARÃES, PORTUGAL

ARCHITECT

PITÁGORAS ARQUITECTOS

Photos: João Morgado - Architecture Photography

WINNER I 7

Externally, the brass profile grid dematerialises the building’s mass, adding an extra, translucent dimension, while the flexible, white internal spaces flow gracefully one into the other. The design takes a clever, fresh approach which the judges described simply as fantastic. Of all the entries, this is the project that all the judges most want to visit and explore - a worthy Winner.



The key point of reference for the new library design was its location in the important environment of the civic centre created by Aalto - a masterpiece of modern architecture. The aim was to initiate a dialogue between the new and the old parts.

Dividing the new building into three sculpture-like sections was an important insight that helped to reconcile its large volume with the scale of the Aalto centre. The new library thus relates to its surroundings. On the other hand, it discreetly keeps distance from the outlines and materials of the old civic centre.

The multifarious interior spaces merge into each other in an open plan, revealing carefully designed views. At the core of the new building’s interior design is a large central reading terrace, a venue for events and a place for spending time, which leads the visitor to the collections downstairs and, through a subterranean passage, to the old library.

The façade of the new library is realized primarily in copper, in a conscious effort to create separation between the project and the white volumes of Alvar Aalto’s cultural and administrative centre. The material is not entirely new to the area, but has thus far been restricted mainly to the roofscape of Aalto’s buildings. In the new library, copper has been used extensively throughout the skin of the building, creating the impression of a sculpted, unified whole. A new copper cassette with a shingle-like appearance was designed specifically for the project and gives the building’s surface its unique character.


8 COMMENDED I copperconcept.org

COMMENDED SEINÄJOKI CITY LIBRARY, FINLAND ARCHITECT JKMM ARCHITECTS

Photo: Mika Huisman

COMMENDED I 9

JURY COMMENTS

The judges applauded this assertive but respectful, thoroughly contemporary addition to the most extensive cluster of Alvar Aalto buildings in the world. The massive, pristine white ‘frames’ to openings – mirroring the colour of Aalto’s buildings - work well in counterpoint to the rustic feel of the naturally weathering pre-oxidised copper of the external skin. A centrifugal plan form with changing levels generates lively, open spaces that will prove popular with users. The building sits comfortably amongst its illustrious neighbours while retaining its individuality – a real achievement that justifies its Commendation.

Photo: Mika Huisman




The project consists of two bronze and glass structures that cover the unique runic stones and preserve them for the future. The Jelling runic stones mark Denmark’s transition to Christianity in the year 965 and the monument is also known as Denmark’s “birth certificate”. The monument is classified UNESCO World Heritage and is one of Denmark’s most valuable sites.

The architectural composition allows spectators to get very close to the stones without damaging them and forms a stylized dialogue between the two stones, which represent the first two kings of Denmark – Gorm and Harald Bluetooth.

The bronze angles form one ‘wall’ and the roof for each runic stone, while the other sides are fully gazed. The objective was to accentuate the runic stones curved forms by contrasting them with the straight lines of the coverings which, in a metaphorical sense ‘hold protective hands’ over them. The cast bronze contrasts with the texture of the ancient stones and highlights their grey and reddish granite surfaces. The casting was carried out following the traditional “cire perdu” method.

A specially designed heating and ventilation system, which ensures a frost-free climate around the runic stones, is integrated within the structures. Artificial lighting has been discreetly added using fibre-optic light sources integrated in the roof. The lights emphasize the runic scripture and visual motifs, and highlight the shape of the runic stones.

COMMENDED COVERING OF THE RUNIC STONES IN JELLING, DENMARK ARCHITECT NOBEL ARKITEKTER

Photo: Linette Bekhøj

Photo: NOBEL Arkitekter

JURY COMMENTS

In terms of programme, the judges considered this project to be a ‘one-line poem’ – but found it exquisite nonetheless and certainly deserving of a Commendation. In this deceptively simple design, everything has been cleverly reduced down to a pure beauty. The interventions to this ancient site can be seen as a pair of perfectly crafted jewel boxes of real quality, substantially enhancing the visitors’ experience of the runic stones that they so carefully - but discreetly - protect.

COMMENDED I 11Photo: Jens Lindhe


The building is located on a hillside in the Dolomites, at the edge of a residential area. Its form has been developed mainly from its function of hosting 6 independent apartments with one common circulation: through a cut that marks the main access and the division of the units, splitting the volume. This incision becomes the main defining element of the building: from the cut, at either side a copper strip unfolds that forms the balustrade of a generous covered balcony and ends in the surrounding topography. Following the steep natural hillside with each floor, the strips and the façade jump back.

The design generates a volume which grows out of its natural surrounding topography and blends with it, by limiting materials to a very local, almost vernacular code: larch wood and pre-oxidised copper. Both are subject to a natural change of colour by the atmospheric influence of sun, rain and snow.

Local larch timber defines both internal and external living areas. Floor to ceiling glazing allows the maximum view and winter solar gain from the south, while external sun blinds and the overhangs of the balconies above minimise overheating during summertime. The dark copper surrounds the building on all sides. The form of the roof itself derives from local planning regulation which allows only a pitched roof in this specific building plot: reinterpreted, it merges with the design intention and also the traditional typology of pitched roofs - not simply copying but rather by exploring what new potentials of a traditional typology can be.



COMMENDED DOLOMITENBLICK, SEXTEN/SESTO (BZ), ITALY ARCHITECT PLASMA STUDIO

Photo: Hertha Hurnaus

COMMENDED I 13

JURY COMMENTS

The judges were seduced by the brilliant photographs and presentation of this entry, effortlessly displaying its strong sense of form and context. The design of this luxury apartment building echoes both Alpine topography and traditional roof forms, redefining the local vernacular. The rigorous use of copper and timber, both inside and out, to define the sculpted mass is impressive. This is a building designed and completed with conviction, justifying its recognition with a Commendation.

Photo: Hertha Hurnaus


This educational and cultural centre consists of seven elements organised around a single space, comprising: a school with kindergarten and elementary school, building restoration, a nursery, a library and a function room.

The main building is strategically located at the heart of the site and the layout creates a public square. The project focuses on the complementary aspects of the individual programs for the seven elements, as well as the shared nature of the entrance courtyard and pedestrian route. The project distributes the various entities across the site from the forecourt to the function room beyond a river.

The general facade treatment reinforces the theme of a functional whole with the use of materials. Protruding concrete slabs spin from one building to another, forming floors, walls or roofs. Within the folds of concrete are facade elements, transparent or perforated: joinery sets lacquered black, vertical sun-screens and slatted wood. Only the library building differs from the others with its golden copper alloy skin in folded or perforated strips. Using a micro-perforated metal gives the interiors a soft light while providing transparency of the surrounding city.

JURY COMMENTS

The judges enjoyed the formal language and playful interaction of interweaving concrete ribbons, in-filled with – almost floating - timber and copper alloy slab-like forms, with varying degrees of transparency. This is a good project with well-designed spaces both inside and out.

14 SHORTLISTED I copperconcept.org

SHORTLISTED PÔLE ÉDUCATIF ET CULTUREL, PAU, FRANCE ARCHITECT MARJAN HESSAMFAR & JOE VERONS ARCHITECTES ASSOCIES

Photo: David Helman

SHORTLISTED I 15

JURY COMMENTS

The judges applauded the sensitivity with which the architects have approached such a difficult project. Several symbolic and design ideas have been combined here but, ultimately, the simple concept of the delicate pierced copper alloy installation, sheltering the remains of the site of the tragedy, is both dignified and emotionally uplifting.

The Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the hostage drama in the Beslan School during September 2004. The school’s gymnasium - the centre of hostage taking – was chosen as the central place for remembrance. An elliptically shaped mourning wreath – commonly found in the Beslan area - served as a model for the new building’s shape, containing the partly-destroyed gymnasium. The remaining building fabric, with all its traces of the drama, is an essential aspect to preserve the authenticity of the place.

The new memorial building, consisting of 106 filigree concrete columns, encloses and protects the ruined gymnasium. Inclined, metal-clad hollow sections are located on the outside of the concrete columns and are occasionally fixed to them. Tissue-like, perforated golden copper alloy sheets are clamped between the concrete columns and the hollow sections, wrapping the building.

The decorative perforation of the copper alloy uses a motif, based on a flower (Helleborus orientalis) which grows in the Caucasus and is a symbol of virginity and innocence. At selected locations, full-height openings give access to the internal walkway between the new memorial building and the ruined gymnasium. An elliptical glass skylight is located symmetrically above the gymnasium.

SHORTLISTED BESLAN MEMORIAL, REPUBLIC OF NORTH OSSETIA-ALANIA, RUSSIA ARCHITECTDR KREKELER GENERALPLANER GMBH

Photo: Dr Krekeler Generalplaner GmbH



SHORTLISTED RADIO-LOG STRAHLENTHERAPIE, HOF, GERMANY ARCHITECT HIENDL_SCHINEIS ARCHITEKTEN

JURY COMMENTS

What interested the judges most about this project were the seductive, shiny copper surfaces reflecting nearby trees - despite their transient nature, with changes anticipated over time. The design distances itself from the traditions of copper cladding with its crisply detailed, pristine surfaces. A fascinating use of material - all about copper and its qualities.

A simple cubic form, the building breaks free of its restrictions and plays with the angled lines of the facade panel sections. Clusters of trees grow around the building, sometimes producing shadow, accentuating the verticality of the design. The façade is divided into non-parallel sections that develop a lively interplay with the surrounding trees.

The material used for the curtain-walling is copper, which will age with time. The changing seasons are reflected in the subtle colour changes which will occur in the metal, from luminous bright copper to a warm red-brown - from shiny to matt. The curtain-wall façade is applied using a specially developed adhesive system to give a completely flat surface with crisp edges. The shimmering green glass breaking up the copper facade scatters light internally and, at night, spreads light from inside to out, bringing the building to life.

Photo: Hiendl_Schineis Architecten

SHORTLISTED I 17

The building is a graft onto the complexity of the Venetian urban system facing Piazzale Roma, the car-entrance space into the city of Venice. At the same time it becomes the ‚infrastructure’ which brings an existing 19th century factory complex (Ex-Manifattura Tabacchi) to a contemporary use: in fact it houses the technological systems serving the whole.

The scale of the building is measured on the huge void of Piazzale Roma facing the bridge of Santiago Calatrava, on the opposite side. A new program proposes a hybrid typology being, at the same time, both a building and infrastructure as the new structure, together with some law-court offices and archives, houses all the systems which enable the urban system of the Ex-Manifattura Tabacchi to work again, regaining for the city its system of public spaces.

Facing the urban skyline of Piazzale Roma, the simple and compact shape of the new volume connects the skyline of the multi-storey parking lots to the smaller Venetian urban texture. On Piazzale Roma the volume doesn’t touch the ground: a 5m long cantilever draws the pedestrian flows inside. With the pre-oxidation process of the copper which wraps the building (copper in Venice represents institutional buildings) the action of time in architecture is explored and initiated. So, the building becomes a shadow belonging both to history and the present.

JURY COMMENTS

The judges were intrigued by the monolithic gabled shape presenting a distinctive, dark profile – indeed, almost a shadow - borrowing from Venice’s industrial buildings. But there the local references end and the building presents an excellent example of good, modern design – almost Scandinavian in flavour.

SHORTLISTED LCV LAW-COURT OFFICES, VENICE, ITALY ARCHITECT C+S ARCHITECTS

Photo: Pietro Savorelli


Clarion Hotel Post is located close to the central train station in Gothenburg. In 2005 the idea of transforming the old post office building into a modern, 500-bed hotel was born. The original building from 1925, by architect Ernst Torulf, is classified as nationally important, so the exterior and most of the interior is strictly protected. But a good collaboration with the authorities made it possible to build 17,000 m² within this State listed building.

The extension is placed in the gap of the horseshoe-shaped plan of the original building, adapting to the original eaves level, then rising above the horizontal Post Office in two tower wings - one clad in copper, the other in slate - joined by a vertical sliver of glass. The copper and slate match the original building roof materials, but as part of a contemporary design, so that the new building becomes a ”younger relative with the same DNA”.

To create a living surface for the copper façade, three different types of pre-patinated copper were used, in three different heights. The whole structure was prefabricated in room-width modules each with a floor-to-ceiling high window, and then mounted in place.

JURY COMMENTS

Thoroughly contemporary copper and glass interventions transform this nationally important, redundant building while displaying real respect for its original architecture. Apart from its architectural strengths, the judges welcomed the potential for this vibrant hotel to act as a civic focal point and catalyst for urban regeneration.


SHORTLISTED CLARION HOTEL POST, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN ARCHITECT SEMRÉN & MÅNSSON

Photo: Lennart Hyse

SHORTLISTED I 19

JURY COMMENTS

This modern interpretation of vernacular architecture, veiled in copper mesh, nestles comfortably in its rural town, back yard setting. While debating some elements of the design, all the judges really liked the central concept and its realisation, which provides a tangible connection between the town and the countryside.

This new cultural and media centre in a typical rural Normandy town takes its cue from the forms of local buildings but transformed into modern additions. The project comprises two distinct wings, linked by a central reception area. The 65m long east wing contains multimedia libraries for adults and children, the west wing is longer at 75m and houses both a Music School and Dance School.

The architects sought a contemporary building in the heart of the plot that redefines the relationship with its natural surroundings (gardens, alleys, stone walls) and the built environment (traditional buildings and shelters). The plan of the different cultural spaces was conceived as growing like a rhizome connected at the reception area. Here, full glazing plunges the visitor into the green setting highlighted by the wild flower meadow between the two wings.

The steep pitched roof profile of the existing buildings is reflected in the new but with a modern continuity of surfaces in purple slate, interrupted by transparent mesh areas of expanded, pre-oxidised copper sheets over large glazed areas. The entrance to the complex from the street is announced by a dematerialised extrusion of vernacular buildings, also veiled in copper mesh.

SHORTLISTED L’ATELIER, GOURNAY EN BRAY, FRANCE ARCHITECT VINCENT PARREIRA ATELIER ARCHITECTURE

Photo: Luc Boegly

The Awards programme is part of the European Copper in Architecture Campaign, which also includes Copper Architecture Forum magazine and the copperconcept.org website, both of which include additional coverage of the Awards and all the entries, as well as information about future Awards.

Visit www.copperconcept.org to: • order your free printed copy of Copper Architecture Forum magazine• subscribe for the Copper Concept Newsletter • find out more about the European Copper in Architecture Awards• join our Copper Concept Linkedin group

Using this link you can download an iBook featuring all the Awards 16 entries:

MEET YOU AT OUR 2015 AWARDS!

Editor: Chris Hodson RIBAPublisher: European Copper Institute, Avenue de Tervueren 168 b-10, B-1150 Brussels, Belgium


european copper in architecture 16 -2013

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