MCLEAN, Va. — From a skyscraper towering over Manhattan’s East River to the exterior envelope of a preK-12 school, the copper industry recently awarded 15 buildings from across the U.S. and Canada with its 2018 North American Copper in Architecture (NACIA) Award for outstanding use of architectural copper and copper alloys. 

The winners included educational facilities, residential dwellings, government buildings and religious structures.

Several of the entries featured cooper roofing and dome applications.

The NACIA awards program, established in 2008 by the Copper Development Association (CDA) and the Canadian Copper & Brass Development Association (CCBDA), recognizes and promotes copper buildings in the United States and Canada selected across three categories: New Construction, Renovation/Restoration and Ornamental Applications.

“Architects and contractors continue to develop innovative and impressive designs that speak to copper’s formability, durability and unique weathering characteristics,” said Stephen Knapp, the director of the Strip, Sheet, & Plate Council for CDA. “Copper may be referred to as mankind’s oldest metal, but it certainly isn’t antiquated. In fact, as green building trends continue, we expect specification of copper to increase in order to meet various sustainable building standards.”

Several of the 2018 award-winners turned to copper for its sustainable properties including the LEED Gold targeted project, Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge. The project utilized copper to provide a unique blend of natural materials and colors. The building’s brass shingles capture the rolling prairie landscape of the Alberta Foothills just west of Calgary before entering the Rocky Mountains.

Thousands of pounds of copper were used by the award-winning projects to clad and roof religious structures such as the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, N.C.; government buildings such as West Block Rehabilitation Project Parliamentary Hill in Ottawa, Ontario; residential dwellings such as The American Copper Buildings in New York City; and education facilities such as the Local 130 Plumbers Training Facility in Chicago.

The submissions were judged and evaluated by a panel of copper industry and architecture experts based on overall building design, integration of copper, craft of copper installation and excellence in innovation or historic renovation. The 2018 award recipients were honored at the annual NACIA Awards Ceremony on June 21 in New York City.

This year's winners were:

New construction:

• 130 Plumbers Training Facility – Chicago. (wall cladding) Architect: Gensler
• 325 Kent Avenue – Brooklyn, New York. (wall cladding) Architect: SHoP Architects. Façade Fabricator: Hi-Tech Metals Inc.
• 400 Dexter – Seattle, Washington. (wall cladding) Architect: CollinsWoerman
• The American Copper Buildings – New York, N.Y. (wall cladding) Architect: SHoP Architects
• Holbrook PreK-12 School – Holbrook, Mass. (wall cladding) Architect: Flansburgh Architects. General Contractor: Consigli Construction Co. Inc.
• Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral – Raleigh, N.C. (roofing, dome construction) Sheet Metal Contractor: Baker Roofing Co.
• Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge – Calgary, Alberta (wall cladding) Architect: GEC Architecture. Sheet Metal Contractor: Thermal Systems
• St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church – Brampton, Ontario (dome construction) Architect: Zimmerman Workshop Architecture + Design

Restoration:

• Bradford County Courthouse – Towanda, Pa. (roofing, dome restoration) Architect: Hunt Engineers, Architects, Land Surveyors & Landscape Architect, DPC. Roof Consultant: Levine & Co. Inc. Sheet Metal Contractor: Charles F. Evans Co. Inc.
• Colorado State Capitol – Denver, Colo. (roofing) Architect: Humphries Poli Architects Sheet Metal Contractor: Douglass Colony Grou
• Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church – New Haven, Conn. (roofing, dome restoration) Sheet Metal Contractor: The Roofer LLC
• The Hadrian - Cornice Replication – New York, N.Y. (exterior ornamentals, façade restoration) Architect: Jan Hird Pokorny Associates Inc. Manufacturer: Ornametals Manufacturing LLC.
• Union Station – Toronto, Ontario (roofing) Architect: +VG Architects - The Ventin Group Ltd. Sheet Metal Contractor: Semple Gooder Roofing Corp.
• West Block Rehabilitation Project Parliamentary Hill – Ottawa, Ontario (roofing) Architects and Conservation Architects: Arcop/Fournier Gersovitz Moss Drolet Architects in Joint Venture.  Sheet Metal Contractor: Heather and Little Ltd.

Ornamental

• Museum of the Bible – Washington D.C. (exterior applications) Sheet Metal Roofing Contractor: The James Myers Co. Inc. Engineer/Fabricator: A. Zahner Co.