Henning Larsen - Copper Concept

p.4 Henning 

10 

Larsen 

- from the small to the large 

and the large in the small 

-vuotisjuhla 

p.12 European Architectural Awards 

p.16 IKHTYS – a symbol of church 

fellowship 

p.20 Polar architecture in copper 

stainless | copper | technology 

Architectural copper review 

Magazine for copper in the construction industry | 2005 / 2 

Kuparia Karibialla .... sivu 6 

Grönlannin korkein talo .... sivu 10 

Norjan kansalliskirjaston lisärakennus .... sivu 12 

Niels Torp: Miten arkkitehti ajattelee? .... sivu 14 

Toimistorakennus Helsingissä .... sivu 27

Architectural Copper Review | 2005 / 2 

Architectural Copper Review December 2005 

Architectural Copper Review is published twice a 

year and has a circulation of 1,000 copies. Publisher is 

Outokumpu. The magazine is distributed to architects 

and professionals in the building construction industry 

in Europe. 

Editor: 

Lennart Engström tfn: +46-21-19 82 54 fax: +46-21- 

19 87 04 lennart.engstrom@outokumpu.com 

Address: Outokumpu Copper Products, 

Metallverksgatan 5, 721 09 Västerås, Sweden. 

2 

Creativity and copper 

Architectural creativity with copper, as a starting-point and seen in an 

international perspective is the focus of this issue of Architectural 

Copper Review. I am happy to see that copper is among the materials 

that inspire architects’ creativity. We are naturally also very pleased to 

be able to present the topic from different viewpoints in this magazine. 

One of the latest initiatives is Copper in Architecture Awards, where 

today not only Great Britain but also most of the European countries 

participate with inspiring entries. This has brought variation and 

breadth to the projects. I feel that the winning projects, as well as 

other prize-winning entries, show significant and promising creativity. 

Our interview with great Danish architect Henning Larsen shows that creativity has nothing to 

do with age. Impressively, he is bursting with ideas, even though he has passed 80. It is interesting 

in this context that Henning Larsen, like many other great names within architecture, has a 

special fondness for copper. 

We are very happy that a great name as Henrik Larsen agreed to an interview. Incidentally, I 

often find that architects are pleased with the exposure their projects get in our magazine. 

Do you have projects you would like us to know about? Please contact me or someone else on 

the editorial board. We are looking forward to hearing from you! 

I wish you pleasant reading. 

Lennart Engström, Editor 

Editorial staff: 

Mogens Præstegaard Denmark tel: +45 4323 7700 mogens.prastegaard@tibnor.se 

Dennis Wraamann Denmark tel: +45 3956 5056 dw@danske-ideselskab.dk 

Jan Erik Holler Norway tel: +47 6755 4620 jan.erik.holler@outokumpu.com 

Håkan Svedman Sweden tel: +46-21-19 82 50 hakan.svedman@outokumpu.com 

Mervi Tähtinen Finland tel: +358 2626 6612 mervi.tahtinen@outokumpu.com 

Publisher: 

Lennart Engström, Outokumpu. 

Layout and technical production: 

www.danske-ideselskab.dk, tel: +45 3956 5056

South Street 70 – parking garage with copper 

The parking garage on South Street (Södra Vägen) in Gothenburg is 

situated in a row of well-known buildings such as Universeum and World 

Cultural Museum, right by the southern entrance of the big amusement 

park Liseberg. The closest neighbour is a block of flats in functionalistic 

style. 

The site was earlier occupied by an 

older block of flats that burned and was 

subsequently demolished. The parking 

garage was built partly into the rock as a 

subterranean building. The joists are 

leaning and you drive up in a spiral 

movement. The garage has four and a 

half levels and room for approximately 

300 cars. 

The garage is built in concrete. Pillars, 

walls and banister components are pre- 

fabricated and the joists are cast in 

plastic. 

For the facade we were looking for a 

material that would give an open grid 

facade. Very soon, copper came to our 

mind. Copper is especially suitable in 

this context as it with time becomes 

greenish-brown and blends in with the 

Liseberg landscape. Furthermore, sev- 

eral buildings on Liseberg have by tradi- 

tion copper-green roofs, maybe a mem- 

ory from the World Exhibition of 1923 

in Gothenburg. 

The facade is built as a trellis that forms 

a transparent wall. The wall is meant to 

have a ”woven-textile” look where the 

character of the copper is important 

both from the outside and from the 

inside. 

The copper strips are made from one- 

millimetre-thick copper sheeting and are 

125mm wide. They are attached to a 

frame of thick stainless steel pipes. In 

each crossing point there is a bolt, and a 

washer in between to create more 

depth in the facade. The open area of 

the netting is 44 percent. 

The base is made in gabions, wire net- 


By Fritz Olausson, Lund & Valentin Architects 

ting filled with the same type of granite 

as the existing bedrock. Around the 

building there is light limestone, to 

visually anchor the building to the 

ground and to bind copper ions from 

rainwater to the limestone. 

The staff members at Lund & Valentin 

who have worked on the project are 

architects Fritz Olausson, Bo Karlberg 

and Görel Abrahamsson and building 

engineers Rolf Johannesson and Hans 

Solborg, 

Building proprietor: 

Gothenburg City Parking AB 

Architect: Lund & Valentin Architects 

Construction: Spännbalkskonsult 

Electrical work: Probeko AB 

Site work: Viproj AB 

Water/ventilation/sanitation: 

Bengt Dahlgren AB 

Contractor: Skanska Sverige AB 

Contractor copper facades: 

Hisingstads Bleck och Plåtslageri AB 

3


Henrik Larsen’s famous door handle – Sewer lid in cast iron adorned with water drops – Copper lamp designed for the opera house 

Henning Larsen – from the small to 

Henning Larsen, 80 years old – world renowned Danish architect whose 

mind wanders from the small to the large, and the large in the small, 

from detail to entirety. He is master of creating, from a sketch, everything 

from door handles, chairs, furnishings and buildings to master 

plans, the latest one an overall plan for the town Dalian in northern 

China. 

The independent artist, such as the 

painter or the sculptor, has nothing else 

to consider than the material he or she 

is working with. The architect is a 

craftsman, with the difficult task to take 

into consideration all human functions, 

materials, techniques and social condi- 

tions. 

Henning Larsen is a dreamer, a creative 

visionary who thinks in practical terms 

and knows how to materialize an idea. 

He is an architect who has had the 

possibility to realize the most prestig- 

ious projects, sometimes with setbacks. 

But how does he think when he creates? 

I am on my way to visit Larsen in 

Copenhagen. I find the address, 

Vesterbrogade 76 and Henning Larsens 

Tegnestue. The office is on the two top 

stories of an eight-story building. The 

receptionist announces my visit. Larsen 

has his work station, “Henning’s 

4 

Corner”, at one end of the large open- 

plan office. He greets me with a big 

smile; it has been 45 years since we last 

saw each other in Stockholm. 

It’s been a long time, we say simultane- 

ously. We are both marked by the 

passing years. 

A lot has happened since that time in 

1961, when Larsen won first prize in a 

Nordic architect contest for the new 

university building in Stockholm. We sit 

down and I show him a photo I took at 

the competition. He studies it for a long 

time and laughs. 

Do you remember that time? – Yes, I 

remember it like it was yesterday – from 

the joy over the first prize and the 

celebration, to the disappointment. I will 

never forget it. 

Cheated on the commission 

Henning Larsen was granted first prize 

for the very special architecture with an 

Text og photo: Alf Folmer 

Architect: SAR/MAA, Sweden 

mail: alf@mbox316.swipnet.se 

entirely new and fresh approach to the 

university environment in human scale, a 

university for 10,000 students. All 

buildings were placed on a large, floating 

concrete deck that was shaped for the 

landscape. Below the deck there was 

parking space for 3,000 cars. Young 

Larsen was at the time unknown as an 

architect. 

What were you thinking, when you were 

awarded such an honourable prize? 

– I was in Denmark at the time and 

couldn’t believe it at first! I was sum- 

moned to Stockholm to receive the 

prize. Then the cold shower and the 

disappointment. 

The politicians’ viewpoint was that a 

Swedish university should be designed 

by a Swedish architect. So I was in fact 

cheated on the commission, which 

instead was given to the second-prize 

winner, the well-known Swedish archi- 

tect David Heldén, who had designed

Cafeteria chair in steel – The opera house in Copenhagen – General plan for Dalian in China. 


the large and the large in the small 

the high-rise buildings in the new 

Stockholm City. 

This caused a big disappointment and a 

great stir in Swedish and Danish newspa- 

pers and the entire architectural profes- 

sion. What was your opinion of the 

Swedes after this? – It was not fair play, 

Larsen says gloomily. I was angry. The 

politicians were totally blind for good 

architecture. Giving the assignment to a 

Swedish architect became more impor- 

tant than getting good architecture. But 

this is not how it works today. 

David Heldén’s second prize entry was 

an ordinary proposal with six eight-floor 

buildings, all with the same pre-fabri- 

cated building technique as the high-rise 

buildings in Stockholm City, the facades 

pale green, cool and sterile. Today they 

stand there as a disgrace. 

However, Larsen’s proposition received 

international attention. It became his 

great break-through and the beginning of 

an international career. Ten years later 

Larsen’s university proposal was carried 

out in Trondheim, Norway. He was at 

that time an established and well-known 

architect with a large office in 

Copenhagen. 

Amputated tower 

In 1989, Larsen won the competition of 

Söders Tower in Stockholm. The pro- 

posal was a 40-story office building. 

Then the politicians started to meddle in 

the architecture. 

They thought that Söder’s ”campanile” 

competed with the famous city hall 

building across the city, designed by 

Swedish national architect Ragnar 

Östberg. 

This started a fight over the height and 

architecture of the building. The plans 

were revised and trimmed several times. 

New contractors were hired and this 

started discussions about building meth- 

ods. Larsen’s strong tower architecture 

was trimmed down to 23 floors and 

changed to a block of flats. It was like 

letting the air out of good architecture. 

Another setback in Sweden, how do you 

deal with it? – Everybody wants to get 

involved in the architecture. I am embit- 

tered by the market in Sweden being 

totally run by entrepreneurs and politi- 

cians. We had conflicts from the very 

beginning. The biggest problem was JM 

BYGG, who started to change details 

and materials without permission. I had 

strived for using thoroughly worked-out 

materials and details, and I got very 

upset. Today, Söders Tower stands as an 

unfinished piece of architecture. I don’t 

wish to have my name on it. I am very 

disappointed but not unforgiving, says 

Larsen. 

Copper architecture 

The Swedish bureaucracy is so tough 

that for instance when an architect 

selects copper as roof material there is 

great resistance from the authorities. 

They believe that copper is harmful to 

the environment, although there is proof 

that copper ions from rainwater are 

bound in the ground and never enter the 

groundwater. Copper is nature’s own 

building block and even necessary for 

human life. 

Have you met problems with using 

copper in other countries? – I have 

never had any problems. Nobody ob- 

jects if we want to use copper in 

Denmark, everyone likes it, says Larsen. 

He shows some pictures of his copper 

architecture. – This is Mekoprint, two 

factories in Stövring, Denmark. It is an 

international project that I decided to 

cover entirely with copper and a large 

glass facade. Mekoprint’s copper archi- 

5


The copper-clad Unibank headquarters blends in nicely with Copenhagen’s historical milieu. 

Henning Larsen in 1961. He had recently won first prize 

in a Scandinavian architect contest for Stockholm 

University. He was very happy – for a short while. 

tecture is now a prominent landmark in 

the Northern Jutland town of Stövring. 

The attractive building in a warm cop- 

per-brown has won architectural con- 

tests. 

– But the best of my copper architec- 

ture is probably Unibank’s new head- 

quarters in the centre of Copenhagen. I 

have achieved a nice interplay between 

the copper and the old environment. 

Also this project has won awards for its 

convincing architecture that respectfully 

blends in with the historical neighbour- 

hood. The building is known for enrich- 

ing the urban landscape along 

Copenhagen’s harbour. 

– Copper is a classical and timeless 

material. We have new projects in the 

making and nobody will stop us from 

using copper, says Larsen firmly. 

6 

The Music Building in Uppsala 

We take a tour of the large office. In 

the model department four people are 

working on large-scale models of on- 

going projects. There are models high 

and low. 

What use do you have of the models? – 

A drawing is two-dimensional. To study 

the models allows us to experience a 

three-dimensional project. We also use 

computers to create visual perspective. 

We move on to the conference room. 

One wall is covered by a blackboard 

filled with rough sketches, visualized 

ideas from a meeting. Larsen wipes 

away some of the sketches from the 

board and quickly draws a new one. I 

can see that it depicts an Uppsala 

silhouette. 

Model of proposal to Unibank’s headquarters in Copenhagen. Half of the block has 

copper cladding. 

You are making a sketch of Uppsala, 

what is happening there? -Yes, you are 

right, it is Uppsala. We are finally on 

the way there, but again with some 

setbacks. We won first prize with a 

proposition for a concert- and congress 

building, an enormous project. I wanted 

to create a crystal in the middle of old 

Uppsala. The proposal is a building with 

reflecting facades that make it light and 

airy in the urban landscape. From the 

inside you get a magnificent panoramic 

view of the castle, cathedral and library. 

This is what I sketched on the board. 

But when the proposal became public 

the objections started, from the politi- 

cians and from the general public. 

Uppsala New Post wrote, ”At first I 

thought it was a picture of the ice hotel 

in Norrland. God help us! A 30-meter 

tall glass colossus – have the judges no

feeling for Uppsala?” People were 

upset and protested. Many thought 

that the proposal was an insult to 

Uppsala’s beautiful old milieu. 

Advocates of the project fought to 

carry it through. With a few small 

changes it will be built. The ground- 

breaking was solemnly done. The 

building is underway and is estimated 

to be completed in 2007. 

Opera house as a memorial 

of a family 

During our conversation Larsen be- 

comes enthusiastic. He starts telling me 

about his latest project, the one that 

almost ended in disaster: The 

Henning Larsen 2005 in his office in Copenhagen, now a world-renowned architect. He would like to tie 

up in bundles those who meddles in his architecture and put them back where they belong. 

Copenhagen Opera House, the largest 

opera house in Scandinavia. An enor- 

mous building that cost almost three 

billion crowns to build. Officially, the 

opera house is a gift to the city from 

ship-owner, grand old man Mærsk 

McKinnney Møller, Denmark’s most 

powerful capitalist, but Møller’s real 

motive is for the opera to primarily be a 

memorial of the giver and his family, 

especially his parents. Møller bought a 

closed military area on the island 

Holmen for several million crowns. This 

is where he wanted the opera house, in 

line with the royal castle Amalienborg 

that is situated on the other side of the 

bay; the castle on one side and the 

memorial on the other. The ship-owner 

decided that the architect had to be the 

most prominent in Denmark, Henning 

Larsen. 

This is a fantastic project. It must be one 

of the best you ever created? 


– Certainly not! Already in the beginning 

the ship-owner meddled in the architec- 

ture, from the material selection to the 

facade design. For example, I wanted the 

most important facade of the opera 

house to be entirely in glass with an 

open view of the harbour and the city. 

My vision was for the large roof to look 

like it was floating on a large glass bub- 

ble, a fantastic contribution to architec- 

ture. Then Møller decided he didn’t like 

the glass facade. He feared that the 

visitors to the opera would feel like they 

were in a fishbowl. Instead he insisted 

on a solid facade. As a compromise, 

heavy strips of steel would be used to 

cover the glass and screen the pano- 

ramic view. 

To Larsen this was to give up on what 

he felt was the most important architec- 

7


tural feature of the opera house. 

But you didn’t resign from the opera 

project? – The contract with Møller 

bound me hand to foot, I could not get 

out. The contract states specifically that 

the commissioner makes the decisions. 

Møller threatened to sue, which would 

have ruined me and put my staff of more 

than one hundred people out of work. 

Møller is a ship-owner and knows a lot 

about ships and finances, but nothing 

about architecture, Larsen says bitterly. 

The much fought-over building is now 

completed and inaugurated. The news- 

paper Berlinske Tidene raves about the 

opera house, however mostly over the 

inside, while Politiken calls it ”a hunch- 

backed creation. The overall design is a 

patchwork without originality”. In the 

urban landscape the building is intrusive, 

an over dimensioned block. The pre- 

dominate glass facade with its steel 

8 

strips is nicknamed ”the Grille” and ”the 

Toaster”. In spite of this, the opera has 

been awarded several prizes for its 

architecture. – I’m hoping to some time 

in the future be able to remove the 

disgraceful steel strips on the glass 

facade. I will not be satisfied until that 

happens, says Larsen. 

Hired a lawyer 

Wise from bad experiences with med- 

dling commissioners, entrepreneurs and 

politicians, Henning Larsens Tegnestue 

has now hired a lawyer in order to 

create contracts and agreements based 

on the architect’s terms. Entrepreneur, 

commissioner and architect always 

work closely together and there is 

always a risk for conflicts. It is impor- 

tant to solve problems right away, 

before they get out of hand. 

Mekoprint, Støvring, Denmark 

Söders Tower viewed from the park. The winning proposal for Söders Tower in Stockholm, 40 

floors, 140 meters tall. (Turning Torso in Malmö is 190 meters tall and has 54 floors.) The Tower 

was reduced to 23 floors. 

Have you seen results of this? – We 

Plan for the Stockholm University proposal 

have more international projects today, 

and the contract is then extremely 

important. We have already noticed the 

benefits with having our own lawyer. As 

an architect you are a creative visionary, 

often with your head up in the blue. The 

lawyer stands firmly with both feet on 

the ground and makes sure that we 

avoid serious conflict of interest. 

When Larsen creates 

To sketch is typical for Larsen. The 

blackboard is full of sketches. They are 

his tools in the creation process. 

How does your mind work and where 

do you get your ideas? – My upbringing 

has shaped my life and the way I think. I 

learned practical thinking while being 

apprentice to a carpenter and getting my 

diploma, and theoretical thinking in my 

architectural studies. Also my religious 

upbringing has shaped me. My father

The concert- and congress building in Uppsala will shine like a 

crystal in the urban landscape. 

Model of the university proposal, 

see also the plan above. 

sang in the church choir and I loved to 

sit in the church and listen to the music. 

I discovered that church music and the 

church building belong together. The 

music by Bach is architectural music. 

When listening to Bach I hear and see 

architecture. 

You are known to sketch a lot. – When I 

sketch I experience music, rhythm and 

shape. It is like playing a musical score of 

sense impressions that in turn become 

visions, which become sketches and 

later materialize into architecture. 

Larsen has become a Danish national 

symbol of sorts, a maestro of architec- 

ture. As a professor he is a sought-after 

educator who knows the art of inspiring 

and sharing his ideas. I am certain that a 

new generation architect students will 

use Larsen’s thoughts and ideas in new 

and exciting architecture. 

From inside the concert house you have 

a panoramic view of Uppsala. 

Mekoprint, Støvring, Denmark 


The opera house in Copenhagen. Notice the steel strips that 

cover the large glass façade. 

Henning Larsen’s copper architecture is 

described in Architectural Copper Review, 

issues 12 and 14. 

9


New Art Museum in Tallinn Text: Hannele Numminen 

The new art museum Kumu was inaugurated in September 2005. The 

construction work started in October 2002 and now, three years later, 

the big project is finalized. The building is one of the most important 

projects since Estonia got its independence. Tallinn’s art museum was 

designed by Finnish architect Pekka Vapaavuori, who won the high-class 

architectural contest in competition from as many as 230 entries. The 

new museum’s façade is almost entirely clad by patinated copper. 

Copper facade 

Contractor for the copper installation 

was Estonian company Esco AS, led by 

Siimon Peep. The company took on the 

great challenge at the same time as it 

won the bidding for the museum’s metal 

assembly. A close cooperation with the 

Finnish copper manufacturer was a 

10 

condition for a successful project. Peep 

told us that one of the pre-manufac- 

tured models for the cassettes was 

approved. The cassette, fabricated with 

a welt machine, met the requirements 

from the planners and was installed on 

the museum’s façade. The use of these 

cassettes prevented inner tension of the 

sheets, and it was also possible to give 

the material sharp and straight edges. 

For the façade elements, 0.80mm-thick 

copper was used, which is well suited 

for cassette manufacturing. 

The ground level base elements are 

often exposed to more stress and were 

therefore made of a stronger 1.5mm- 

thick sheet. The S-profiles in the façade’s 

seams are of the dimension 0.6mm, 

while other special parts, for example 

the grating, are made of 3mm and 4mm- 

thick material. The cassette type used 

was Outokumpu Nordic Panel 302. 

The walls are made of regular concrete 

with heat insulation and ventilation 

Photos: Siimon Peep

opening. Waterproof veneer membrane 

of 9-15mm-dimension was placed on the 

surface and green-patinated copper was 

fastened on the veneer membrane with 

stainless steel mountings. The type of 

joint used was angled seam. An attrac- 

tive and tight seam was achieved by 

closing the seams when the cassettes 

were installed. The vast, green-patinated 

and rounded copper surface gives the 

building and impressive and distinguished 

exterior that will be seen by many 

visitors to the museum. 

Challenges and practice 

The copper parts for the Art Museum 

were delivered from Finland to Tallinn, 

where sheet metal works Esco arranged 

with a special area for the project. In 

this way the pre-manufacturing could be 

done as a separate project, before the 

actual installation. Head of the installa- 

tion work was Imre Tael and the plan- 

ning was done by Raul Aprimann. On 

the site, 10-15 people worked with the 

installation in different shifts. 

The installation work had some unex- 

pected complications. To join straight 

and bent parts was especially tricky, says 

Siimon Peep from Esco AS. One of the 

most demanding phases was the assem- 

bly of copper sheeting to the main 

façade, between the pillars. The work 

was complicated by the narrow space, 

the very high requirements on the 

underlying construction, the measure- 

ments and the long installation time. 

With no previous experience with this 

kind of project, everything had to be 

learned from scratch and the workers 

had to try different ways of doing things. 

The tight timetable was also a challenge 

for such a difficult project. The under- 

taking generated a lot of new experi- 

ence, and today the group is consider- 

ably better prepared for possible new 

challenges. 

A large amount of green-patinated 


Nordic Green copper was used in the 

project; for the outer facade 2,200m 2 

(of which approximately1,200m 2 are 

curved parts), the inner façade approxi- 

mately 1,300m 2 (of which 650m 2 perfo- 

rated material). Cassettes and sheets for 

the outer facade 500m 2 , and Nordic 

Green and Nordic Brown grating 120m 2 . 

Architect: Pekka Vapaavuori 

Copper work: Esco AS, Tallinn 

Main contractor: Merko/Estonia 

11


European Architectural Awards 

12 

As an offshoot of the European Copper in Architecture 

campaign, the Copper in Architecture Awards have 

been given out in Great Britain. This year the com- 

petition was extended to include 18 countries, and 

attracted a total of 60 candidates. The jury of archi- 

tects had Paul Finch from The Architectural Review 

as foreman, and could in September declare the 

winners at a ceremony in London.

Information about the next Copper 

in Architecture Awards will soon be 

made public. If you have an entry, 

please contact : 

helpline@copperdev.co.uk. 

Information about Copper in Archi- 

tecture Awards can be found on: 

www.cda.org.uk/arch and 

www.copperconcept.org. 

The winner of European Copper 

Award 2005 is the beautiful 

Laajasalo Church in Helsinki, 

designed by Kari Jarvinen Ja Merja 

Nieminen. Specialist contractor: 

Outokumpu/Levykaksikko. 

The church’s main areas are facing the 

street corner and are very prominent. 

The copper-clad campanile is separated 

from the church to complete the ap- 

proach to the building. The large facades 

are clad in green-patinated copper 

sheets in strips of 150, 200 and 250mm. 

The brown-patinated light towers facing 

the yard shine like lighthouses at night 

and let sunlight in during the day. The 

interior surfaces are made mostly in 

different kinds of wood, while the 

carpentry of the altar is partly framed 

with copper. 

The judges said about this project: ”A 

beautiful church where copper has been 

used in layers, almost like a cliff face, 

with soft colours and controlled tones 

that will develop over time, adding to 

the harmonious relationship with its 

natural landscape setting. The build-up 


of copper panels is concealed with flat, 

striated surfaces creating an extreme 

horizontality and unmistakable quality.” 

13


Also awarded a commendation in 

the 2005 European category is the 

impressive Service Centre Munich 

designed by Staab Architekten. 

Specialist contractor: Regensburger 

Metallbau. 

14 

Like a bar of copper, the building 

crouches on a centrally located lot. Its 

precise, simple shape and its copper 

facade made it blend into the colours of 

the Theresienwiese. The facade will over 

time accumulate patina to match the 

colour of the slope behind the building. 

Areas used for movement are glazed, 

and then protected from sunlight and 

vandalism by a perforated metal facade. 

The judges commented: ”This is a bold, 

monolithic building, forged from a 

perforated copper screen, which could 

be considered as a bar of gold in the 

landscape, intriguing to visitors. An 

extreme solution that works well, the 

service centre possesses a distinctive 

calmness.”

One of the joint winners is Queen 

Mary College Student Village, 

London, designed by Feilden Clegg 

Bradley. Specialist contractor: T & 

P Roofing. 

For 2005, there was a separate category 

covering UK projects, and the judges 

decided on two very different projects 

as Joint Winners. 

The new Westfield Student Village is 

one of the largest new student residence 

schemes in Britain, with 995 bed spaces. 

The Student Village comprises six build- 

ings, including two copper-clad buildings 

on the ”exposed” public edges of the 

site. It has a surface of approximately 

9,000m 2 of both pre-oxidised and pre- 

patinated copper. 

The judges said about this project: ”The 

result is a serene but urban environ- 

ment. The copper is intrinsic to the 

’honest’, thin-skin approach to facade 

design that enables a break-up of build- 

ing mass and window systems.” 


The other Joint Winner is the 

Spiral Café, Birmingham, designed 

by Marks Barfield Architects. 

Specialist contractor: Thomas Vale. 

Located in St. Martin’s Square, the Spiral 

Café is a distinctive shell-like enclosure 

inspired by the Fibonacci principles of 

growth in nature. The building is formed 

by eight curved structural ribs that 

enclose the seating and serving area. 

After the external copper work had 

been completed, artist Andy Elton was 

commissioned to apply a coloured finish 

to the external cladding. 

The judges commented: ”It fully exploits 

a geometric idea to generate an intrigu- 

ing form that is nonetheless functional. 

The spiral form maximises the architec- 

tural characteristics of copper and the 

surface patination treatment is beauti- 

fully handled.” 

15


IKHTYS 

– a symbol of church fellowship 

The Art Chapel, designed by architect Matti Sanaksenaho in 1996, is 

also called St. Henry’s Ecumenical Art Chapel and was inaugurated in 

May 2005. The building is situated high on a mountain and surrounded 

by pine trees. 

Architects Pirjo Sanaksenaho and Enrico 

Garbin also participated in the planning 

work. Kain Tapper designed the altar 

and the glass paintings are signed by 

Hannu Konola. To finalize the project 

has been a long and demanding process, 

as the financing, material and labour for 

the biggest part were provided through 

collected funds. Today, the chapel is 

ready to be taken into use by eight 

16 

different religious communions. The 

chapel is already known around the 

world, for instance in Japan, Sofia and 

Moscow. 

A landmark for the Christian 

common hope 

The idea for the chapel came from 

Hannu Konola, an artist. The tall glass 

paintings on both sides of the altar are 

his creation. The variation of the glass 

surface reflects the versatility of life – it 

is sometimes smooth and sometimes 

rough. The windows are “the eyes of the 

fish” through which the light trickles and 

lights up the inner chapel. The project 

was a great challenge and has demanded 

much work. The building itself is a piece 

of art, whose exceptional shape creates 

different images in the human mind. 

For the façade, a shiny copper was used 

that has already darkened. Later on the 

surface will turn green, as the copper 

grows its patina. The architect was

aware of the characteristics of the 

copper and used it in his planning. The 

fish theme is seen again in the seam 

work, where the copper strips are 

mounted in a scale-like fashion. 

The interior is executed entirely in pine 

and is in its simplicity an attractive and 

impressive sight. The centre isle extends 

in a slight elevation up to the altar. The 

altar and pews are designed in an una- 

dorned fashion by Kain Tapper. Tapper 

passed away while the construction 

work was still going on and never saw 

the finished chapel. Both natural materi- 

als, copper and pine, have their own 

form language and make the chapel 

unique. The chapel is also a miracle of 

sorts when it comes to its dimensions. 

When looking at the outside gable there 

is no indication that this is a colossal 

building. 

One man’s work of art 

The project was challenging for the 

professionals also in terms of building 

technique. Details, such as window 

assembly, required specific expertise. 

Because of the shape and height of the 

chapel, most of the work had to be done 

from a crane. Unusually, all installations 

were performed by one man, sheet 

metal worker Jari Lehtinen, who dis- 

played excellent workmanship. The 

facades were clad with copper sheeting 

that was cut into different sizes. Under 

the copper surface is a regular board 

lining covered by moulded veneer. 

Horizontal locks were used for the seam 


work and at the assembly sliding clips 

were used, which allow movement when 

the material moves due to the changes 

in temperature. Lethinen finished the 

extensive assembly work in only two 

and a half months. 

Architect: Matti Sanaksenaho 

Altar and interior: Kain Tapper 

Glass paintings: Hannu Konola 

Sheet metal work: Jari Lehtinen 

17


18 

T H E K A L E I D O S CO P E 

Use of copper for renovation 

and construction in Russia 

The company Master Profil has delivered 3,000m 2 

Nordic Brown copper for the renovation of the 

roof of St. Simeon Church and St. Anna Church in 

St. Petersburg. The entrepreneurs were renova- 

tion- and building contractor Lapin Enterprise, 

which is specialized in roof- and façade work in St. 

Petersburg’s historical centre. 

During the renovation only part of the roof was 

replaced. The rest was in good condition and 

could be preserved. Because of this it was impor- 

tant that the new copper looked “old” and not 

too different from the original roof. The experts 

found that the best solution was to use Nordic 

Brown – factory-oxidized copper. 

For the renovation of the railway station in 

Cheljabinski Master Profile delivered 2,200m 2 

Nordic Brown. The contractor was a company 

called Simplex. The main domes of the railway 

station were made in bright copper with scale-like 

texture. With time the copper turned darker. In 

order for the other buildings to be in harmony 

with the domes it was decided to use Nordic 

Brown. The 23-metre-long strips for the roof 

were manufactured on-site and installed without 

problems, even though the temperature was 

minus 23o. Neither the copper nor its oxidized 

surface was damaged when the material was 

shaped. 

For a hotel construction on the Kivi Island, 

3,200m 2 of Nordic Brown copper was delivered. 

The hotel is designed by architects Solodovnikov 

and roof assembly is performed by Altes Plus.

”Light” – design Roberto Cutoli 

Young designers compete in copper 

Last spring, a tradeshow was held in 

Milan called ”Abitarecon il Rame” 

(living with copper). The focus was on 

interior design and the use of copper 

in homes. 

Among other items, prize-winning 

products from an earlier design 

contest were shown, where young 

designers created new and beautiful 

decorative items in copper. These 

products have all passed the proto- 

type stage and can be purchased at 

the Italian market by interested 

interior decorators. 

One of the items was a decorative 

copper drapery designed by Marc 

Krusin, who made it by connecting 

laser-cut copper plates. This drapery 

was also exposed in a larger scale 

(22,000 laser-cut plates) at the inter- 

national fashion show in Florence, 

where it received favourable atten- 

tion. 

Copper drapery by Marc Krusin 

”Sky” – new thinking in radiator design ”Circle” – design Francesco Giannatasio 

Other items were mainly different 


types of electric fittings and radiators 

that had stimulated to new thinking. 

Laura Sonzogni showed her futuristic 

radiator ”Sky” while Roberto Cutoli 

and Francesco Giannatasio exhibited 

electric fittings in new shape. 

19


Polar architecture in copper 

One year ago we had an article in 

Architectural Copper Review about the 

preparations for the construction of the 

new research village in Longyearbyen on 

Svalbard. Today the project is almost 

completed. Four sheet metal workers 

have during more than one year assem- 

bled 10,000m 2 copper to the roof and 

facades, and the initially shiny copper has 

now turned a more distinguished 

bronze-coloured nuance. Some interior 

work is still going on, but everything will 

be ready for the inauguration later this 

fall, when the University Centre on 

Svalbard A/S, UNIS, takes over the daily 

operation. 

On Svalbard all buildings stand on poles a 

distance from the ground, due to the 

constant ground frost. This gives the 

observer an unusual sight experience; all 

20 

buildings seem to be floating above the 

ground. This is also true for the new 

research village, which is built on poles. 

Here, the mystique becomes a compo- 

nent of the architectural experience; the 

massive, copper-clad building looks like 

it is floating freely and the geometry of 

the ground disappears in mystical forma- 

tions among the poles under the building. 

Jarmund/Vigsnaes are the architects 

behind the project. They have gathered 

inspiration from the surrounding harsh 

landscape and created an organic star- 

shaped building, where the details were 

created with great care and regard to 

winds, ice and snow. The research village 

with its 8,500m 2 houses both lecture 

halls, research laboratories, offices and 

exhibition areas for Svalbard Museum. 

The sheet metal works were undertaken 

by Norwegian company Erling Freitag A/S. 

The climate on Svalbard is in itself a 

challenge for a sheet metal worker who 

in biting cold winter storms must per- 

form advanced and detailed work re- 

quiring high dexterity. In addition, this 

project had some very complicated 

metal-construction details that had to

e resolved. The roof is made with strip 

covering in semi-hard 0.7mm copper 

sheets. The single-lock welts are elevat- 

ed (50mm-high) primarily for aesthetical 

reasons to intensify the shadows. The 

longest roof slope is totally 60 metres 

(with a 5o roof fall). The copper strips 

on the roof slope are divided into ap- 

proximately ten-metre-long pieces with 

a fixed zone in the middle and move- 

ment joints along the roof fall, which 

also must work sideways across the 

slope. A stiff mounting plate in the welt 

was soldered on and equipped with a 

capillary break. The finishing against the 

single-lock welt was performed with 

extra care in order not to hinder the 

movement across the strips. The metal 

details were pre-fabricated in a shop at 

the work site and placed already bent on 

the roof. 

Svalbard and Longyearbyn have always 

guaranteed their visitors strong nature 

experiences, as studies of both white 

whales and polar bears are a common 

activity. Today they can also offer a visit 

to the research village and a study of 

world-class polar architecture. 

Architects: 

Jarmund/Vigsnaes, Tønsberg 


Sheet metal works: Erling Freitag A/S 

Area: 8.500 m 2 

Roof and facades: 1,000 m 2 , semi-hard 

0,7-mm-thick copper sheet 

21


Copper in Sandefjord’s archipelago in Norway 

On one of the islands outside 

Sandefjord, construction of a weekend 

house by the sea has just been finished. 

The house is embedded between the flat 

rocks and blends in nicely with the harsh 

archipelago landscape on the island. The 

roof is strip-covered with green-pati- 

nated copper. 

When passing the island by boat at a 

distance, it is hard to make out the 

details on the roof; the green-patinated 

22 

copper blends in with the low-growing 

green vegetation on the island. 

Architect firm Kvartal 19 in Sandefjord 

has designed the house and Vestfold 

Kobber & Blikkenslagerverksted AS, also 

from Sandefjord, performed the copper 

assembly. 

www.copperconcept.org 

International website for copper in architecture 

Photo: Perv Olav Berg

New copper training centre 

offers hands-on experience 

A new training centre, “the Copper Studio”, 

opened at Outokumpu Pori mill in Finland last 

April. The centre focuses on the use of copper 

in building and construction and targets archi- 

tects, designers, building contractors, local 

authorities, roofing contractors and students. 

Visitors come both from Finland and other 

important markets, such as Scandinavia, Russia, 

Germany and the United Kingdom. 

Each target group receives a tailor-made train- 

ing package consisting of basic information on 

copper, Nordic products, Nordic Systems and 

Designer’s Tool. Designer’s Tool is made espe- 

cially for designers and provides detailed an- 

swers to various questions. 

Participants get hands-on experience in bending 

and installing copper. They also have the oppor- 


Nordic Systems includes a wide selection of 

facade elements: cassettes, panels, fastening 

systems and formed detail components. We 

can also fabricate project-specific components 

Available surface treatments are Nordic Brown and Nordic Green Plus. 

23


You can choose between our standardized Nordic Modular Roofs or ready to install, built -to- spec Prefabricated Roofs. 

tunity to view Outokumpu’s Nordic 

Systems in full scale and professionally 

installed. 

More than 160 people in groups of 8-10 

have visited the Copper Studio during 

24 

the last six months. The innovation and 

new thinking presented by the centre 

have met with great interest, and we 

often hear comments like, “Why has 

this not been done before?” This is the 

best response we could ask for. 

The Copper Studio is an important tool 

for spreading information about copper 

as an excellent building material and at 

the same time present new products 

manufactured in copper. 

Visit our website outokumpu.com 

For more information 

on copper products visit: 

www.nordicgreen.com 

www.nordicbrown.com 

www.nordicdecor.com 

www.outokumpu.com/nordic systems 

www.copperconcept.org 

www.outokumpu.com

Henning Larsen - Copper Concept

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