Copper: The New Green Building Material

By Scott Ruch

The author suggests copper for use on projects seeking LEED certification for a variety of reasons including its availability, recycled content and low maintenance.

Scott Ruch is a principal with Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc.

The green building trend is sweeping the nation, with environmentally sensitive and energy-conscious buildings popping up in major cities throughout the United States. Increasingly, owners and developers of new buildings are asking that their projects be designed to meet the requirements for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

While Texas currently has only a few, completed LEED-certified buildings, many are expected to be built over the next few years. Contractors, developers and architects are challenged to learn about this fast-evolving focus. Part of their mandated learning to be able to participate in this building evolution is to identify the best building materials, which are compatible with the environment and readily available.

Copper, one of the planet's most recyclable resources, is an excellent choice for a green building material for a number of reasons. The United States is virtually self-sufficient in copper resources. Copper is readily accessible in the U. S. market, one of the primary reasons copper is an excellent material choice for new buildings.

Also, copper's premium-grade scrap retains at least 95 percent of the value of the primary metal from newly mined ore. Typically, the copper used for construction materials is 72 percent recycled content. Low energy is used in its production compared to other similar materials, making copper an astute choice when considering which building materials to use in a green facility.

Sheet copper has been used for centuries as a roofing material and can be found on several prominent buildings in Dallas. Although the initial cost is more expensive than other materials, copper has extremely low maintenance requirements and a long life.

In 2005 Corgan Associates began designing its new corporate headquarters in Dallas' West End district, one of the first new, modern buildings to be designed in the city's historic warehouse district. The challenge was to design a future home for the firm that met not only the requirements of the West End historic district, but also met the firm's goal to have its headquarters be LEED-certified.

Aside from using brick throughout its façade - keeping with the West End ordinance of using brick or metal to tie new facilities with the district's historic past - Corgan chose to use copper for the metal wall panels and copper cladding on the secondary elevations.

Corgan tends to use materials in a way that expresses their inherent character in an unadorned way and copper does just that, as it can be used as bare, unfinished metal. Copper's recyclable qualities coupled with its low maintenance requirements and long life make the material a key component of designing and building to meet green building standards.

In Dallas' atmospheric conditions, copper does not weather to a strong blue-green color, but quickly reaches equilibrium at a rich, dark brown hue similar to an old penny.

The firm looked at both copper-faced composite panels systems and panels custom-formed from solid copper sheet to achieve the desired appearance and performance. Both configurations offered the flatness and the rainscreen-design performance Corgan was seeking, while the solid copper panels have an advantage in their capability to be recycled.

Zahner Architectural Metals was consulted to help develop the design of the wall panels. Corgan's prior work with Zahner includes the huge, sweeping stainless steel roof of the International Terminal D project at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Zahner is perhaps best known for collaborating with architect Frank Gehry to provide the convoluted metal cladding on his buildings of complex forms, using advanced design and manufacturing software. Zahner was able to help custom design a solid copper wall panel system that met Corgan's specifications and budget.

The use of innovative copper panels on Corgan's new 60,000-sq.-ft., three-story office building enables Corgan to achieve the desired forward-looking image for the firm while achieving compatibility with its historical neighborhood and also adhering to green- building standards.