COPPER BUILDING, BRISTOL
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© Ferguson Mann
© Urban Splash
“We needed a material that was going to speak of the industrial heritage of the site, yet in a warmer, more refined way” Nick Brown, FMA Architects
with this principle to bring more variation to the facade,” including a mix of 3.6 metre, 7.2 metre and 10.8 metre bays to support the mix of apartments.
The structure is a simple reinforced concrete frame with columns and flat slabs, plus a lightweight SFS infill and rainscreen cladding. Although the car park delivered during Phase 1 was designed to have the new four-storey building sitting above it, the fact that they ended up being constructed at different times created challenges, Brown admits. A key part of the brief was also to create “generous and inspiring” common areas, and the full-height atrium entrance area is one element that fulfils this.
As well as being clad in a manner that complements its corten steel cousin, says
ADF DECEMBER 2020
Brown, the two buildings were further brought together by the creation of a new entranceway “that opens up a view down the original structure, echoing that now lost connection between factory and office.”
Materials
The building was originally planned to be clad with corten steel cassettes to match the existing building’s facades, and also tying into the history of the factory that occupied the site. Budget considerations once the project had been phased meant that corten became unviable across the 180 metre-long volume, however the architects also had reservations about it being “a bit unfriendly on a residential building of this scale.” The architects settled on a specification of Nordic Brown Copper manufactured by Aurubis. Brown explains this choice: “We needed a material that was going to speak of the industrial heritage of the site, yet in a warmer, more refined way.” In addition, as it was a largely north-facing facade, the architects wanted a material that would patinate subtly over time.
FMA had recently used the same durable cladding on another building, although the Copper Building was designed first – “it took longer to deliver due to its larger
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