From a skyscraper towering over Manhattan’s East River to the exterior envelop of a preK-12 school, the copper industry recently awarded the top 15 buildings from across the United States and Canada with its 2018 North American Copper in Architecture (NACIA) Award for their outstanding use of architectural copper and copper alloys.  The winners include educational facilities, residential dwellings, government buildings and religious structures.

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 man-kind’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, North Carolina; 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.