Nordic Brown is a copper facade cladding made by Nordic Copper from Aurubis, Finland. Nordic Brown products are burnished at the Aurubis mill to immediately provide the same oxidized brown surface that would develop over time in the natural Finnish environment.
The thickness of the oxide layer determines the color of the surface finish. The surface finishes are useful for minimizing hand and other construction marks that can occur for a short time after the installation of bright Nordic Standard copper. Nordic Brown can also be combined with other surface finishes, such as Nordic Standard or Nordic Royal, to create various visual effects.
Copper can provide a complete external skin, wrapping around complex building forms with material continuity. Alternatively, it can give a distinctive character to individual facades or roofing elements, particularly when used in conjunction with other high-quality materials. In addition, there is growing interest in the use of copper for interior design.
Applications
All Nordic Copper products are suitable for indoor use. The products are also used for exterior architectural applications, such as facades and roofs.
Characteristics
The characteristics of Nordic Copper products include protection provided by its patina against corrosion in any atmospheric conditions, durability, and problem-free maintenance. Its exceptional, indefinite lifespan has been demonstrated over hundreds of years, with no underside corrosion issues.
Cost-efficient substrates and low 'whole-life' costs make it an ideal choice for architectural applications. It is easy to malleable at any temperature and not brittle in cold weather. It has low thermal movement and a high melting point, which prevents stretching in hot weather. It is non-toxic and safe to work with, with impressive antimicrobial qualities, ideally suited to touch surfaces inside buildings.
Sustainability
Although the copper industry is well-known for recycling, the Nordic Copper range is exceptional, with 100% of copper produced for roofing and cladding applications over the last few years coming from recycled material. This material includes internal processing scrap (around 50-60% of the recycled material). Embodied energy and global warming potential figures are, therefore, less than half those for copper generally – already significantly lower than stainless steel and aluminum.
Technical details
The material includes a thickness range of 0.5-1.5 mm, a maximum width of 1,000 mm, and unlimited length. Delivery forms include sheet and coil, with other dimensions available upon request.
Naturally evolving copper
Ongoing changes will continue over time with all Nordic Products depending on the local environment. Nordic Brown Light gradually changes over time to a stable dark chocolate brown.
Installation
Traditional techniques
Copper has a long history of use as a lightweight, fully supported covering for roofs, walls, and other building elements. Traditionally, sheets of copper are joined using double-lock standing seams (or angle seams for vertical cladding). These seams visually define the copper bays and are interrupted by cross-welt joints running lengthwise.
Modern techniques
A more modern interpretation of fully-supported, standing seam technology is Long Strip. Here, copper trays are prefabricated with profiles and installed in long lengths - perhaps 10 meters or more - eliminating crosswalks and creating a strong, linear appearance. Long Strip is an efficient and cost-effective method that maximizes mechanization for both prefabrication and on-site jointing. Aurubis copper can be supplied in cut-to-size sheets or coils to suit any system, with Aurubis being unique in its ability to supply any of its Nordic Copper in coils for Long Strip prefabricated systems.
Prefabricated systems
In addition to traditional systems, Aurubis offers various standard or tailored prefabricated systems in Nordic Copper. These systems benefit from consistency and accuracy due to controlled off-site fabrication. They also offer different visual characteristics to help define the architecture. Nordic Copper is available in a variety of ranges, providing a wide choice of visual scale and detail.
-Profiled Sheets - Aurubis offers an extensive selection of roll-formed or welded profiled sheets in the full range of Nordic Copper. Full technical details are available on the website. Additionally, custom-made profiles can be provided upon request.
-Perforated & Expanded Mesh - Aurubis offers a range of standard perforation patterns on its copper sheet with any Nordic Copper finish, as well as special customized patterns. Variable perforation sizes can be used to create subtle patterns, "super graphics," and even text. Aurubis partners can also provide expanded copper sheets with any Nordic Copper finish to suit specific requirements.
-Prefabricated Trays - Prefabricated trays are fully-supported 0.5 - 0.6 mm thick copper trays, pre-formed for fast and efficient installation.
-Panels - For facades, self-supporting copper panels pre-formed on two sides can be used vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to give a linear, striated appearance. Various shapes and sizes are available.
-Shingles - Fully supported copper elements for facades or roofs, shingles offer a distinctive "fish scale" appearance with shapes including squares, diamonds, rhomboids, and rectangles in various sizes.
-Cassettes - For larger flat areas, cassettes have square proportions with folded edges on all four sides. Various types and sizes are available.
A leading copper recycler
Nordic Copper is the product range for architectural applications, e.g. facades and roofs, made by Aurubis. Aurubis is the leading integrated copper group and the world’s largest copper recycler. It produces 1 million tonnes of copper cathodes each year and from them a variety of copper products.
Aurubis has about 6,200 employees, 16 production sites in eleven European countries and the USA, and an extensive service and sales system for copper products in Europe, Asia, and North America. For a wide range of services, it ranks among the global leaders in our industry. Its core business is the production of marketable copper cathodes from copper concentrates, copper scrap, and recycled raw materials. These are processed within the Group into continuous cast wire rods, shapes, rolled products as well as special wire made of copper and copper alloys.
Precious metals and several other products, such as sulphuric acid and iron silicate, round off the company's product portfolio. Customers of the Aurubis Group include companies in the copper semis industry, the electrical engineering, electronics, and chemical industries as well as suppliers of the renewable energies, construction, and automotive sectors. The Aurubis Group is oriented to growth and to increasing corporate value.
Reference projects
Chosen for its contemporary look, Nordic Brown Light copper clads the scalloped panels of the Aberdeen Art Gallery's new rooftop extension. This material selection bridges the gap between the thoroughly contemporary design of the extension and the building's historic copper dome and also ensures a harmonious future. Repairs to the dome itself were carried out using Nordic Green pre-patinated copper, perfectly complementing the existing historic patina.
The Nordic Brown Light copper, pre-oxidized for a beautiful dark brown exterior, will continue to develop a natural patina over time, further responding to the local environment. The copper panels themselves, some perforated for transparency, were meticulously crafted by CGL Facades. The Nordic Brown Light copper was pressed and rolled to achieve the distinctive scalloped shape before being delivered to the site and installed on secret-fix support rails with rose-golden colored stainless steel cappings.
The entire district of StoraSköndal in southern Stockholm is currently undergoing an extensive transformation. The project comprises a redesign of the existing brick building of the Magnolia complex and, reorganizing of the existing large-scale catering kitchen. The form of the extension is simple; a generous roof with overhanging eaves echoing the serial roof structure of the existing Magnolia complex. The key challenge of the project was to create a visible wooden structural frame. All materials used both internally and externally are living materials that will age beautifully. The Nordin brown copper sheet is used here where the façade is pre-oxidized to get a dark brown surface that naturally continuing develop and change with time.
A new university building in Ormskirk, England, uses Nordin Brown copper facade to cleverly mirror the functions within. Designed by ABW Architects, the 8,000-square-meter Catalyst building incorporates the university's library, careers, and student services. As one moves through the airy atrium, the design of each floor subtly transforms to reflect a growing level of study independence. This concept is echoed on the exterior, where the copper and glass facades on the building's main faces visually represent the functions inside.
