Design evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Design evaluation - Essay ExampleIn the United Kingdom straight off copper is a popular consortrial used for facades, roofs and some other external building elements on some of the most exciting modern designs. But this has not always been so. Historically, copper roofs several hundred years old can be seen on many British city skylines, although usually limited to churches, civic buildings and other important structures. During the twentieth century, copper roofs became more widely used for ordinary buildings although many were of little architectural quality. Unfortunately, poor detailed design and installation techniques resulted in good failures and the material fell out of fashion until the 1980s. Then, the copper industry introduced modern installation techniques to the UK including the long-strip method and launched a promotional campaign to make architects awake(predicate) of copper as a thoroughly modern architectural material. This Copper in Architecture campaign co ntinues today.(Article by Tom Woolley in Sustain magazine, vol 3 no 3) It highlights the ability for copper sheets to be easily formed to suit any three-dimensional shape, making it a suitable weatherproof covering for well-nigh any external surface including roofs of all pitches, vertical cladding, gutters, soffits and even sculptural elements. Architects now recognise that it is one of the few materials that can offer complete material continuity and real freedom of form in architectural design.