World renowned architects Foster + Partners have designed a “copper tower” in the city of Yekaterinburg for the Russian Copper Company (RCC), one of the country’s biggest copper mining companies.
Overlooking the Iset River in the centre of the city in central Russia, the 15-storey office block will be RCC’s headquarters and the first completed project in the country by Foster + Partners which was founded by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Norman Foster.
Its triangular-shaped cladding was informed by the crystal lattice that makes up copper on an atomic level, while the stainless steel cladding panels were coloured using a Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) process to create a copper-coloured finish.
At the top of the block, the company’s triangular logo was incorporated into the glasswork overlooking the river.
“The building reimagines the conventional cellular office to set new standards in quality, comfort and flexibility,” said the studio.
“The starting point for the office floors was to reinvent the headquarters as a ‘house for staff’ – instead of the conventional large, communal workspaces, the rooms are of a more intimate, domestic scale,” it continued.
The design team expects the office to receive a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating.