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brown patina by the ocean?

eligius1427 - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 12:57pm
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Hi all, An architect asked for some suggestions for a project by the pacific ocean. He wants to clad(decoratively) parts of a high rise with a metal with a mottled brown(bronze) patina. I know that there are some stainless steels that do well around the salty air environment, but can you patina it to look like bronze? How about other materials like aluminum, copper, or actually bronze? Would they hold up in that environment? Once up access will be very limited and they will be outdoors.

thanks

Jake


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Ries's picture

There are a few heat

Ries - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 3:10pm

There are a few heat discolorations you can do to stainless- Guiseppe is the expert on that.
Heath actually uses a solution to rust the stainless to get his color.

Steel is a bad idea, as is aluminum.

Real Copper or bronze is probably the best thing- the patinas that have been devised for it, over the last couple of millenium, are available in the widest variety of colors and last pretty well.

Of course, its fiendishly expensive.

Architects, although they are loathe to admit it, are herd animals, extremely sensitive to fads and trends.
Several of the best known, most prestigious firms have been doing these types of patinated metal panels lately, and all the other architects want to jump on board.
The problem is that when Herzon and De Meuron does it on the De Young Museum in San Francisco,
http://tinyurl.com/4p2xnq
they have a budget of $202 Million dollars.
This allowed them to hire these guys to make their computer punched and textured, patinaed copper sheet facade.
http://www.azahner.com/
Zahner is the best there is- millions of dollars worth of CNC equipment, a very experienced work force, and their client list is the absolute who's who of world class famous architects.

There is no cheap, home shop way to do this- the raw materials are VERY expensive, the patina techniques are slow and labor intensive and require experimentation, the sheet metal tools to make this stuff look good cost tens of thousands of dollars.

If your architect has a LOT of money, then there are a variety of copper alloys that will work well. They can be patinaed in a range of colors.


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eligius1427's picture

Thanks Ries for the

eligius1427 - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 3:41pm

Thanks Ries for the information, it's what I was looking for. The project is way too big for me to take on even if the process was easy. Its a pretty big building, up in your neck of the woods i think. I'll pass the info on to the architect and suggest bronze/copper and the Zahner company, I'm sure he's going to want to look into the best.

can you use bluing on stainless steel or create a black patina without starting the rusting process? and How does galvanized elements hold up in the saltier environment?

Jake


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Rich Waugh's picture

I'd suggest bronze. It

Rich Waugh - Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 4:53pm

I'd suggest bronze. It looks like bronze, it works like bronze and it ages like bronze. How many metals can boast all that? (grin)

Seriously, I love working with silicon bronze, and it is one of the best materials for a maritime environment. Strong as steel for most purposes and welds beautifully, needs no finish and lasts practically forever regardless of moisture or salt. It is expensive, unfortunately, but well worth it.


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