400 Dexter
Seattle

Project info

The 400 Dexter project was completed in 2017 for Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Designed by the Seattle office of CollinsWoerman, the building facade features both aluminum composite material from Alucobond and a unique pre-patinated copper.

In July of 2015, the design team and owner group travelled to our facility to review panel system and finish options. We visited existing copper projects to examine material flatness and the patina that develops from weathering. After several meetings and thorough review of available copper finish options, the owner and design team selected System A and copper sheet supplied by the AZahner Corp. with a custom ‘Dirty Penny’ pre-patinated finish. AZahner was able to provide four seperate Dirty Penny finishes, each with a distinct tone from light to dark. This allowed the Architect to achieve their original vision for the project – to create the appearance of random variation from panel to panel. The custom copper finishes included hues of blue, purple and red.

Combined with Alucobond ‘Oyster’ in System A, the various Dirty Penny copper finishes have created a unique architectural expression. the copper patina will continue to develop, evolving towards a unique turquoise blue copper over the service life of the building.