On June 22nd in New York City, the annual North American Copper in Architecture (NACIA) Awards ceremony was held in recognition of the outstanding use of architectural copper in building design and construction. Architecture49 is very proud to be one of 15 winners across Canada and the United States to receive this honour for its project to rehabilitate the roof of the West Block Building on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The West Block is one of three iconic buildings on Canada’s Parliament Hill. Built in three stages between 1865 and 1909, it is an outstanding example of the Gothic revival of the second half of the 19th century. The original roofing material for the Parliament Buildings was polychrome slate. However, after a fire destroyed much of the roof of the West Block, the government made the decision to convert the roof to copper, a material that has not changed since. When the West Block refurbishment project resumed in 2007, it was determined that the copper roof needed to be repaired, maintained and/or replaced. While remaining faithful to the original installation, the rehabilitation of this roof was carried out by making improvements to the details in order to increase its durability.

The rehabilitation of this copper roof is part of a much larger project, the complete renovation of the West Block, which is being carried out by the consortium formed by Architecture49 and EVOQ. After many years of intense work, the building will be ready early 2019 to welcome MPs to the new temporary House of Commons as renovations to the Centre Block begin.