i think the seagram building by mies is clad in muntz which is a form of brass

thinking about building a giant telescope? or a dirigible?

We recently used it for glazing channel and edge metal. We think it will get dark brown.

we're using bronze (copper + tin, whereas brass is copper + zinc) on a project at the moment. in the case of bronze i'm told it ages to a dark almost black. of course you can patinize it to accelerate the weathering/aging.

tombasil - a commercially produced alloy, a white bronze with 57% copper content. It is used for fire nozzles and ship propellers

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing that he's ever seen

Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead

I would even hate to think what it would cost to build with brass today.
I can tell you one thing for certain, if your using it it has to be coming from outside of the USA. I think all of the brass smelting operations are gone in New England. People are know for stealing it out of the old abandoned factory buildings and selling if for scrape because it is a heck of alot heavier than copper. I Have a few brass pipes knocking around my garage and the wall thickness on the pipe is very similar to black iron pipe. I understand it gets very brittle with age so it was replaced with copper some time ago.

There has to be a reason why bronze rather than brass is the favored material for cast sculpture, which is typically exposed to the elements. You could start by comparing costs of sheet material, assuming they are both available.

There is nothing like molten brass or bronze.....I remember casting with it back in Art School.

um, steven holl's nail collector's house?

here

[img]http://www.groovy.de/img/artikel/blunts-blaettchen/juicy_brassmonkey_box.JPG/[img]

Thanks to all who have replied so far. Sorry I haven't replied sooner, turns out Tschumi was lecturing at the AA so I've been out all day.
To address a few comments:

spaceman: Thanks for the info. Do you know if it's possible to treat brass to maintain it's polished finish? Or is this just not possible in weathering conditions?

holz.box: Continuing the same line, do you know if this Holl building will age as spaceman described or stay as it is?

mdler: Thanks! That image and material is very unexpected and great! I know (from reading up on the project just now) that the project won lots of awards and it was the 1st time it was used architecturally. Do you know if it has been used since, or if the project is particularly widely known? I'm obviously going to cite the project as an material source but would be reluctant to continue with it if my project then became synonymous with that museum.

snooker/SDR: I'm in the UK and the project is all about decadence, so there's really no worries about budget (within reason). Perhaps the more expensive the better!

Won't it tarnish horribly? And smell like my brass guitar strings? Ew!

The only reason brass furniture doesn't tarnish is it's coated with some sort of protective clear coat. Right?

That's essentially right. And those coatings always look tacky after a while.

The doormen or other staff used to polish brass door furniture, awning poles, etc to keep them bright. It's the only way I know of. . .

oldenvirginia

I worked for TWBTA while that project was under construction. I got to go to the Talix foundry with Tod one day to look at the panels. I got a tour of the foundry and learned all about the lost wax metal casting process

the panels were made by pouring molten bronze on steel plates. There is much written about the experimentation leading to the actual panels. Bronze was poured on the concrete floor at one point, but this apparently caused the moisture in the concrete to expand and it ruined some of the concrete.


There is a book writen about the bronze doors that Robert Graham did for the cathedral here in Los Angeles

http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Graham-Bronze-Cathedral-Angels/dp/0964235935

you could always rock it Trump Tower style....

We messed around with the lost wax method with plaster... which could be painful when the plaster cracked and it your work went all to hell in a hurry.....don't think I ever saw so many college age girls cry.

lost wax method using ceramics is alot better from what I understand. i belive this method was perfected as on of those
crazy NASA experiments.....

you are supposed to reinforce your molds...

Wow...that's really cool mdler. I'll be sure to flood you with questions soon. Just now I have a shedload of work to do for a crit tomorrow, though, so can I just ask: did you take any photos of the manufacture?

Thanks again.

@ Mdler that is my favorite Dylan album and probably my favorite song...

Everyone else.
Didn't Huerzog de Meuron use it as a facde on a few (or maybe just one) project.????

i'm not sure, but cartridge brass is a bitch to keep clean. i imagine it'll get pretty nasty over time.

i'm not sure of any h+dm projects utilising brass.

hoeller klotzner architekten
chiesa laivez

I've been doing foundry work every semester since I started Architecture school. Toady, I poured over 200 pounds of aluminum bees.

Loos was a criminal...

I thought this was a post abouty playing miles davis in the office

No, no -- it's about Big Pink.