The “Patina Green” colour of Sherwin-Williams was applied on the roof of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library to protect aluminium while respecting historic design.
The international paints and coatings manufacturer Sherwin-Williams
has recently announced that its Fluropon® “Patina Green” finish has been employed on the roof of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in New York City. The award-winning project has vertically expanded an historic building and creatively updated a former department store, welcoming all visitors to the only free and publicly accessible roof terrace in Midtown Manhattan.
Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle designed the repurposed 1914 property for The New York Public Library (NYPL), which moved into the building in 1970. Expanded upward from six to seven stories, the 180,000-square-foot modern form of the library showcases now a new sculptural and geometrical aluminium roof structure resembling the angular shape of the hat of a wizard, highlighting the magic and knowledge of libraries.
The signature Patina Green finish developed by Sherwin-Williams has been inspired by the Beaux Art style, the copper-clad and mansard roofs of the neighbourhood. Moreover, respecting the century-old architectural heritage of the building, the colour employed already appears to have gracefully aged with time and weather – although new.
Patina Green was applied by Brightsmith using a factory-applied coil coating process to finish the numerous metal panels and attached snowguards. The painted and perforated screen wall metal panels allow also to creatively conceal the HVAC equipment and enhance the distinctive visual appeal of the roof.
“For this particular project, the geometry and colour of the ‘Wizard’s Hat’ played a key role in matching the patinated copper-clad mansard roofs that are seen on many iconic buildings throughout Midtown Manhattan,” has stated Josh Younger, the marketing manager at IMETCO. “The ZIP-RIB panel is a 2.5-inch-deep mechanically seamed cladding system for roofs and walls that can be factory-formed or field-formed depending on the demands of the project. ZIP-RIB panels accommodate complex roof configurations including convex and concave curves and tapers.”
Besides providing exceptional colour retention and consistency to uphold the desired aesthetic, the finish also resists UV radiation and colour fading from direct daylight on sunny days. The Fluropon 70% PVDF resin-based coatings will also protect the metal for many years to come: they meet the industry-leading AAMA 2605 specification, which outlines the highest performance level for exterior aluminium coatings, resulting in outstanding resistance to humidity, chalking and gloss loss. In addition, the Fluropon coatings successfully pass 4,000 hours of accelerated salt spray testing.
The project earned the Best Adaptive Reuse Award from the Municipal Art Society of New York. It also received top honours as the Grand Award winner and New Metal Roofs category winner in the 2021 Metal Construction News Project Excellence Awards.