Ireland’s first Tibetan Buddhist Temple takes a step towards completion with installation of distinctive tiered roofs covered in Nordic Royal golden copper alloy from Aurubis. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in West Cork, the new building was designed in the style of a traditional Tibetan temple and built over three floors, each defined by a Nordic Royal clad roof with a curved-profile and deep overhanging eaves. Dragon heads and other sacred ornaments, hand-crafted from copper in northern India then gilded with gold leaf by members of the Dzogchen Beara community, adorn projecting corners and the top roof ridge.
Leon Rossiter, one of the Directors and heading up the Temple project, explained: ‘We trialled different styles of copper facing our harsh marine environment for 18 months. Only the Nordic Royal delivered just what we were looking for. We couldn’t have achieved the look of the temple’s roofs if we had used any other material’. The stunning new copper roofs will be seen for miles along the coastline and from boats at sea.
The innovative Nordic Royal is an alloy of copper with aluminium and zinc, giving it a rich golden through-colour and making it very stable. It has a thin protective oxide layer containing all three alloy elements when produced. As a result, the surface retains its colour and simply loses some of its sheen over time to give a matt finish.