Looking like an inverted lotus flower suspended in the sky, rhombus-shaped panels create a spatial effect via their standing edges on their adjacent sides. This 3-D appearance was constructed during the renovation of a copper dome belonging to the 100-year-old First United Methodist Church in Athens, Ala. Two hundred eighty-eight rauten tiles were fabricated from 0.7-mm-thick copper to cover the dome. The width and length of the copper panels change with each subsequent row.
Sheet metal contractor: CopperWorks Corp., Decatur, Ala., www.copperworkscorp.com
Cupola supplier: Ornametals, Cullman, Ala., www.ornametals.com