Light industry: a new warehouse for lighting company Erco is given a dynamic twist through an ingenious translucent glass skin seductively animated by light.All over Europe, the fringes of suburbia are blighted by the dreary apparatus of industry--undecorated sheds and dour offices in glum glum adj. glum·mer, glum·mest 1. Moody and melancholy; dejected. 2. Gloomy; dismal. n. 1. lots girdled by sterile acres of parking. Erco, the innovative German lighting company, was determined that its production complex should rise above such lowest common denominator low·est common denominator n. 1. See least common denominator. 2. a. The most basic, least sophisticated level of taste, sensibility, or opinion among a group of people. b. thinking and commissioned the Frankfurt-based partnership of Schneider + Schumacher to design a new warehouse to augment its two existing production buildings. But what could have been the usual mundane, hulking hulk·ing also hulk·y adj. Unwieldy or bulky; massive. hulking Adjective big and ungainly Adj. 1. shed has been elevated and transformed into a piece of kinetic sculpture kinetic sculpture Sculpture in which movement (as of a motor-driven part or a changing electronic image) is a basic element. Actual movement became an important aspect of sculpture in the 20th century. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Set in a campus surrounded by tree-clad hills and rolling fields on the edge of Ludenscheid, Erco's environs are almost Arcadian. Within this pastoral setting, the company's latest addition is immediately distinguishable. A big, long box, slightly disconcerting dis·con·cert tr.v. dis·con·cert·ed, dis·con·cert·ing, dis·con·certs 1. To upset the self-possession of; ruffle. See Synonyms at embarrass. 2. in its size and plainness, is partly dug into a hillside. So far, so predictable, but its huge flanks are encased en·case tr.v. en·cased, en·cas·ing, en·cas·es To enclose in or as if in a case. en·case  ment n. in a delicately ribbed translucent skin that scintillates arrestingly with both natural and artificial light. Capable of storing up to 7000 pallet-based goods, the new warehouse is a monument to industrial functionalism functionalism, in art and architecture functionalism, in art and architecture, an aesthetic doctrine developed in the early 20th cent. out of Louis Henry Sullivan's aphorism that form ever follows function. . Ingeniously, the pallet racking system doubles as the building's structure, like a mammoth vertical space frame. At a soaring 23m high, the cavernous interior is a veritable cathedral of industry as six automated cranes constantly whizz up and down the narrow aisles storing and retrieving goods. External loading and unloading take place at the south-west end, where the building is bunkered into the hill. An enclosed walkway links the warehouse to an existing production plant, so staff aren't always obliged to brave the elements. Both the short ends are fully transparent, with glass panels measuring 2.2 X 4.5m attached to steel profiles and their edges sealed with silicon. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The 73m long side facades are less conventional; these were custom designed exploiting the principles of structural glazing. Two layers of 7mm thick translucent cast glass panels with a shallow U profile are mounted vertically, with the U profile facing outwards, which gives the external skin its subtly ribbed appearance. Held in place by the steel racking system behind, the glazing system is simple, economical, tough and self stabilizing. During the day, the geometry of the storage system is just visible through the glass, giving some sense of the building's general function. At night, the translucent membrane palpitates with light in a remarkable installation conceived by lighting designer Uwe Belzer. Set inside the glass wall, 140 slim neon tubes in hues of vivid blue and chartreuse chartreuse (shärtr  z`), liqueur made exclusively by Carthusians at their monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, France, until their expulsion in 1903. flash to generate a constantly changing pattern of twinkling twinkling, in astronomy: see seeing. vertical lines, solids and voids. Belzer's luminous tattoo animates the building mass and seeps out to embellish the surroundings, giving the campus an eye-catching prominence. Cannily, Erco regards such innovation as good for business--after all, if a dull warehouse can magically morph into a kinetic light sculpture, the possibilities are endless. C. S. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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