Description

The Mors company produces and distributes pre­fabricated wall and ceiling elements. The company’s industrial building is situated north of Amsterdam in an industrial park.

The architectural firm of Benthem Crouwel proposed an exterior skin that is partly installed on the inside and partly installed on the outside of the continuous bearing structure. As a result, the functional differences between both areas, storage hall and exhibition/administrative area, are visible. At the front of the building, a glazed volume is inserted below the continuous structure. Here, the representative areas of the building including visitors’ entrance and exhibition areas as well as offices are located. The larger volume at the rear is clad with trapezoid metal sheets fixed to the outside of the structure to create an enclosed storage hall. In the front third of the rectangular building, both envelopes overlap. This section contains secondary rooms.

Both functional areas share the same structural system: ten trusses spanning 21.60 m are spaced at 5.40 m and have a clear height of 7.40 m. The trussed frames consist of three welded, prefabricated three-chord trusses, which are rigidly bolted together at the corners.

The storage area comprises eight of ten trusses. Its envelope consists of double-profiled wall cladding elements and simple-profiled roof cladding elements and encloses 800 m² of storage space and a 200 m² workshop. The exterior walls are composed of two trapezoid metal sheets with a sandwiched insulation layer. At the gable ends, two large gates for loading and unloading trucks are positioned. Daylight enters this otherwise enclosed part of the building only through skylights covering the trusses.

The representative section of the building faces to the road. Office and exhibition areas are arranged in a single open-plan space and can be changed at anytime to suit varying requirements. In contrast to the storage and workshop space, all three exterior walls of this volume are fully glazed. Horizontal blinds, which are integrated in the cavity of the square insulating glass units, function as solar protection devices. The exhibition area at the front takes up the full height of 7 m. Adjacent to the storage hall, an office mezzanine level is added to the space. This gallery, which is supported by additional steel columns, can be accessed by a free-standing spiral staircase. From here, the exhibition and storage areas and the surrounding landscape can be overlooked.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.