Description
Wilkhahn is an internationally leading producer of seating furniture. Due to future expansions of its enterprise, a new master plan was prepared for the premises which included the existing buildings. Until the construction of the new halls the premises in Eimbeckhausen near Hanover consisted of production plants, pavilions, a number of old buildings, and an office building. Apart from building an ambitious and iconic landmark for the company, the architectural design introduces a functional and aesthetic ordering system. Furthermore, the building concept and choice of materials were to emphasize ecological aspects of energy conscious and sustainable building principles. Therefore the master plan includes all existing trees. Also, the nature of industrial production was to be symbolised by a linear and additive character of the load-bearing elements.
In the first phase, a 100 m x 33 m section of the new production plants was built. The ground floor, which is embedded into a slope, is a solid reinforced concrete structure with brick partitions between the halls. The primary structure of the upper floor is made of laminated timber allowing large free spans. These free-spanning roofs are suspended between 5.40 m wide supports spaced at 30 m. The girders are trussed with sag rods and have a structural height of 1.50 m. The non-ventilated green roofs consist of glue-laminated timber panels and a plywood veneering, which is reinforced by timber ribs. The front and intermediate building sections have compass roofs clad with corrugated sheet metal. The girders trussed with sag rods and the cross bracings resisting wind loads determine the design of the hall: the perpendicular timber structure with girders that are subject to compression and bending is braced by tensile steel cables.
The load-bearing supports as well as circulation and utility cores are located in the same area. The generous production space is interspersed with staff rooms, all of which have a view. On the north side of the building narrow office zones are to be found. All rooms receive additional daylight through skylights. The continuous skylight strips have vents for heat regulation during summer; the geometry of the halls also supports natural ventilation. The northern side received extra-white thermal glazing, to the south capillary and fibrous inserts have been fitted for additional solar protection. The east and west façades of the halls are made of glulam post-and-beam structures. Behind the posts in the hall areas, lightweight trussed steel girders accept the horizontal loads. For impact protection, the posts’ base points are restrained. For the most part, the longitudinal façades have been clad with translucent thermal insulation panels, which also function as an anti-glare device. The panels to the north and south sides have a larch finish.
The cladding of the main façades with translucent thermal insulation panels creates – in combination with the continuous skylights – good daylight conditions for the production area. The green roofs of the halls prevent excessive heat gain during summer, reduce noise levels, delay rainwater drainage and compensate for areas that were sealed.
Drawings
Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.