Description

The Aplix factory is located in the industrial park of Les Relandières near Cellier, a community in Brittany near Nantes. The Aplix company produces all kinds of Velcro adhesive systems. The selected site allows for the factory building with nearly 30,000 m² to be doubled should this be required at a later stage. Apart from production facilities, the brief included storage, loading bays for delivery trucks, an entrance lobby, and roughly 1,600 m² of office space for administration and management, as well as sufficient parking.

Production takes place in five separate, but closely arranged workshops with floor areas between 2,400 m² and 5,600 m². These workshops are arranged according to the production process following the production steps from raw material to the completed product.

The building is composed of 20 m x 20 m x 7 m modular units. The grillage made of trussed girders in the individual units supports the insulated metal roof. The addition of the simple geometric structure results in a chessboard pattern consisting of sealed spaces and green spaces. Like a crossword puzzle, there are filled-in and empty squares. The factory building is a long rectangular volume and is placed into the center of the site. The 300 m long and completely enclosed southeast façade runs along the national highway. Only tree-tops and air-conditioning equipment protrude out of this poignant horizontal line, thus amplifying the linear character of the building.

An internal street running parallel to the main façade and linking the individual workshops is the backbone of the building. Heavy steel gates at both ends of this street enable lorries to serve the production facilities directly. While the entire technical building equipment is exposed and suspended from the ceiling above the internal street, the air-conditioning is installed above the respective production areas on the roof as some facilities require specific temperature and humidity conditions. Along the street, which continues outside, three gardens measuring 20 m x 40 m are located. High plants – pine trees with reddish trunks and bluish needles – lend a lively element to the complex. The tree tops break the light falling on the internal street. Workshops are grouped around the gardens; offices and the cafeteria are adjacent to another garden. On the side of the factory where the terrain is flat all access roads are situated. Also, both entrances for visitors and employees are to be found here, as well as loading ramps and maneuvering areas for trucks.

The façade is made of polished stainless steel folded every 50 cm. This panelled façade type was specifically designed by Dominique Perrault’s office for this project. Interior finishes include various perforated metal sheets, which guarantee excellent acoustic performance. The window front is composed of aluminum framed coated single and double glazing with galvanised steel bracings.

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