ERCO Hochregallager P3

The company ERCO Leuchten GmbH in Lüdenscheid set themselves the task of adding a new high-bay pallet-stacking warehouse (P3) to their existing production buildings, P1 and P2. They wanted a warehouse for pallet-based goods (half-finished and finished products and packing material), designed as a highly-bay, silo-shaped warehouse – in other words, the pallet racks themselves were to form the supporting structure for the new building.

The  design encompassed the succinct character of the racking and logistics machinery and designed the new enclosure with a steel facade and roof, largely covered with transparent or translucent glass surfaces. In this way, the inner processes can still be noticed from outside, the building is self-explanatory in terms of depth and function. In line with the task, the lengthways facades are covered with a simple construction material which, through generous use and special detail, lends the building a powerful air.

A light system by lighting planner, Uwe Belzner, on the fully-automatic storage retrieval units makes their movement visible. Another lighting mis-en-scene from vertically arranged fluorescent lamps directly behind the facade makes use of the barcode effect in alluding to the building’s contents.

The building measurements are as follows:  Width x length x height  ca. 29.60 m x 73.60 m x 13.00 m (west facade) – 23.00 m (east facade)

The long facades, specially developed for ERCO, are designed as double-skin glass profile facades in the principle of a structural glazing construction, with the U-profile opening outward.

The facades of the ridge roof are made from clear, transparent sheet glass with large panes of insulating glass. The 2.20 m x 4.50 m large panels are held on two sides with clamping profiles, the vertical glass edges are simply treated with silicon. This achieves maximal transparency through the depth of the building into the bay driving aisles.