Industrial architecture with a message: New ERCO building as a sculpture of light
ERCO's P3 automated warehouse goes into action
Lüdenscheid, 14th of February 2002 - With its new, ultra-modern, logistics building, ERCO is bringing together innovation, cultural considerations and functionality. At night, the automated warehouse makes its mark as a sculpture of light, visible for miles around. On the translucent facade of the cuboid building the complex mechanical processes taking place inside are depicted as light signals and thereby communicated to the outside world. Continuously changing patterns of vertical lines - reminiscent of the bar codes which identify goods and parcels - appear shimmering in blue-green light on the suspended outer skin of cast glass.
"To design such a construction, whose functionality, technology and aesthetics are so complex and demanding, and then to actually execute it with the commensurate quality requires having a team of leading experts," explained Klaus J. Maack, management spokesman at ERCO. The architect's studio schneider+schumacher of Frankfurt developed an architectonic "language" which can meet the task and the design requirements of the building owners. The logistic concept and the design of the warehouse technology was created in co-operation with the VES Planungsgesellschaft design offices, Dortmund, who also performed the on-site works supervision. ERCO commissioned the lighting artist Uwe Belzner from Heidelberg with the design of the media facade whose lighting sequences are based on the theme of the logistic processes inside the building.
With its glazed facade of light the P3 automated warehouse establishes a new quality in the design of industrial buildings: here, for the first time ever, a media facade is being used to relate the processes going on inside the building. Modern technology is behind the lighting installation; an ERCO lighting control system dims and switches the fluorescent lamps and controls over 250 different light scenes. In addition, the facade's "structural glazing" consisting of cast glass elements represents a constructional innovation and is the largest of its kind.
The 73 m long and 23 m high cuboid building is built into the hillside and extends into the natural surroundings. The longitudinal facades consist of a sectional glass construction which was specially developed for this project and enables all the internal processes to be experienced as an artwork from the outside. In terms of materials-handling, the automated warehouse is linked to the existing production plant P1 via an unsupported bridge. With a storage capacity of 7,000 pallets and six fully automated stacker cranes, the warehouse forms a key element within the comprehensive logistic system - a system with which ERCO wants to optimally serve its growing markets.
About ERCO
ERCO Leuchten GmbH, Lüdenscheid, is one of the leading companies in the luminaire industry. The family business founded in 1934 now operates with over 60 subsidiaries, branches and agencies all around the world. Working together with internationally renowned designers, lighting engineers and architects, ERCO develops product ranges for all areas of architectural lighting: luminaires and lighting systems for indoor and outdoor areas, as well as lighting control for scenic dimming and light management. In keeping with the corporate philosophy of "Light not luminaries," lighting devices are not offered simply as furnishing for rooms, but rather luminaries are offered as instruments of lighting design. Many demanding pieces of architecture are illuminated by ERCO, these include the Berlin Reichstag, the Louvre in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In the year 2000, ERCO's 1,050 employees worldwide recorded a turnover of 128 million Euro.
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Contact presse:
ERCO Leuchten GmbH
Martin Krautter
Public Relations
Brockhauser Weg 80-82
58507 Lüdenscheid
Germany
Tel.: +49 2351 551 345
Fax: +49 2351 551 340
m.krautter@erco.com
http://www.erco.com
Communiqués de presse 18.02.2002
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