White Curtain

2024 Author: David Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 00:53

The building is intended for Vitrashop, a manufacturer of shop equipment. Initially, the customers calculated that it would be optimal to distribute the four functional zones into 4 rectangular blocks, but the architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa proposed a counter option: a single volume with a circular plan, as in their 21st century art museum in Kanazawa. This solution turned out to be not entirely suitable for industrial needs, so during the work on their first industrial project, the architects had to make the plan more "organic", slightly deviating from the correct form.

But the construction itself became a more difficult problem: in order not to disrupt the production process, first one half of the building was erected - close to the factory intended for demolition, and then the second - on the site of this old structure. A concrete wall runs along the border separating these two halves, serving as a fire barrier, and also facilitating orientation in a huge building (diameter 160 m, height 11.4 m, ground level area - 20.5 thousand m2, underground garage - 10, 5 thousand m2).

But the dimensions of the workshop also played a positive role: thanks to them, it was possible to use standard concrete panels, not curved, for external walls. Also, the huge size made the circular shape of the building quite functional, while in a smaller building, some of the usable space would be wasted due to the large curvature of the walls.

From the outside, the factory, like most of SANAA's works, seems immaterial: in cloudy weather, its white walls almost dissolve into thin air, which largely hides its considerable size. The façade is completely covered with panels of acrylic glass with outer transparent and inner matt white layers. The panels (1.8 m wide, 11 m long) are slightly corrugated, which turns them into a kind of drapery. Due to the same design of the entire outer perimeter, the building does not have a main facade, all of its parts are equivalent, especially since two gates located along the main axis coexist with numerous openings of cargo platforms, which deprives them of any exclusivity. At the same time, the main axis of the Vitrashop building was given by the neighboring structure - the workshop of Nicholas Grimshaw (1986): their entrances are connected by a gracefully curved canopy.

This equivalence of any section of the facade is quite suitable for the location of the building in the middle of a spacious area designed for truck maneuvers. So that the rhythm of the "curtain" was not too monotonous, the panels received three types of fold configuration, in addition, they could be rotated 180 ° on aluminum fasteners, with which they were hung on concrete walls: all this gave in the end 6 options for "pleating" … The service life of this facade is at least 15 years.

The interior is largely determined by SANAA's love for maximum "lightness". Of course, this is not a futuristic workshop of high-tech production, but a completely traditional furniture factory, but the abundance of daylight (there are glazing strips in the roof, there are also windows) and the absolute predominance of white and gray (the colors of unpainted concrete surfaces) bring it closer to the ideal if possible. The rounded plan is hardly readable from the inside of the building, as it is almost completely filled with tall racks for materials and finished products: only a narrow area along the central axis remains for production. The roof is supported by slender steel pillars, spaced over a 17.5 x 22.8 m grid, although the bulk of its weight is supported by the outer walls.

At the walls, where the ends of the racks are facing, the volumes of the cargo platforms are located. The future needs of a factory cannot be predicted, so each of the loading bays can be easily converted into an office and vice versa. Also, in a separate block, a room is allocated for noisy or potentially dangerous work for others. On its roof there is a “lounge” for employees, from where a panorama of half of the workshop opens (up to the barrier wall). A heat-emitting gas system is used for heating (its elements are the only black spot in the interior).

The Vitrashop factory building shows how the industry has successfully resisted the invasion of "contemporary" architecture: with the exception of the circular plan and exterior design of the façade, which, however, create a memorable architectural image, everything in the project is dictated by the needs of production. Of course, this is no longer an "old Ural plant", but a comfortable environment, but there is no breakthrough into the future, even if it seems, is not here. On the other hand, the Vitra campus already more than successfully combines the complex programs of an efficient industrial complex and a nature reserve of modern architecture, so it would be unfair to demand from it serious innovations in the industrial sphere.