Added value through surface finish
Sandalor® Coloured Anodised Aluminum Facade
ALUTECTA built its own high-bay warehouse in 2000. It serves customers as a material storage facility, helping to shorten delivery times. As early as 1998/99, during the planning phase of the 20x20x30 m aluminum cube, the need was recognized to give this investment a distinctive exterior. This project offered the specialist company for aluminum surfaces and processing the opportunity to showcase its capabilities with its own products. „We realize ideas in form, color, and function“ is the company philosophy. The high-bay warehouse was intended to live up to this claim. The design goal was to create a positive symbol of identification for the company's own employees, customers, and visitors to Kirchberg. Multimedia artist Jörg Oswald was commissioned to create the design in 1999. In close collaboration with company management and project planning, a design was developed that could be implemented with minimal additional effort.
The shape of the warehouse remained unchanged, while the cladding was specified as 1.80x1.80 m corrugated aluminum sheets. Alutecta specializes, among other things, in the Sandalor colouring of anodised surfaces. Color anodising preserves the metallic appearance, reflects light, and offers a very high-quality, vibrant look. For his design, Oswald chose a blue Sandalor shade, S160, available in five brightness levels, from S160-0 to -4. Theoretically, this process allows an infinite number of brightness gradations. However, the surface finishing market typically demands the opposite, so in practice, only five shades are offered. The coloured squares were arranged according to a precise plan to create a chaotic structure without any defined areas, patterns, or lines. This concept is based on the principle of order found in nature, which organizes itself through „chaos“. Chaotic structures are and remain „exciting“ due to their complexity; the compact form of the high-bay warehouse is broken up and loosened. Like camouflage, the blue tones in the chaotic arrangement also approximate the natural color palette of the surrounding environment. Analogous to its exterior, the warehouse interior features a complex, chaotic structure. One thousand storage locations, distinguished by colour and contents, are managed through a chaotic warehousing logistics system. The blue cube, in a sense, communicates the processes taking place both inside the warehouse and in production to the outside world. For the artist, this high-bay warehouse is a successful work; for the company ALUTECTA, it serves two purposes: it is both an important component of production and an advertising medium.
Investment
The costs incurred by this artistic implementation of the facade amounted to approximately 0.5% of the total investment. While the added value generated is difficult to quantify, it offers every visitor to ALUTECTA a truly sensory experience.
Implementation
- Facade color scheme in consultation with Jörg Oswald
- Definition of the 5 Sandalor® Farbtöne S160-0 to 4
- Development of a structural solution for the square corrugated metal facade elements
- Translation of the color scheme into a production plan
- Production – Anodising and coloring in Sandalor® colors S160-0 to 4
- Dismounting and assembly according to the installation plan
- Installation by our aluminum processing department