Jürgen Stoppel from Baumschlager Eberle Architekten was commissioned to design the new building. He has been supporting Graf Elektronik since several expansion stages of the site. As a result, he is very familiar with the company's processes and requirements. He says: “The uninterrupted flow of materials was one of the most important planning criteria for this new building.”
Albrecht Imanuel Schnabel
Sophisticated logistics
With around 150 to 200 orders running in parallel, varying in quantity from 15 to 15,000, it is essential to ensure that all components are delivered without problems, stored in a way that makes them easy to find between each individual production stage, and can be shipped quickly. This is ensured with the help of high-bay warehouses. There are three of these on the campus. Although they only take up one sixth of the floor space, they form the logistical backbone and extend from the basement to a height of 16 meters.
The new building consists of three floors, each four meters high. While the upper two floors are already used for the production of electronic assemblies and as offices, the ground floor currently serves as a parking lot – with the option of being converted into production space at a later date.
Albrecht Imanuel Schnabel
This forward-looking planning also came into play with the roof. It was designed so that another production floor can be easily added on top. To create optimal working conditions, the planners placed great emphasis on good natural lighting. Accordingly, there is a glazed inner courtyard that impresses with its curved shape.
Since the available land was to be used to its full potential, the floor plan of the property largely follows its contours. As a result, the building is curved in some places, which is also reflected in the impressive glass facade.
Glass facade with glass from Glas Marte
The facade extends over a height of 12.20 m and covers a total area of 1240 m². When selecting the glass, the architects opted for Uniglas Sun from Glas Marte. The U-value of the glass is 0.4 W/m²K, and the maximum light reflection to the outside is 15 per cent (EN 410). Uniglas Sun is available as double or triple glazing.
Albrecht Imanuel Schnabel
Three glass panes were used in the new Graf Elektronik building, the combination of which produced exactly the desired shade of green – because the color of the new glass facade had to match that of an existing building on the company premises.
Curved glass
The production of the curved triple insulating glass used in the inner courtyard was a particularly challenging task for Glas Marte. The 4.80 x 1.0 metre glass panes were fixed in place using a mounting system featuring thermally separated aluminium profiles and innovative insulating block technology.
With its ability to bear glass loads of up to 1500 kg, it is suitable for structurally demanding functions. And these were precisely the requirements for the company's new building.
As the lowest floor is currently still used as a parking area, the building is open to the outside here. As a result, the entire glass loads had to be suspended from the top ceiling slab. In order to match the appearance of the glass facade completely to that of the existing building, the aluminum profiles visible from the outside were powder-coated in RAL color 7021 silk matt.
