Alupak production building

Building for the Packing Industry

At the beginning of 2004 Burckhardt+Partner Lausanne won the architectural competition for the new production facilities for Alupak in Belp.

The requirements of Alupak AG, specialists in high quality aluminium packing for the food industry and whose production includes the Nespresso capsules, were very demanding. The aim of the new building was not only to allow Alupak to optimize processes in order to achieve more cost-effective production but also to express the “State of the Art” production and quality of the products with appealing yet cost-favourable architecture.

For us this meant exciting and demanding terms of reference. The aim was to achieve an intelligent link between

• optimized operating processes,
• cost-favourable and environmentally friendly energy and technical systems,
• high hygiene requirements,
• noise protection requirements
• and architecture that is both cost favourable as well as in line with the high quality product.

Following analysis and optimization of the operating processes we succeeded in presenting an exceptionally compact and well thought out concept for the new building which took account of all aspirations.

The hygiene and noise protection requirements make it necessary to keep the windows closed even in summer. Consequently, the buildings are cooled via a ventilation system whereby the cooling requirements are covered cleanly and economically via the ground water. In the winter the buildings and the hot water are heated to a large extent using heat given off by the generation of compressed air and the production facilities. The ventilation outlets and cooling towers are let into the roof and thus are neither visible nor audible for residents.

In order to achieve a façade free from offsets in the compact construction and to maintain the boundary distances despite the height of up to 14 metres, the north and south facades were inclined. They merge seamlessly into the roof which is also inclined so as to overcome the differing heights of the production and infrastructure parts. This results in a soft wrap around the building. The “skin” which is predominantly made of aluminium is intended to surround all functions and technical installations required for operation in the same way as packing. As such, the building is symbolic of the product itself – high quality aluminium packing.