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Melix Cooperative

Timber plant: structure, quality, lightness

Melix Cooperative
By Editorial Staff -
LignoAlp has participated in the project

The Melix fruit cooperative is headquartered in the craft district of Varna, a small town not far from Brixen in the heart of the mountainous northern Italian region of South Tyrol. The plant is a storage and transport hub for many local farms. As the demand for increased warehousing grew, the decision was made to build upwards, creating an entirely new construction on top of the existing building. Kerschbaumer & Pichler e Partner’s design sought inspiration in the surrounding landscape, with its many farms and apple orchards. The result was an aluminum-clad construction with bands of red, yellow, orange and green that make the plant immediately and unmistakably identifiable. The new build has 4,500 sq.m of walls and 6,500 sq.m of roofing, but it was placed literally on the existing roof. To create this new glulam structure, the architects turned to LignoAlp, the Italian leader in custom timber constructions (buildings and roofs). There was no single reason behind opting for a wooden solution, but a multitude of reasons, including lightness, cost, fire retardant properties, precision and construction time. LignoAlp’s technical solution was to produce a hinged structure with movement in two directions and transversal and longitudinal bracing. Fire safety standards required the bracing to also be in wood. LignoAlp’s engineering design optimized the construction in two ways: first, the hinged structure made it possible to maximize the volume of the new warehouse; second, such a light structure had minimal impact on the load-bearing capacity of the existing roof. The client also wanted to minimize downtime for the photovoltaic system on the existing roof, so assembly times had to be cut as far as possible. Once again, wood proved to be the right choice, partly because the detailed planning needed in the design phase meant every other aspect was clear, with defined timings, despite the project complexity. It only took two months to create the wood structure, leaving the client very satisfied.

DAMIANI-HOLZ&KO - LignoAlp
Via Julius Durst, 68 - I - 39042 Bressanone (BZ)
Tel +39 0472 975790 - Fax +39 0472 975791
E-mail: [email protected] - www.lignoalp.it

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