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Article from issue 9/2003 »Konzept Industrial Building«

Windscreen-Wiper Factory in Bietigheim-Bissingen

Drafts
1:100 Section through service runs in floors
1:1000 Floor plan/Sections
1:20 Section through facade
1:5 Details
1:5000 Site plan
Diagrams of step-by-step conversion of works site
Isometric at preliminary planning stage
Isometric of structure as executed
Preliminary design: diagram of functions and material flow lines

For the automobile suppliers Valeo, production has priority over outward display. Corporate design is expressed in the clarity, openness and unobtrusive elegance of the new factory. The way in which the architects translated the requirements of the brief for a windscreen-wiper works into a comprehensive architectural concept, and the reason why they chose the version finally implemented from a number of alternatives are documented from the initial design and urban planning concept to the detailed planning stage. The universal principle of an open, modular, standardized structure that can be adapted to many different situations is evident not only in the load-bearing structure, but in the form of the facades.