Danish architecture studio Henning Larsen has revealed plans for a logistics center that will be the largest of its kind in the world – it should be built of wood.
It will lie on Flevopolder, which is the largest island in the Netherlands and the largest man-made island in the world.
The center has a planned area of 155,000 square meters and will be filled not only by a warehouse or transshipment with pallets, but also by offices or restaurants and a roof garden, as you can see in the opening video of this article.
The Danish plans promise the Dutch that an estimated 500 workers will find employment in the buildings.
In the world already under three years
The so-called Logistic Center West should be built in 2026, and it will be made of glued laminated timber (glulam), panels of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and also of many biogenic, i.e. life-creating, materials, writes, for example, the architectural magazine Dezeen.
The interior of the three-story wooden structure will be made up of giant columns and exposed beams, between which light floors and furniture will be placed. The facade of the building is designed as ribs of columns and windows.
The record-breaking logistics center on the island of Flevopolder should surround about 23,000 square meters of marshes and 30,000 square meters of forest, while the biodiversity of its surroundings will also be complemented by the roof of the new building.
There will be more than 30,000 square meters of grass, but there will also be flower pots, fruit trees and bushes. There will also be plenty of room for photovoltaics.
Biodiverse and green
Employees will also be able to walk on the grass on the roof, but it should also serve as a new home for a number of local animal species.
Due to the extent of greenery in the premises of the LCW center, which will occupy 40 percent of the construction, workers will only have access to selected places in order to reduce the human impact on the environment and support life in the area.
According to the Henning Larsen study, the project’s biodiversity is supposed to absorb CO from the air2, i.e. carbon dioxide, filter other pollution and also absorb heat. It will also collect rainwater from the roof and store it for use in the building. The energy will be partly provided by the already mentioned photovoltaics.
