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Automated Warehouse

Designed by Amit Khanna on the outskirts of New Delhi, this warehouse facility is wrapped in a perforated brickwork screen, providing a high degree of passive insulation.

Amit Khanna, Automated Warehousing Facility, Delhi, 2016

Surrounded by a rapidly urbanizing village settlement, the site is on the outskirts of New Delhi. The project brief was to create a large warehousing facility that would be equipped with a high degree of automation. A comprehensive environmental and energy strategy became essential required to maintain habitable temperatures throughout the year.

Planned in three incremental phases, the 13,000 sqm structure is programmatically divided into 3 parts – the warehouse, the loading bay and the north-facing office block which is interlocked with the other two. This layout enables easy stacking of future expansion with no loss of efficiency in material/man movement.

Rather than overlay a conventional window-based punctured facade over the structural frame, the warehouse and loading bay are wrapped in a perforated brickwork screen. This screen shades a glazed dust barrier, recessed by 1200mm from the south and north facades, creating a buffer zone that cuts glare, serves as a utility zone and provides a high degree of passive insulation. The glazed barrier can be opened during good weather for ventilation and during extreme weather to allow for mechanical ventilation.

The west facade is mostly blank with only a sliver of brick screen near the ceiling to permit evening illumination and the completely blank east facade faces the loading bay. The exposed brick unifies the various facades and minimizes the visual impact of the building on the surroundings.