When it became increasingly difficult and expensive to site enough warehouse space at Heathrow Airport to keep pace with the growth of one of Europe’s busiest air cargo hubs, London based developer Brixton PLC, looked into fully accessible, high-capacity, multistory warehouses that were already a success in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
Designed by London-based Cornish Architects, the multistory X2 Warehouse incorporates Verti-Kal by Kalwall Corp., Manchester, N.H., to accentuate the building’s height. Verti-Kal is a design variation on the traditional, rectangular grids of Kalwall’s translucent wall system. The panels incorporate internal, continuous supports to provide a vertical emphasis instead of standard shoji or square grid layouts. The 242,600-square-foot
(22,538-m2) Xbuilding features both warehouse and office space that can be configured for as many as eight tenants or consolidated for fewer units.
Kalwall supplied 5,000 square feet (465 m2) of its Verti-Kal wall system, with a Crystal exterior and White interior, and 20 percent light transmission. The Verti-Kal system distributes diffuse day light throughout the warehouse, even on cloudy days, drastically reducing the amount of artificial lighting required and eliminating shadows and glare, as well as stark contrasts of light and shade. Verti-Kal’s format creates an entirely different look, while still utilizing the most highly insulating, diffuse-light-transmitting, structural composite technology.
Verti-Kal can be supplied in panels up to 5 feet (1.5 m) wide and up to 12 feet (4 m) high, unitized for multistory applications. The X2 Warehouse starts with a hybrid of ground-source heat pumps and more conventional systems to keep HVAC costs down. During the manufacturing process the standard 2 3/4-inch (70-mm) Verti-Kal is infilled with specialized, translucent insulation, achieving insulation values up to R-10.
The Kalwall systems are self-cleaning, with normal rainfall creating a sheeting action to scrub the surface. This makes Verti-Kal a wise choice for airport environments where jet fuel residue and deicing spray tend to cover buildings with an unsightly film.
Kalwall Corp., Manchester, N.H.
