ArchitectureWeek People and Places: C.F. Møller Architects in Haderslev, Denmark

C. F. Møller Architects designed the new Bestseller Logistics Center in Haderslev, Denmark. Photo: Adam Moerk

A new wood rainscreen-clad logistics center, located in Haderslev, Denmark, supplies all of the European boutiques of the clothing company Bestseller.

The Bestseller Logistics Center has been designed by C.F. Møller Architects in three parallel linear bands along a main avenue. One of the bands contains the main entrance, office and staff facilities, together with a truck-loading area, while the second contains an automated sorting facility, and the third, a fully-automated storage area. This layout provides a flexible arrangement, and allows for a possible future expansion of the logistics center to triple its present size – i.e. 150,000 square meters (1,600,000 square feet).

Overview of the Bestseller Logistics Center on its greenfield site. Photo: Adam Moerk

Bestseller Logistics Center ground-floor plan drawing. Image: C.F. Møller

According to the architects, the idea was to create an industrial building that would go beyond the typical standardized solutions for such warehouse facilities, and create a building with a strong identity that would add to the experiential quality of its surroundings. The tall storage areas take the form of solid, sculptural structures, clad with wooden slats and equipped with transparent sides that allow motorists on the nearby highway to see the cranes at work.

The glazed end walls of the automated storage buildings face the adjacent highway. Photo: Adam Moerk

The building's primary structure is cast-in-place concrete, although glass and steel are extensively used.

Selective transparency is a theme that continues throughout the building's other wings. The end walls of the sorting-facility wing are extensively glazed and a large courtyard punctuates a central portion of its run. And glazing punctuates the front wing, near the entry and on the upper floors.

The courtyard of the Bestseller Logistics Center. Photo: Adam Moerk

Although it was built on a rural greenfield site, sustainability was also a focus in the design and construction of the center. The building includes large-scale green roofs, low-energy machine equipment and the use of renewable energy such as solar and biodiesel for heating. It is also rated Energy class 1 according to Danish codes.

The large automated sorting facility. Photo: Adam Moerk

The landscape, including the surrounding site covering approximately 50 hectares (124 acres) in all, has been designed to form a natural area with oak woods, wetlands, and meadows with grazing cows.