The Plus
The world's most environmentally friendly furniture factory using low-carbon aluminium façades
The Plus is the world's most environmentally friendly furniture factory and on the way to becoming the first project to achieve the highest environmental certification "Outstanding" according to BREEAM. WICONA supplied 23 tonnes of recycled Hydro CIRCAL aluminium in the form of a customised solution, a window-based WICTEC EL evo façade. The WICSTYLE 75 evo door system was also supplied for the project.
USED HYDRO CIRCAL 75R
OF CO2 SAVED
Location: Magnor, Norway Year: 2022 Building Type: Factory and office building Customer: Vestre AS Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) Fabricator: Reflex General Contractor: Ø.M. Fjeld AS Photographer: © Einar Aslaksen/Vestre Used systems: Façades WICTEC, windows WICLINE, doors WICSTYLE 75 evo
In the middle of the building, you will find the heart of the factory, here visitors and the public can have a unique experience. The four factory sections that form the plus sign shape are based on the four different manufacturing steps. Where the first step is the storage for the material, then the lacquer production comes followed by the woodworking department and lastly the assembly department. Every furniture is created and completed in the factory and later on shipped out to the world. The architect of this unique project is Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) architects.
The world's most environmentally friendly factory
Vestre uses the world's purest aluminum in several of their furniture’s and the new factory is also the closest neighbor to Hydro Extrusions in Magnor. With the help of WICONA's façade system, 23 tons of Hydro CIRCAL recycled aluminum have been delivered to the project. Hydro CIRCAL is at least 75% recycled aluminum from post-consumer scrap such as glass façades and windows that have been demolished from buildings and are completely recycled. Aluminum can be recycled infinitely many times. Its quality and material properties are never lost. In addition, Hydro CIRCAL uses only 5% of the energy required for primary aluminum production.
“The glass façades are specially developed for The Plus to ensure maximum transparency and the lowest possible energy consumption. The WICONA profiles that frame the glass are delivered using Hydro CIRCAL alloys,” says Frank Føleide, sales engineer at Hydro Building Systems. The Plus aims to reduce energy consumption by 90% compared to similar factories. The four section wings of the building are covered with a beautiful greenery that has picked seeds from the near forest, which creates a natural forest vegetation and together with the solar panels produces 250,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year. The Plus is on its way to become the world's first project to achieve "Outstanding" according to BREEAM, which is the highest environmental class that can be achieved.
The Plus want to attract more visitors to the place and that it will eventually become a tourist attraction that people want to visit. In addition to the roof, which is already open to the public, an adventure park will be built around The Plus. Vestre also wants more companies to pay attention to Magnor, which has an excellent location near Sweden's borders and will then become a junction for cross-border business.
“With The Plus, Vestre has shown that it is possible to invest heavily in profitable and environmentally friendly finished goods production in a high-cost country such as Norway and we believe that if we can do it, so can others. The goal is for the project to inspire others to establish similar projects. We hope that The Plus will be a strong symbol and create a significant ripple effect both for Norwegian mainland industry and exports and for Scandinavian cooperation.”
Stefab Tjust, CEO on Vestre
