Square Footage
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12,000 |
Program/Scope
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The Shepard Bros. Company distributes bulk cleansers and disinfectant used primarily in the dairy and laundering industries. Shepard Brothers found itself bursting at the seams with chemical products and began to look at the empty lot adjacent to their main facility in La Habra for expansion. Initial schemes involved leasing the land and building a modest warehouse. |
Budget / Construction Cost
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$1.2 Million |
Unusual Characteristics
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Because of the unique triangular shape of the site, and the need to construct as much square footage as the site would allow, the building shape became triangular. Due to its site, shape, and program, the building design developed into tripartite elements of pan, structure and skin. |
Special Challenges
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The new site had its back edge defined by a flood control channel running at an almost perfect 45-degree angle to the property. Most of the site area was within this triangular shape, the rest forming a rectangular street frontage.
Planning for the new facility was restricted by the need to maneuver large trucks around the property for delivery of raw materials and distribution of finished products. When the purchase of the neighboring lot became possible, the two properties could be combined, allowing the warehouse building and truck dock to occupy the majority of space at the new site and the truck traffic to flow in its existing pattern.
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Solution
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The building's aesthetic concept was to allow the building elements to play their respective roles simply, resulting in a sleek, clean enclosure with each of the elements of pan, structure and skin derived from the function of the building's program, and response to its site condition, then guided by each other in application. The concrete foundation and slab form the pan at the rectangular portion of the building. This four inch deep pan slopes in sections for easy forklift travel to the loading dock and roll-up doors. The necessity for containment of chemicals is carried through below ground where the catch basins and storm drain system are equipped with filters and valves to prevent spills from entering the adjacent flood channel. A corrugated metal skin wraps the skeleton, providing protection from the elements, as well as ventilation with continuous, frameless, metal louvers. Natural light enters through acrylic panels in the roof. The skin is supported by the skeleton, with steel z-girts running horizontally every five feet. The Z-girts form datum lines guiding the placement of the buildings doors and exterior soffits. Where the building fronts South Cypress Street and the truck access lane, it reveals another layer of flat metal panels giving it a sleek public face. The exterior metal skin pulls back, to expose the concrete block shipping office and the steel skeleton to the passer-by. This truly industrial building allows the elements to play their respective roles simply and clearly within the industrial setting of La Habra. |
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