The Plus | the world’s most sustainable factory

Vestre, the well known manufacturer of wooden outdoor furniture recently opened the doors to its latest project; The Plus. A 7.000 m2 factory located in the heart of a Norwegian forest, challenging the very idea we have of what a factory is.

The firm enlisted to bring the vision to life was no other than the Danish architecture firm BIG, founded by the famous architect Bjarke Ingels. The result is a cross-shaped timber and glass structure consisting of four double-height modules, each in charge of a different stage of the production process and coming together to create a central office area with an internal courtyard at the factory’s core.

Sustainability was a big factor when designing the factory, and so the brief was to build the world's most environmentally-friendly furniture factory. Parts of this was achieved through the installation of 900 solar panels on the roof, 17 geothermal wells and heat pumps to capture excess heat from the production process, all done with clever innovations addressing thermal bridges, insulation and creating a façade that has never been done before. The outcome is a building 60% more energy efficient than the comparable industry standard with a 55% lower carbon footprint.

The other groundbreaking vision of this factory is the concept of turning the building and the 300.000 m2 surrounding forest into a public park for people to enjoy in their leisure time, challenging the notion of usual uninviting and pollutant industrial zones. Rather, The Plus has created spaces furnished with Vestre furniture inside, on top of, and around the factory for people to dwell, play, and connect with each other and nature.

Original sources Wallpaper and Dezeen

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