Spotted: An efficient cold chain is vital for ensuring maximum agricultural efficiency and reducing post-harvest losses, as well as for keeping delicate pharmaceutical products safe. However, refrigeration uses a lot of energy. In fact, according to the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the refrigeration sector is currently responsible for around 17 per cent of global electricity consumption. To reduce this, KrossLinker has developed what it claims is the world’s most insulating nanomaterial.
Earlier this year, the startup released its first commercial aerogel product, called Cryar Aerogel Board. This is a water-based, Silicon Aerogel composite board designed to reduce the energy needed to keep pharmaceutical and food products cold during shipping, with its nano-porous structure providing excellent thermal insulation.
The company’s aerogel is lightweight, non-toxic, and reusable. It is made using a novel drying technique that reduces the energy consumption of the finished product while speeding up production. KrossLinker claims that its product is made at half the cost of traditional aerogels.
KrossLinker has collaborated with a number of packaging logistic companies to accelerate the adoption of Cryar aerogel shipping containers. Beyond the cold chain, KrossLinker’s technology also has applications in the manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) and building construction.
The energy consumption of the cold chain industry is the subject of a number of recent innovations spotted by Springwise. These include solar-powered cooling for the livestock industry and the use of compostable materials for cold chain packaging.
Danish architecture studio Henning Larsen has revealed plans for a mass-timber logistics hub on Flevopolder island, the Netherlands, that will be the largest of its kind in the world.
Designed by Henning Larsen, the 155,000-square-metre hub will contain offices, shuttle storage and pallet shuttle, as well as a restaurant and roof garden.
Trees will provide shaded seating on the roof
Expected to be completed by 2026, the Logistics Center West will be built largely from glued laminated timber (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT) along with other biogenic materials.
Internally, the timber structure will have oversized columns and exposed beams complimented by light-coloured floors and furniture. Externally, the facade will be divided by rhythmic timber fins and regular openings.
Timber interiors flooded by natural daylight
The building will be surrounded by a wetland habitat and forest with a 30,000-square-metre meadow placed on its roof to increase the site biodiversity.
Planting beds, fruit trees and bushes on the building’s rooftop will provide a green outdoor space for the employees, as well as attract local species.
Regular timber fins decorate the facade
A boardwalk will serve as a scenic route across the wetland, while also providing educational tools for the employees, reinforcing the integration of nature into the workplace.
With just over 40 per cent of the site to be dedicated to greenery, access to certain areas of the site will be restricted to reduce human impact and promote wildlife growth.
According to the studio, the project’s biodiversity will work to absorb CO2, filter air pollutants and mitigate heat absorption to create “a more comfortable and sustainable environment”.
Rainwater from the rooftop will be collected and stored for sustainable reuse around the building.
The mass-timber proposal will feature a constructed wetland
According to the studio the project will be the world’s largest timber logistics centre. The design will aim to create an atmosphere that prioritises employee well-being through the integration of nature into the workplace. Natural light, green spaces and clean air will work to “invigorate the space and enhance focus”.
Henning Larsen is an international studio for architecture, landscape, and urbanism. Other projects set to be completed by the studio include a ferry terminal in Faroe Islands that draws on traditional Viking boats and a wooden Ørestad church with trapezoidal roofs.
Avanto Architects and Joanna Laajisto have designed a logistics centre for retailer Finnish Design Shop that features warm timber, a foraged-food restaurant for staff and visitors, and views of the surrounding forest.
Located on the outskirts of Turku, west of Helsinki, the logistics centre is the hub for storage, management and dispatch of products from the Finnish Design Shop, which says it is the world’s largest online store for Nordic design.
The company needed a new logistics centre after a period of high growth, but founder and CEO Teemu Kiiski also aimed for it to be a meaningful place for employees and visitors.
The Finnish Design Shop logistics centre is located in the Pomponrahka nature reserve in Turku. Photo is by Kuvio
Employees of the logistics centre can enjoy plenty of light and forest views as well as warm timber environments and a restaurant run by Sami Tallberg, an award-winning chef who specialises in foraging.
The Finnish Design Shop had first explored whether it could convert an existing building in the Turku area, but, finding nothing suitable, chose to build on a site in the Pomponrahka nature reserve, where the surrounding forest would provide a calming work environment and reflect the appreciation for wood in Nordic design.
To undertake construction there responsibly, the Finnish Design Shop says the builders saved as many trees as possible and landscaped the area with natural forest undergrowth and stones excavated from the site.
The entrance features glass curtain walls that connect the interior and exterior. Photo by Kuvio
Avanto Architects designed the 12,000-square-metre building to blend into the forest as much as possible — a challenge given its massing, a product of the warehouse layout.
The layout was created beforehand by specialist consultants to maximise the efficiency of operations, which are carried out by robots in an automated system.
The centre includes a showroom. Photo by Mikko Ryhänen
The architects opted for a dark facade with a vertical relief pattern that becomes visible on approach and echoes the tree trunks in the surrounding woodlands.
“The pattern forms a more human scale to the large facade surfaces,” Avanto Architects co-founder Anu Puustinen told Dezeen. “We also used warm wooden accents in the main entrance vestibule, balcony and windows.”
There is also a restaurant that specialises in foraged food. Photo by Mikko Ryhänen
The architects gave the office spaces large windows so the employees could enjoy frequent views of the forest and lots of light, and included a balcony for access to the outdoors on the first floor.
The entrance to the centre is through the showroom, which features glass curtain walls that showcase the use of the building and a long, straight staircase made from two massive glulam beams.
The first-floor offices have a view of the warehouse floor. Photo by Kuvio
The interior was designed by Laajisto and her studio, who aimed to make the space feel well-proportioned and comfortable despite its size and to create a good acoustic environment by liberally applying sound-absorbing materials.
She kept the colour and material palette neutral and natural, with lots of solid pine and ash wood to continue the forest connection, but used furniture from the Finnish Design Shop in bright colours to punctuate the space.
“The aim was that every aspect in the interior should be done well and beautifully,” Laajisto told Dezeen. “Attention to detail was embraced in things that typically are overlooked, such as doors, plumbing fixtures and electrical hardware selections and applications, acoustic ceiling panels and ceramic tiles.”
The project is the first logistics building in Finland to be certified BREEAM Excellent, the second highest level.
Special attention has been paid to creating a good acoustic environment with sound-dampening materials. Photo by Mikko Ryhänen
Kiiski, who positions the company as the opposite of multinational e-commerce players such as Amazon, aimed for the new centre to be the most socially and environmentally sustainable online store.
“The values that life in the Nordic countries is based on include transparency, equality and respect for nature,” said Kiiski. “It would have been impossible to create this company and our new logistics centre without unwavering respect for these values.”
Wood is featured throughout the interior
He believes that global online shopping can be socially and environmentally sustainable when issues in supply chains, logistics and operations are addressed.
“Many studies show that online shopping can have a lower carbon footprint as compared to in-store shopping,” said Kiiski. “This is due to the more efficient logistics in e-commerce and the fact that in-store shopping usually involves private transport.”
“We want to push the whole industry towards a more sustainable future,” he continued.
The hub is meant to offer employees a healthy and humane working environment. Photo by Mikko Ryhänen
Past work by Avanto Architects includes the Löyly waterfront sauna in Helsinki, which has a multifaceted exterior that visitors can climb, and the Villa Lumi, a house with a sculptural white staircase.
Laajisto’s previous projects include office interiors for service design company Fjord and the Airisto furniture collection for Made by Choice, which was inspired by Scandinavian holiday culture.
