JSW, Dolvi was expanding rapidly, increasing production capacity from current 1.5MT to 15MT and needed a centralized Maintenance, Repair & Operation (MRO) warehouse to support it. The warehouse has heavy weight moving machineries like Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS). With a proposed area of 1.75lakh Sqft and a clear height of 35M, this upcoming warehouse would be the Asia’s largest Automated MRO warehouse.
ThinkLink, the Turnkey Integrator of JSW’s Automated Warehouse, approached Aashray Design Consultants Pvt, Ltd (ADCPL) to design the Architecture, Structure & MEP services of this proposed warehouse. The slushy soil present at site was also a huge factor we had to consider while designing the foundation of the structure. Adding up these unique challenges and a very strict budget provided to ThinkLink, ADCPL was selected as the most appropriate consultancy firm to provide a solution to all these problems at minimal cost of construction.
Design Intent
The pallets to be stored inside the warehouse ranged from 2.5M to 33M in height. So, for the storage of these pallets, we needed at least 35M clear height within the shed. With a length of 196M and a width of 81M, we were looking at a structure with massive volume. The design team, needed to deal, with this huge structure with utmost care so as to not only make it look appealing, but to also provides structural stability to it.
The height of the building imposed upon us a huge challenge – the upward thrust. They had to respect the power of wind and had to take immense measures to make sure that the structure was held firmly to the ground.
Taking care of the structural concerns, provided with the design for the warehousing process by ThinkLink, and together, we came up with a comprehensive solution for JSW.
We, at ADCPL, have designed and successfully completed over 500 steel building projects on PAN India basis, but every once in a while, we come across new challenging and even more interesting projects like JSW’s Central Storage Warehouse!”. Doing this project has taught us a lot, not only architecturally, but to work as a team as well
L.A.Murthy, Managing Director & Amit Murao, Sr. VP
Aashray Design Consultants Pvt Ltd
Steel the ultimate choice
As all are aware, of the strength of steel, and, its fast-paced construction technique. To create such a huge structure in a limited period of time was in itself a challenge. The upward thrust threat posed by the strong and prevalent wind on such a huge surface area was also something that needed to be addressed. Keeping, all these factors in mind and with the intent to create huge column free spans inside the warehouse so as to support the proper functioning of the ASRS system, decided to go with steel as the primary building material for the warehouse.
The width of the building is divided in two parts by three steel columns. The larger span is 57M wide and the smaller span is 24M wide. This gave us the advantage of huge, 57M wide, column free space in the warehouse. This was a very important pre-requisite which had to be addressed for the proper functioning of the ASRS system inside the warehouse. The portals are placed at a span of 8M along the length. The shed has a clear height of 35M. To arrest the uplifting force of the wind in the floor diaphragm, we introduced floor piles as part of foundation system. The entire structure, which has been designed in 345 grade steel, has a very sleek PEB concept. 345 grade steel connections plates and splicing joints are also proposed at the point of contra flexure to ensure adequate strength in the structure.
Structural Geometrics
With a length of 196M, width of 81M and a height of around 40M, the overall shape of the warehouse were inherently moving towards a cuboidal volume. To break the monotony of the structure and to make it something different from a regular warehouse shed, curves on the roof were introduced, on the front and rear elevation of the shed. The shed is divided into two parts and these two parts can be differentiated by their heights. The smaller part is 20M in height and the larger part of the shed in 40M in height. The element which binds these two parts is the curved surface. The curve has been derived from the logo of JSW. The primary colours which are associated with their brand, i.e. blue and red have been used on the façade of the shed.
Software used and Learnings
The primary planning of the overall functioning of the warehouse was done through numerous hand sketches. These sketches were then formulated in AutoCad to arrive at a concrete plan. The options for the exterior façade design was developed on SketchUp while the final 3D model was prepared on 3DS Max.
StaadPro was used to design and check the stability of the steel structures of the warehouse.
Working on the Central Storage Warehouse project for JSW & ThinkLink and our other associates has been a great learning experience for the whole team of ADCPL. Being in the industry for the past 27 years, people might start thinking that they have learnt and seen it all. But in the field of architecture, you never stop learning. With each project we do, we get new experiences. We get to learn something new every time. This project was a huge project for Team ADCPL, and the massiveness of the project itself posed as the biggest problem to us. We got to learn the power of wind and the threat it can cause to any structure. We got to learn a lot from ThinkLink regarding Automated Storage and Retrieval System and warehouse automation. Overall, while doing this project, we can surely say that we have added a lot to our experience and knowledge and we as a team have together grown and developed immensely. The timeline given to us for the project was 18 months.
Fact File
Architect: Aashray Design Consultants Pvt Ltd
Client: JSW
Steel Fabricator: Phenix
Steel Supplier: JSW
Structural Engineer: bmsf
PMC: JSW
