Colorful Yevlakh Seed Factory Wins World Architecture Award

The <a href="http://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/winners.cfm" target="_blank">Winners of the 2010 World Architecture Festival</a> were just announced last week as the festival concluded in Barcelona, and one of our favorite winners was the <a href="http://www.worldbuildingsdirectory.com/project.cfm?id=2672" target="_blank">Yevlakh Seed Industry Campus</a>, an innovative and brightly-colored seed manufacturing facility in Yevlakh, Azerbaijan. The production facility designed by Turkish firm, <a href="http://www.toca.com.tr/index2.htm" target="_blank">TOCA</a>, took home first place in the category of production, energy and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/recyclingcycling" target="_blank">recycling</a> for its pioneering and integrative design, which combines all of the plant's processes into a single structure to streamline seed production.

The new manufacturing and production facility took home the award in the category of production, energy and recycling.

TOCA, an Istanbul-based firm, is responsible for the unifying and colorful design.

Located near the agricultural district in Azerbaijan, the facility is equipped with the latest technologies with regards to seed growth. The plant also pioneered many works reflecting its corporate structure.

The project, which involves many processes, was conceived as a single machine in order to streamline the process and make it more efficient.

Each process and movement through the plant defines the architectural form of that space and constitutes the layout for the site plan.

The plant is made up of four areas: seed processing, packaging, storage and categorization.

Brightly colored sheds improve upon traditional models for manufacturing plants.

Skylights and natural ventilation reduce energy use inside the plants while helping to regulate temperature.

The judges said: “It is a unique project that works as a machine and its form emphasises the machinery, the plan is clear. The use of strong provocative colours has symbolic meaning and provides a unique character related to the function of the building. Additionally, the reinterpretation of the shed form is a very strong strategy.”

The plant is projected to produce 250,000 tons of hybrid seeds and is the first and only production unit of its kind in the country. Its identify is the revelation of machinery, which is designed as integrated parts of a single machine.

The site plan is based on the principle of connecting buildings to one another so that all structures can be entered from the same level.

The concept of the facility was to break the relationship between the machinery and the building itself.

The boundary between the machine and the building was blurred on purpose.