spanning approximately 16 stories, two silos are used as a kind of temporary vertical parking lot at volkswagen‘s production facility and autostadt visitor attraction in wolfsburg, germany. designed by renowned international firm HENN architekten, the 48-meter tall silos are composed of glass and galvanized steel, illuminated by night. a conveyor belt system transports finished cars directly from the adjacent manufacturing plant to the towers’ basement. from there, they are lifted into position via mechanical arms that rotate and run along a central beam, moving vehicles in and out of their bays at a speed of two meters per second.
the facility is used to temporarily store new cars that are to be picked up in person at the autostadt customer center. indeed, an underground tunnel connects the two buildings, and the car rolls along an internal track to arrive first to be fitted with license plates and then to the waiting owner. each silo fits 400 cars at a time, tending to deliver about 600 vehicles to customers each day.
