Collection Storage Calculator

It's a simplifying shortcut so the model can derive a room's edge length from total square footage alone, without needing separate length and width inputs, then apply the perimeter climate buffer evenly on each side. Most real storage rooms aren't perfectly square, so this is meant as a directional planning estimate rather than a match to your actual floor plan.

Storage type sets the square-footage-per-object figure directly — 4 sq ft for open shelving or screens down to just 0.5 sq ft for high-density automated storage, an 8x difference. Since maximum capacity is net storage area divided by that per-object figure, switching from open shelving to high-density automated storage can multiply your calculated capacity by up to eight times in the same room.

The model scales its standard 30% aisle-space allowance up or down in proportion to how much your entered aisle width differs from the 42-inch best-practice baseline, then subtracts that aisle space from usable area before computing capacity. Wider aisles for cart access take a larger cut of the room, though the aisle share is capped so it can never claim more than 60% of the space.

Net storage area is the usable floor space left in your room after removing the perimeter climate buffer and access aisles — it's what maximum capacity is calculated from. Total space needed works in the opposite direction: it takes your entered object count, multiplies by square footage per object, and then grosses that up by the same aisle-space ratio to estimate how large a room you'd need to build.

That range spans very different fit-out scopes: the low end reflects basic shelving-only construction, while the high end reflects full climate-controlled archival buildout with tighter environmental controls. Because the calculator has no input describing which scope you're planning, it reports both ends of the range against your calculated total space needed rather than picking one.