WINE-O-TOPIA

Wine Culture Center
Young Architects Competition Entry

Honorable Mention Award

Date:
Summer 2014

Collaborator: 
Xiao Wu
 

Wine production and consumption traces far back into historical tradition concerning the art of cultivation, fermentation and taste. Specifically for the family run winery Cantina Valpolicella Negrar, viticulture and viniculture is critical in the experience of wine tourism from research, to production, storage and dispatch, to the ultimate enjoyment of wine. 

As such, the building is conceived as an aggregation of very many spaces with different designated functions. Each function is hosted by its own “building” structure, dimensioned according to its need. It adopts a heavy, solid, tectonic, traditional construction material, giving the production process inside a sense of history, culture and craft. By giving each function / program designated rooms, each distilled parts of the wine making process from production to consumption are simplified and amplified.

Production process
All production facilities are organized adjacent to each other into a continuous streamline by the order of stages in production. This maximizes efficiency of material flow in the building.

Visitor experience
The second floor of the building contains most of its public functions. In contrast to the controlled learning experience on the catwalk through the production facilities on the first floor, the experience on the second floor is very different: one is free to move from one place to any other space.

The cluster of individual program blocks are connected by a larger volume. It hovers over to contains all individual spaces. As the specificity of each block is maintained, one continuous interstitial space connect all into one coherent complex. 

It not only allows for convenient access from block to block, but also becomes a unique space that is soft, fluid versus the blocks that are solid and tectonic. Within the larger volume, activities are filtered into two levels with the ground floor designated for production, leaving all public activities to flow on the upper levels.

The ground floor contains the fundamentals production facility of a winery. 

Facilities are arranged according to the order of the production process. An elevated catwalk overlooks all the production facilities leads to a hallway of aging barrels and storage wall for bottle aging forms a unique visitors route for a full immersive dramatical experience. Separate zones for visitors, production plants, and office staff. Each with at least one separate entrance. Each area has its own designated vertical circulation to floor above.

The second floor offers a variety of programs open to the public

Tasting room and full service restaurant located on the west side. The walking tour that starts on ground floor catwalk end here, where visitors can enjoy different wine plus food pairings, with a pleasant view out to the surrounding landscape of the valley. A larger public hub including a museum, a vineyard, a library, a classroom and a multi-use area.