Archinect - News

Chybik + Kristof Architects complete archetypal winery in the Czech Republic

2020-09-09T15:37:00-04:00

Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers have completed construction of the Lahofer Winery in the Czech Republic. Nestled in the Morovian countryside, the winery embraces the region's archetypal cellar design through a vaulted design that rests on a grid of arched beams housing three interconnected structures.

The production facility displays the wine-making processes and lies adjacent to the visitor center and tasting room. Above the the building lies the roof that serves as an amphitheater for cultural events open to the public. The seamless connectivity of the roof draping to the ground creates a fluid continuation of the buildings integration with the surrounding landscape.

Inside, the visitor center is enclosed in a glass facade and faces south, drawing in plenty of natural light, while highlighting the natural wood and concrete materials throughout the cellar.

"The design of the Lahofer Winery is deeply rooted in nature, and in the respect thereof," Founding Architects On...

Meet the world's first Living Building Challenge certified winery

2020-05-29T18:01:00-04:00

After completing a required one-year post-occupancy review, the Silver Oaks Alexander Valley winery designed by Piechota Architecture, with engineering and sustainable design consultations from Thornton Tomasetti, has achieved Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification.

The winery's interconnected tasting, production, and administrative buildings. Image courtesy of Damion Hamilton.

Located in Healdsburg, California, the 100,000-square-foot complex was completed in 2018 and is now the world's first LBC-certified winery. The building exists, additionally, as one of just 25 buildings globally to achieve this level of certification from the International Living Future Institute, Thornton Tomasetti explains on the firm's website.

The winery project consists of two interlocking structures situated on a 113-acre site. One structure contains a sizable tasting room with event spaces and is connected to an adjacent production facility by a covered patio. The second structure includes admin...

Signum Architecture designs sustainably minded Napa Valley winery and office

2018-01-22T20:03:00-05:00

Built atop the rolling hills of eastern Napa Valley in California, the Odette Estate Winery was designed with sustainable farming and wine production in mind. Designer Signum Architecture was awarded as an Industrial Building category winner for the project in the 2017 American Architecture Prize competition.

Photo: Adrian Gregorutti.

With Signum Architecture partner Juancarlos Fernandez as design lead, the Odette facility features a green roof that appears to have emerged from the earth. At the front, sliding perforated aluminum screens veil the winery's covered crush pad and open-air workspace. The screens emit a back-lit glow in the evening, while the perforations allow for ventilation.

Photo: Adrian Gregorutti.

According to the architects, the sweeping graceful curves on the side of the building were inspired by a swan’s wing, a reference to the famous Tchaikovsky ballet character Odette. Behind the screens are three repurposed shi...

New Château Margaux wine bottle design features Norman Foster's architecture

2017-12-28T15:12:00-05:00

Pritzker Prize winning Norman Foster is the latest starchitect to work on a storied wine estate and his client is honoring him in a very special way. Château Margaux, one of Bordeaux’s oldest and most highly-regarded wineries, broke tradition and released a sleek, new bottle design featuring the British architect’s modern building etched in silver. The redesign for the 2015 Grand Vin is the first in Château Margaux’s 500-year history [...].

If you happen to be a wine-loving fan of Lord Foster's œuvre and are considering to add a bottle of Château Margaux 2015 to your collection, be prepared to (currently) shell out around $1,400 a pop.

Château Margaux's modern 2015 addition by Foster + Partners. Photo: Nigel Young.

Photo: Nigel Young.

Celebrated architect Santiago Calatrava told to pay for leaking roof

2013-04-18T13:48:00-04:00

A dozen years after Calatrava built the spectacular Ysios winery in the rainy Alava region of northern Spain, the building's dramatic, undulating roof continues to let in the damp. Now Domecq, the owner of the winery, has said it is fed up with the botched attempts of Calatrava's original builders at fixing the roof and wants money from them so that it can bring in fresh architects and engineers to design a new one.

Allied Works Breaks Ground on New Tasting Room for Oregon Winery

2013-02-15T20:19:00-05:00

Construction has begun on a new Tasting Room for Sokol Blosser Winery in the Willamette Valley wine region. Designed by Brad Cloepfil, founding principal of Allied Works Architecture, the new building will provide a range of spaces for sampling Sokol Bosser’s wines and viewing their Yamhill County estate. One of the founders of Oregon’s wine making industry, the Sokol Blosser family has been producing Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and other varietals since 1978.

In 2012, the winery commissioned Allied Works to develop a master plan and design a new tasting room and event space that would be the showpiece of the 100-acre estate. The project will be the first to bring internationally-recognized, contemporary architecture to the heart of the Oregon wine country.

Commenting on the new building, founder Susan Sokol Blosser stated, “In 1977, when we built the first tasting room in the state, we chose John Storrs, the most celebrated Oregon architect of the time. Thirty-five years lat...

The Architecture of Wine

2012-08-07T14:10:00-04:00

[...] the architecture of wine is faced with a much greater challenge than meeting the very specific technical requirements of winemaking, it has to celebrate the process. Nowadays, wineries like religious buildings, are the must-visit destinations for tourists, where people go in droves on alcoholic pilgrimages.

6 Napa Valley wineries architectural statements

2012-03-21T18:54:00-04:00

Contrary to first architectural impression, not every Napa winery is either a stylized barn too good to be true or an exercise in Mediterranean make-believe. There's austerity as well as opulence, understatement along with over-the-top. You simply need to know where to look.