A Prefab Brewery, Just in Time for the Super Bowl

A small organic brewing operating in St. Paul, Minn., needed a unique architectural solution.

From Budweiser to Coors, Super Bowl ads make it seem like massive breweries are the only game in town. However, the US’s vibrant craft brewing scene emphatically suggests otherwise, and one architecture firm helped a couple of their fellow Saint Paulites, move their home-brewing passion into a brick and mortar brewery.

Actually, the first thing you’ll notice about Bang Brewery‘s modest 42-ft. diameter facility is its pure steel construction. The clients were on a tight budget: They had to remove investors and debt from the equation so they could focus solely on the art of brewing. Geoffrey Warner, founder of Alchemy Architects and project lead, said a small brewery would “allow them a small, manageable practice where they could brew really good craft beer. The simplicity and honesty of their business plan carries through to everything they do.” This meant keeping the design compact and resourceful.

Moreover, breweries are a demanding building type that require extensive plumbing and high-quality floors to support brewing equipment. The architects arrived at a novel solution: a standard-size grain bin. Not only did the prefabricated structure save resources and fit onto the diminutive 80×100-ft. site, it spoke the same architectural language of its Midwestern and industrial surroundings, not to mention the hops and barley that make beer itself.

Double walls and insulation keep the brewery warm in the cold Minnesota winters.

The brewery’s circular form also determined the organization of the beer production itself: In the northern end of the brewery, the grain is malted (broken down in preparation for fermentation), mashed (the malt’s starches are converted to sugars), and boiled. The boiling stage is when hops and other flavors, from spices to fruits, can be added. The beer then shifts clockwise, to the west, where it’s chilled, carbonated, and placed in kegs. From there it moves to the south where it’s stored in a large cooler room clad in salvaged wood. By the time the delicious finished product has made it back to the entrance, it’s quite literally come full circle.

The brewery equipment, like the brewery itself, are stainless steel.

However, the 1400-sq.-ft. interior isn’t just a manufacturing space — it’s also a tap room where the beer is sold and consumed. While some beer is transported to local bars in the Twin Cities and beyond, much of it is consumed directly in the brewery or sold in growlers. The taps are conveniently adjacent to the storage room and a communal table. Directly above is a custom glass skylight — formerly the grain bin’s filler hole — that illuminates the brewery’s reflective walls. Besides emulating the iconic grain silo, the skylight also harks back to ancient Roman architecture, transforming the circular space into what Warner calls a “Midwestern Pantheon.”

Since its completion, Bang Brewing has been an unqualified success. Using word of mouth, repeat customers, and collaboration with other local breweries, Bang Brewing is showing no sign of slowing down. When asked whether he and his colleagues were big beer drinkers, Warner replied “We are now!”