The project began with a thoughtful approach to the location in its historical, geographical, geological, topographic and symbolic dimensions, anchoring itself to the terrain seeking a unitary operation in all its dimensions.
The site is located in the area of Rioja Alta, in the municipality of Ollauri. The surrounding slopes are very gentle, forming a plateau on which the lands of the vineyard extend, dotted with small hills. This plateau is dominated to the north and south by mountain formations.
Taking advantage of an 8-meter concave terrain facing southeast, the winery is embedded, leaving the production architectural program underground and placing the social program above ground. This strategy permits:
Production by gravity: the loading of the grapes is carried out at the upper level, processing in a descending manner.
Taking advantage of thermal inertia: the wine production, aging and storage spaces are below ground.
Integration into the landscape, connecting the landscape of the upper and lower level through the building itself.
The winery is structured around two large program blocks. The productive program, below ground level and the social and wine tourism program, above ground level.
The first, strictly functional, is organized into three packages (tanks, barrels and cages) that are articulated in a linear process. These pieces are adapted to the terrain, formalizing themselves in rectangular buildings, whose position and dimension were optimized to adapt to the geology of the area, avoiding the subsoil rock and balancing the earthworks.
The service spaces needed for production are located between the interlocked warehouses.
The social programme is located above ground level and is in a close visual relationship with the landscape and the production process, without interfering. This industry-territory binomial is intended and seeks to make this transparency a global experience.