Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Liberty & Plenty/Wilson
Liberty & Plenty/Wilson
Wilson, NC, United States
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
View Original
Add To Collection
Add to Collection
Other Projects by pod architecture + design
Liberty & Plenty/Wilson
Wilson, NC, United States
STATUS
Under Construction
YEAR
2026
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
Construction is now underway on a new, capacious Liberty & Plenty Distillery in Wilson, NC, as pod architecture + design (pod) of Chapel Hill works to repurpose an old, pre-engineered metal building – aka PEMB, aka Butler building – into a much larger, more ambitious spirits distillery for its owner and master distiller Tina Williford.
The original Liberty & Plenty opened in 2020 on Foster Street in Durham, NC’s Central Park district. There, pod’s founding partners and principal designers -- Doug Pierson, AIA, and Youn Choi -- collaborated with Williford to convert a one-story, ca. 1938 brick tobacco warehouse into her first small-batch craft distillery fronted by an elegant indoor/outdoor cocktail bar.
With the same environmental sensitivity and adaptive re-use paradigm that resulted in Williford’s urban distillery in downtown Durham, she and the pod design studio are transforming an old Butler building at 2009 Beeler Road South in Wilson into an industrial manufacturing facility with far greater production capability for Liberty & Plenty’s award-winning rums, whiskies, vodkas, and gins. And like the Durham distillery, a Tasting Room up front will present a warm, welcoming face to the Wilson community.
The Noble Butler
Architect Doug Pierson believes repurposing a Butler “is a noble and delicate endeavor,” he said recently. “Butler buildings are parsimonious by nature. They’re lightweight, simple structures with economy, not aesthetics, at the forefront.”
Choi agreed. “It takes an entrepreneur like Tina Williford, with her vision and her courage, to see the possibilities in both a 1938 tobacco warehouse and a repurposed Butler building.”
“It’s the ‘greenest’ and most cost-effective way to go,” Pierson said, adding: “Stonewall Structural Engineering played an integral role in figuring out how to modify the delicate structural system of the existing building in a cost-effective and sensible way. We could not have gotten there without them.”
Inventive, Transformative, Economical
Pierson and Choi love to work with metal (see Rabbit Hole Distillery and Tank Expansion on their website). They are also fervent in their quest to use inventive, transformative, and economical architecture to rid natural settings of blots and blemishes without creating waste for landfills.
Years ago, that passion inspired them to advocate for the adaptive reuse of PEMBs to great success. For example, through his former firm in Inglewood, California, Pierson repurposed an unsightly Butler building visible from the entrance to a progressive K-12 school in Kentucky. As a result, what was an eyesore became a vibrant, red-metal-capped combination gymnasium and performing arts center.
“An intrepid designer has opportunities not only to retrofit a Butler, but to recycle it in ways that both preserve and transform,” Choi noted.
The Wilson building’s total usable square footage is 17,913. In 2023, Williford had 8128 square feet carved out of the eastern half of the structure for barrel storage. That left pod’s partners with approximately 8000 square feet for the new distillery and 1150 conditioned square feet for the Tasting Room inside, along with space for an outside patio and usable green space.
The Tasting Room and viewing area will be separated from the working distillery by full-height interior glazing. Black corrugated metal walls in the Tasting Room and corridor, warmed by modern millwork, will lend an “industrial chic” ambience to these public spaces.
Out of a Problem -- a High-Performance Solution
The pod duo’s expertise in distillery design and sustainable architecture, combined with creative thinking and the counsel of Atlantec Engineers, provided the solution to a structural problem and ushered in a “new” sustainable design element:
To accommodate the height of the 45-foot-tall column still, Pierson and Choi inserted a modern “doghouse dormer” (named for its shape) into the metal building’s otherwise blank roof.
Traditionally, a doghouse dormer’s function is to provide natural light and ventilation inside a home or building. This industrial version will do much more than that. As Pierson explained, it will create a “stack” effect, trapping the heat that rises to the top of the structure. “In the summer, the warm air will be exhausted out,” he said, “and the resulting air stream will create a gentle indoor breeze, stratifying the air and leaving a cooler layer at the bottom where the people are. This system not only removes the hottest air, but it also circulates the cooler air through a natural convection current.”
In the winter, the opposite: “The heat that rises will be collected at the top and redistributed as ‘free heating’ via ducts and fans that we’re dedicating solely to this system.”
A third benefit: At 55 feet tall, clad in wood shiplap siding (repeated at the outdoor seating space), the doghouse will alter the overall form and identity of the once-nondescript Butler building in the town’s industrial district.
Green Strategies
Pierson and Choi are incorporating many environmentally sustainable strategies into the heart of the building’s otherwise energy-intensive use as a distillery. The doghouse dormer is one strategy. Another is “zero process waste.” Choi explained: “Under normal operating conditions, waste from the distillery process would be sent to the City of Wilson through sewer lines. At Tina’s distillery, process waste will be collected in outdoor tanks. From there, a local farmer will pick it up on a regular basis and use it as feedstock for animals or as crop fertilizer depending on the raw material.”
Consultants/Engineers/Construction:
Structural Engineers: Stonewall Structural Engineering, stonewalleng.com
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing/High-Pressure Steam Engineers: Atlantec Engineers/IMEG, atlantecengineers.com
Distillery Process Design: Boozewerks Consultants, boozewerks.com
Design/Build Tanks and Stills: Specific Engineering Solutions: specificengineering.com
Design/Build Silo's and Grain Distribution: Silverback Equipment Solutions, silverbackequip.com
General Contractor: Ten Penny Construction, 10dconstruction.com
All renderings by pod architecture + design.
For More Information
pod architecture + design PLLC, is an award-winning, Chapel Hill, NC-based, multi-discipline design studio integrating architecture, interiors, master planning, and experiential graphics. Licensed in five states and staffed with LEED BD+C credentialed designers, pod provides full architectural services from concept design through construction administration. For more information, visit the studio’s website at www.podand.com.
For more information on Liberty & Plenty, visit www.libertyandplenty.com.
* * * * * * *
Addendum: Many Parts for the Process
According to Liberty & Plenty’s production team, the new location will be operating seven days a week. As a result, it will be able to produce around 7000 barrels per year, or 550,000 proof-gallons per year from column and pot still operations. This will be in addition to the matured whiskey blending program and production of liqueurs and imported spirits. Contract distilling will also be offered to customers preferring a traditional or custom mash bill.
Outside the building, Liberty & Plenty/Wilson will include:
• A loader and auger system for the automated transfer of the grain from delivery trucks to one of four 25-foot-tall grain silos
· One 20-foot-tall stillage tank
· One 20-foot-tall, chilled water tank
· 40-ton and 30-ton chillers
· And two Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS) tanks. (GNS is a highly concentrated form of ethyl alcohol produced by fermenting and distilling grains.)
Inside, where the distilling process takes place, Liberty & Plenty/Wilson will include:
· Two high-pressure steam boilers and a high-pressure piping system
· Grain milling
· A molasses tank
· A control room
· A mash tun (cooking vessel for the mashing process)
· 13 fermentation tanks, plus one beer well tank (aka “brite tank”), all 3100-gallon vessels
· Storage tanks
· Proofing tanks and station
· Bottling tanks and station
· A 45-foot-tall column still, a 25-foot-tall batch still, and a 750-gallon pot still. The pot still will allow Williford to continue producing small-batch craft spirits.
The original Liberty & Plenty opened in 2020 on Foster Street in Durham, NC’s Central Park district. There, pod’s founding partners and principal designers -- Doug Pierson, AIA, and Youn Choi -- collaborated with Williford to convert a one-story, ca. 1938 brick tobacco warehouse into her first small-batch craft distillery fronted by an elegant indoor/outdoor cocktail bar.
With the same environmental sensitivity and adaptive re-use paradigm that resulted in Williford’s urban distillery in downtown Durham, she and the pod design studio are transforming an old Butler building at 2009 Beeler Road South in Wilson into an industrial manufacturing facility with far greater production capability for Liberty & Plenty’s award-winning rums, whiskies, vodkas, and gins. And like the Durham distillery, a Tasting Room up front will present a warm, welcoming face to the Wilson community.
The Noble Butler
Architect Doug Pierson believes repurposing a Butler “is a noble and delicate endeavor,” he said recently. “Butler buildings are parsimonious by nature. They’re lightweight, simple structures with economy, not aesthetics, at the forefront.”
Choi agreed. “It takes an entrepreneur like Tina Williford, with her vision and her courage, to see the possibilities in both a 1938 tobacco warehouse and a repurposed Butler building.”
“It’s the ‘greenest’ and most cost-effective way to go,” Pierson said, adding: “Stonewall Structural Engineering played an integral role in figuring out how to modify the delicate structural system of the existing building in a cost-effective and sensible way. We could not have gotten there without them.”
Inventive, Transformative, Economical
Pierson and Choi love to work with metal (see Rabbit Hole Distillery and Tank Expansion on their website). They are also fervent in their quest to use inventive, transformative, and economical architecture to rid natural settings of blots and blemishes without creating waste for landfills.
Years ago, that passion inspired them to advocate for the adaptive reuse of PEMBs to great success. For example, through his former firm in Inglewood, California, Pierson repurposed an unsightly Butler building visible from the entrance to a progressive K-12 school in Kentucky. As a result, what was an eyesore became a vibrant, red-metal-capped combination gymnasium and performing arts center.
“An intrepid designer has opportunities not only to retrofit a Butler, but to recycle it in ways that both preserve and transform,” Choi noted.
The Wilson building’s total usable square footage is 17,913. In 2023, Williford had 8128 square feet carved out of the eastern half of the structure for barrel storage. That left pod’s partners with approximately 8000 square feet for the new distillery and 1150 conditioned square feet for the Tasting Room inside, along with space for an outside patio and usable green space.
The Tasting Room and viewing area will be separated from the working distillery by full-height interior glazing. Black corrugated metal walls in the Tasting Room and corridor, warmed by modern millwork, will lend an “industrial chic” ambience to these public spaces.
Out of a Problem -- a High-Performance Solution
The pod duo’s expertise in distillery design and sustainable architecture, combined with creative thinking and the counsel of Atlantec Engineers, provided the solution to a structural problem and ushered in a “new” sustainable design element:
To accommodate the height of the 45-foot-tall column still, Pierson and Choi inserted a modern “doghouse dormer” (named for its shape) into the metal building’s otherwise blank roof.
Traditionally, a doghouse dormer’s function is to provide natural light and ventilation inside a home or building. This industrial version will do much more than that. As Pierson explained, it will create a “stack” effect, trapping the heat that rises to the top of the structure. “In the summer, the warm air will be exhausted out,” he said, “and the resulting air stream will create a gentle indoor breeze, stratifying the air and leaving a cooler layer at the bottom where the people are. This system not only removes the hottest air, but it also circulates the cooler air through a natural convection current.”
In the winter, the opposite: “The heat that rises will be collected at the top and redistributed as ‘free heating’ via ducts and fans that we’re dedicating solely to this system.”
A third benefit: At 55 feet tall, clad in wood shiplap siding (repeated at the outdoor seating space), the doghouse will alter the overall form and identity of the once-nondescript Butler building in the town’s industrial district.
Green Strategies
Pierson and Choi are incorporating many environmentally sustainable strategies into the heart of the building’s otherwise energy-intensive use as a distillery. The doghouse dormer is one strategy. Another is “zero process waste.” Choi explained: “Under normal operating conditions, waste from the distillery process would be sent to the City of Wilson through sewer lines. At Tina’s distillery, process waste will be collected in outdoor tanks. From there, a local farmer will pick it up on a regular basis and use it as feedstock for animals or as crop fertilizer depending on the raw material.”
Consultants/Engineers/Construction:
Structural Engineers: Stonewall Structural Engineering, stonewalleng.com
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing/High-Pressure Steam Engineers: Atlantec Engineers/IMEG, atlantecengineers.com
Distillery Process Design: Boozewerks Consultants, boozewerks.com
Design/Build Tanks and Stills: Specific Engineering Solutions: specificengineering.com
Design/Build Silo's and Grain Distribution: Silverback Equipment Solutions, silverbackequip.com
General Contractor: Ten Penny Construction, 10dconstruction.com
All renderings by pod architecture + design.
For More Information
pod architecture + design PLLC, is an award-winning, Chapel Hill, NC-based, multi-discipline design studio integrating architecture, interiors, master planning, and experiential graphics. Licensed in five states and staffed with LEED BD+C credentialed designers, pod provides full architectural services from concept design through construction administration. For more information, visit the studio’s website at www.podand.com.
For more information on Liberty & Plenty, visit www.libertyandplenty.com.
* * * * * * *
Addendum: Many Parts for the Process
According to Liberty & Plenty’s production team, the new location will be operating seven days a week. As a result, it will be able to produce around 7000 barrels per year, or 550,000 proof-gallons per year from column and pot still operations. This will be in addition to the matured whiskey blending program and production of liqueurs and imported spirits. Contract distilling will also be offered to customers preferring a traditional or custom mash bill.
Outside the building, Liberty & Plenty/Wilson will include:
• A loader and auger system for the automated transfer of the grain from delivery trucks to one of four 25-foot-tall grain silos
· One 20-foot-tall stillage tank
· One 20-foot-tall, chilled water tank
· 40-ton and 30-ton chillers
· And two Grain Neutral Spirits (GNS) tanks. (GNS is a highly concentrated form of ethyl alcohol produced by fermenting and distilling grains.)
Inside, where the distilling process takes place, Liberty & Plenty/Wilson will include:
· Two high-pressure steam boilers and a high-pressure piping system
· Grain milling
· A molasses tank
· A control room
· A mash tun (cooking vessel for the mashing process)
· 13 fermentation tanks, plus one beer well tank (aka “brite tank”), all 3100-gallon vessels
· Storage tanks
· Proofing tanks and station
· Bottling tanks and station
· A 45-foot-tall column still, a 25-foot-tall batch still, and a 750-gallon pot still. The pot still will allow Williford to continue producing small-batch craft spirits.
Product Spec Sheet
Were your products used?
Join as a manufacturer to add your products.