Medhurst Winery

VIC, Australia

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Medhurst Winery

VIC, Australia

Firm

Folk Architects

Type

Industrial › Factory Winery

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2012

The brief was to create a new 250-tonne winemaking facility to complement its existing cellar door. The winery produces a number of varieties and its objective is to produce premium, quality estate-grown wines using small-batch winemaking techniques.
The building is embedded into a north facing slope, and defined by a series of horizontal elements that follow the contours of the site. Nestled quietly into the existing hill to reduce its visual impact on the landscape, the building accentuates its natural setting by framing views to the surrounding Warramate forest.
The programmatic requirements, orientation, and restrained material palette were thoroughly evaluated and considered in order to reduce the buildings’ energy use, ongoing maintenance, and provide a sustainable outcome.
The landscaped green roof over the subterranean barrel store provides both a raised terrace with views to the surrounding landscape as well as thermal insulation for the stored wine below, reducing the requirement for the mechanical cooling. Similarly, the heat reflective, polycarbonate cladding to the northern facade of the winemaking area replaces artificial lighting with filtered natural sunlight. At night the wall becomes translucent, exposing the profile of the winemaking equipment within. The winery roof captures approximately 500,000 liters of water annually that is harvested and filtered for use in wine production.
The new winery sits adjacent to an existing cellar door, and is very much intended to enable public engagement with the winemaking process. A meandering path leads patrons from wine tasting through a series of landscaped spaces, and eventually to views of the production area and vines beyond.

http://vimeo.com/75746684