Quinta de Adorigo Winery

Tabuaço, Portugal

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Quinta de Adorigo Winery

Tabuaço, Portugal

Firm

Atelier Sérgio Rebelo

Type

Industrial › Winery

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2024

SIZE

10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

Located in Portugal's Alto Douro Wine Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Quinta de Adorigo Winery subtly blends into the landscape, combining tradition with innovation and sustainability.

Designed to minimize environmental impact, its curvilinear architecture echoes the zigzag vineyards without compromising functionality.

The configuration of the building is a set of interlocking naves that follow the existing topographic slopes, replicated on its internal mechanics, where the winemaking process takes place by gravity. The gravitational system is a traditional solution on the banks of the River Douro and this wine cellar showcases it with all its up to-date operational capabilities.

The winery at Quinta de Adorigo is part of a family wine tourism development, located in the Alto Douro Vinhateiro, Portugal's most prestigious wine-growing area, listed by UNESCO as a World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site.
The exceptional beauty of the natural surroundings, the millennia-old human occupations and the centuries-old tradition of wine production motivated an architectural project that honors the landscape and local culture and presents innovative construction strategies and effective sustainability.

The horizontal curvilinear shapes of the winery and the circuits between areas mirror the zigzags of the vineyards in the surrounding hills and valleys. However, we avoided literally quoting the landscape, compromising daily routines, circulation and communication. On the contrary, the downward movement of the building on the terraces of the land reflects its internal mechanics, where the winemaking process takes place by gravity, a common procedure on the banks of the River Douro. The gravitational wine production system, so characteristic of the region, is demonstrated here with its current operational capabilities. The configuration of the building is therefore a set of interwoven naves that follow the existing topographic slope, replicated on the various interior levels.

The geometry of the winery's roof interprets the vernacular gable roof structured in wood, cladded with GRC panels, and supported by concrete foundation walls covered in schist, a local stone. This structure has been taken over and exposed in this winery and has become a sinuous, continuous and organic sculptural element that flows through the tangential curves of the vineyard slopes.

The design of this building is the outcome of an intricate research process that seeks a symbiosis between architecture and landscape, integrating vernacular knowledge with cutting-edge technologies in winemaking and climate control.
The energy solutions explore the potential of architecture to take advantage of passive strategies to preserve the interior space of the wine ageing area with a temperature between 14 and 16 degrees, when the outside temperature range between -5º and 45º Celsius degrees from winter to summer. We achieved our goal by placing the building with the southern envelope in contact with the earth, taking advantage of its inertia, and turning the main façade to the north where there is little sun exposure, even in summer.

The partially buried building takes advantage of the thermal stability of the ground and a low enthalpy geothermal solution produces, recovers and stores electricity. The high initial cost of this energy program is recovered in the short term, as it has high renewable potential, requires little maintenance and ensures ideal hydrothermal levels for the wine industry and human comfort.

This combination of passive and active systems has significantly reduced the thermal power and energy consumption of the mechanical systems installed.

The landscape design recovers species of native flora that add color and perfume to the landscape, which serve as a habitat for animals that are beneficial to the vineyards, and which support activities that run parallel to wine production.

How does the building contribute to society and meet the principles of inclusive design? What strategies are in place to maximise reuse, minimise waste, and reduce the building's embodied and operational carbon footprints? If you have undertaken a whole-life carbon assessment please give details per sqm.

The winery's materials replicate the natural palette of pinkish browns, greens and greys, underlining traditional skills and crafts, but updated by modern technologies. Schist and granite were used in the exterior elements and in the interior concrete retaining walls. The structure of the building's naves is made of laminated wood frames and CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) panels, covered with prefabricated GRC (Glass-Fiber Reinforced Concrete) cladding panels, produced in the north, less than 150 km from the winery. This benefits the local industry and reflects the sustainable practice of cutting down on the long-distance transportation of materials. These prefabricated building elements also saved on-site construction and reduced traffic on the property. Wooden structures have been used at the points where the building does not touch the ground, minimizing the use of concrete, which has reduced CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 40%.

Exposed to the effects of the climate, all these materials take on beautiful shades of tone and texture, that better integrate the winery into its natural surroundings and allows the building to improve its quality over time, just like a good Port wine. This building encourages an involvement with nature by framing views from inside the winery and, outside, there are trails, nooks and patios that invite introspection, contemplation, meditation, walking and socializing.

The winery's energy optimization implemented and combined preservation and energy production solutions, selecting the lowest energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.