Williams Selyem Headquarters

7227, Westside Road, Healdsburg, CA, United States

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Williams Selyem Winery

Williams Selyem Headquarters

7227, Westside Road, Healdsburg, CA, United States

Firm

D.arc Group + RBA
Patrick Mervin Architects

Type

Commercial ›

YEAR

2010

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

"Capturing the Essence of Williams Selyem"To capture the essence of Williams Selyem in architectural form, the new
building had to, on the one hand, be designed around the winery's
natural and minimalist philosophy of wine making - Williams Selyem wines
embody everything this slice of wine country stands for: a kind of
ground zero for idealistic organic farmers & wine makers; on the
other, the new project would be sitting at the inflection point of
Sonoma's modernization process, further heightening the importance of
the intervention - the county was clearly stepping into the spot light,
quickly becoming the new face of California wine country; and the new
winery, the first from the ground-up to be completed in nearly a decade,
would be faced with the challenge of carefully formulating how to
gracefully transition an idealistic Sonoma into the next century while
preserving all that's good about its culture and history - carefully
setting the tone for all local winery developments in the future. Site & Program:In order to maximize the site's harvestable area and potential views
over the Russian River Valley, the new winery structure had to first
conquer the site's topography & physical constraints - the Litton
Estate site, arguably one of the most beautiful sites in the area, is
characterized for its dramatically steeped rolling hills. Starting at
the bottom, the site quickly rises more than 150 feet in elevation
before reaching the top where the narrow building site lies - a sharply
steeped hill-portion tightly sandwiched between a tree-lined cliff and
twenty-five foot tall rock outcroppings. In the spirit of
crafting a suitable design approach, it was decided that the large
structure had to have its sizeable program fragmented and organized into
three (3) distinct components: administration, production and tasting
pavilion; to both break down the scale of the overall intervention and
to allow the building to best fit, and defer to, the site's natural
features which included 200 year-old California Oak trees and giant
lichen covered rock outcroppings - the buildings and landscape would
then be designed to weave in and out of each other, with the production
building half buried into the hillside and a green roof terrace above
that would literally bring the surrounding fields into the building.
This approach was key as it helped the building's three main components
better engage their surroundings, making site landscape preservation,
use and, appreciation a critical part of the experience. The
administration and tasting pavilion, both book-ends to the production
building, would then become the beginning and the end to a sequence
intended to help visitors learn and discover all about the history,
manufacturing and, complexities of Williams Selyem Pinot Noirs. Project Sequence:
The three distinct populations that currently use the facility -
production employees, administrative staff and visitors are all
separated and joined by the building's sectional organization. Visitors
enter the administration building at the east lower level and proceed
sequentially through hospitality areas, the production floor and then up
to the roof terrace and ultimately the wine tasting pavilion - this
museum/gallery sequence was designed to allow all visitors to learn
about the history of Williams Selyem before embarking on a tour that
will expose them to the technical aspects as well as the artistry of the
wine making process - all before tasting the final product atop the
Tasting Pavilion Terrace while enjoying 180 degree views of beautiful
Russian River Valley. The employees enter via the west end of the roof
terrace and directly into the second level of the administration
building; the green roof terrace being the primary common ground for all
of the building's users. Architecture / Language:The Administration Building, the project's most public building, uses
iconic elements of winemaking as a generator of form and meaning; it was
conceived as a deconstructed glass and steel barn - a kind of glassy
volume onto which other programmatic elements are glued. This structure,
which is capped by a cantilevering wood & metal barrel vaulted roof
structure (a metaphorical deconstructed wine barrel), is book-ended on
two of its sides by local redwood and masonry-clad programmatic volumes,
allowing the glassy object to "slide" and remain open on its front and
rear entry points. This structure's front facade is entirely
composed of a leaning curtain wall and a twenty-foot high wine "barrel
wall" - both, creating a dramatic and on-brand gateway to the Williams
Selyem winery. The building's hospitality lobby, which sits beyond the
building's entry, is internally defined by an equally expansive "bottle
wall", while offering picture-framed views of the underside of the
barrel vault structure through an opening on the second floor slab. The
use of reclaimed redwood barrel staves on suspended slat ceilings,
sculptural doors and entry vestibule, maintains a constant sensorial
experience that further reinforces the thematically driven design. The
Production Building, half-buried into the hillside to reduce any
negative scale-related impact to the site, was originally devised to
become a part of its surroundings - clad with rough-board patterned
cast-in-place concrete walls, it easily manages to blend with the
surrounding rock outcroppings where visible, while expanding the usable
landscaped area of the project via its roof terrace & gardens; the
latter, functioning as a fore-court to all administrative personnel
working in the building. The Tasting Pavilion (Phase II), the
last piece on the winery's gallery sequence, was conceptualized as a
vertical deconstructed wine barrel. Conceived as a glassy volume, this
chapel-like structure displays exposed steel structure and large
exterior wooden fins ("staves") angled to protect it from solar glare
and heat gain - strategically placed on a large base to enhance the
visitor-vineyard experience, it provides the best light while offering
dramatic views of the Russian River Valley. Sustainability & Landscape:The owner-design team commitment to preserving and enhancing the natural
features of the site led to the complimentary idea of incorporating
many other sustainable features into the design. The production
building's "half buried" configuration, green roof and 13" thick
insulated concrete panels cast on-site all contribute to a highly energy
efficient structure. The administration building incorporates extensive
clerestory windows (resulting in a reduced demand for electric
lighting), doors made with old reused wine barrel staves, local
fieldstone, highly efficient low-e glazing, exterior shading of windows,
extensive use of low-emitting materials / paint as well as a metal roof
that mitigates the heating effect of the building on the site's
habitat. Photovoltaic arrays on the production building mechanical
penthouse roof and at the employee parking lot generate electricity and
hot water on-site. The landscaping, conceptualized by owner John
Dyson, extends the stunning beauty of the surrounding landscape into
the project through the use of local plant material and adds to the
sustainable effort in their minimal irrigation needs.