The assignment consisted of developing an Event Hall and a Guest House for a Vineyard in the Casablanca Valley.
We had previously developed a Wine Cellar in 2005.
The winery project was small in size but had to consider a lot of flexibility for future growth.
As the future development of the vineyard was unknown, we think that the most flexible and the best way to grow was for each stage of growth to be a finished building, forming a kind of “wine citadel” with future buildings that were added .
This eliminated the risk of leaving buildings half-completed due to extensions that were never finally completed.
In addition, it allowed future projects to accommodate new winemaking technologies without conflict with the structure of the initial stage building.
For this, a master plan had to be designed that would allow the territory to be organized, hosting the possible buildings of this "wine citadel", where there would be a productive area, such as wineries, machine rooms and associated services, but also tourist and administrative programs associated with the wine business.
This strategy was finally very successful, since the growth was not precisely in the productive area, but rather in the tourism sector, where it became necessary to host guests and events that were becoming more frequent.
The project proposes adding two sculptural volumes that are in keeping with the original volume of the winery, forming three sculptures that perch at different heights on the hill, to seek the best views of the valley and the vineyards, such as "three sculpted granite rocks on the hillside. "
Each “sculpture” is made up of a concrete plinth that fixes it and settles it in the ground, and on top of that a wooden shell arms the interior space.
In the cellar the wooden envelope is trimmed to incorporate natural light and ventilation.
In the Event Hall and the House, this shell is cut to incorporate light but above all to catch the horizontal views of the distant landscape.
This envelope, in turn, fragments and separates in the manner of a crack to incorporate overhead light in the most interior rooms.
The mirrors of water reflect the landscape and refresh the atmosphere on hot summer days.
The granite sculptures and the water in the pools refer to one of the characteristics of wine in this area, highly influenced by the earth, rich in this mineral.
