Green Origin Ice Wine Pavilion

O Studio Architects

ARCHITECTS
O Studio Architects

CATEGORY
Restaurants & Bars, Winery

LEAD ARCHITECT
Fai Au

AREA
900 m²

YEAR
2020

PHOTOGRAPHS
Keqin Xiao

MANUFACTURERS
Tom Dixon, CEP, Outdoor Sun Shading

LOCATION
Chicheng, China

Infused with distinctive seasonal scenery, Green Origin Ice Wine Pavilion is located at a beautiful valley of Chicheng County, a place that abounds in grapes.

This place has very low temperatures throughout the year and extremely cold winter, which is the optimum climate for ice winemaking.

The owner of the ice wine pavilion expects the building to accommodate the functions of winemaking, storage, and tasting, meanwhile also fit in the natural environment with a sculptural form.

The site is located on a slope with a level difference of six meters, facing southwest with the vast crop fields and the sublime mountainscapes, and facing northeast with the ascending valleys.

The first design decision is to place the wine cellar inside the slope, where concealed space and temperature control are required.

As a result, the above-ground wine-making and tasting spaces become more exquisite in terms of their scale.

The primary design intention in this project is to make the building a viewfinder where the beautiful scenery and seasonal changes could be seen while one is inside the building.

The design starts with carving out an organic mass to obtain picture windows and viewing terrace, and then further subtracts the mass with a box volume to obtain the winemaking and tasting spaces.

The organic mass is made of a matrix of white steel frames, a speedy, economic, and simple construction method suits for the local building industry.

The appearance and lightness of the steel-framed massing changes drastically under various daylight intensities form a great contrast with the warm wooden interior spaces.

Emerging from the greenery and disappearing in the snow, the architecture of this project manifests its multifaceted presence in various seasons.