Originally this winery was to have been a larger building with a masonry skin. As the design development proceeded the scale of the building began to over-reach the budget. Embracing this opportunity KPMB worked with the clients to reduce the scale of the building. Openly critical of their own design solutions the architects re-evaluated other aspects of the building and discovered the cement board, a material that is commonly used on industrial and agricultural buildings in Europe and could translate smoothly to Canadian building technology. This unexpected discovery of the cement board also reconciled a disjunction between the rural setting of the winery and the original masonry clad- ding, which the team felt had an urban presence, and set the stage for the increased refinement of the formal intentions and tectonic aspects of the project.
Clearly drawing upon the regional form and typology of Niagara’s agri- cultural industries this winery appropriately responds to the functional requirements of the wine agri-business. The roof of the 4200 sqm. building sits atop a continuous clerestorey, which acts as a unifying element in the building and presents, at a distance, a sophistication of building construction that distinguishes the winery from other local agricultural buildings. Below the clerestorey are the walls, clad with a simple yet unconventional material that inspires reflection — cement board siding.
ON SITE review 6: BEAUTY
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