yW Yarra Winery

PROJECT DATA

TYPE	WINERY
LOCATION	YARRA VALLEY, VIC
CLIENT	PRIVATE
DATE	2013
TEAM	IAIN MAXWELL DAVE PIGRAM
IMAGES	IAIN MAXWELL DAVE PIGRAM
AWARDS	WINNER INVITED COMPETITION

Yarra Winery

Yarra Valley, VIC, Au

yW

By burying the barrel store, the once flat site is transformed into an undulating landscape of formal and informal spaces that support events and functions.

The winner of an invited competition, the Yarra Winery demonstrates our ability to add value through creative design. Turning constraints into opportunities the project creatively buries the barrel-store adjacent to and sloping away from the wine fermentation and production hall. This move yields significant advantages: mechanical pumping is eliminated replaced by gravity-fed distribution; forklift travel and turning is minimised via direct ramping; the earth covered storage vaults provide temperature and humidity stability all but eliminating energy intensive cooling and ventilation systems.

In burying the barrel storage vaults, the project transforms the once flat site into an undulating landscape. This simultaneously reduces the visual bulk of the main building and generates a suite of formal and informal external spaces for weddings, concerts, picnics and other events. Together these elements and performance gains expanded business opportunities that capitalise on the Yarra region’s shift towards hospitality and tourism in concert with wine production.

Lake View
The winery is aligned perpendicular to the vines providing an axial view along the rows and through the arched main entry.

View
Approach from the vineyard.

Plan
The sunken barrel-store is located adjacent to and sloping away from the main production hall. This move yields significant advantages: mechanical pumping is eliminated replaced by gravity-fed distribution; forklift travel and turning is minimised via direct ramping; the earth covered storage vaults provide temperature and humidity stability all but eliminating energy intensive cooling and ventilation systems.

Section Through Barrel Store
The sunken barrel store creates undulations in the once flat landscape providing spaces for events and to manage watershed and collection

Section Through Production Hall
Efficient material handling and prduction sequences can be safely viewed by the public via a network of overhead gangways.

Cellar Door
The earth covered concrete barrel vaults used to store the ageing oak barrels also house the Cellar Door.