Foster + Partners expands Spanish winery with "discreet" barrel-vaulted structure

British studio Foster + Partners has added a vaulted timber hall to Bodegas Faustino winery in Spain, which features an earthy material palette and overhanging roof.

Located in Oyón, the building functions as the 160-year-old estate's visitor centre and was designed to improve the connection between its vineyard and cellars.

The extension was commissioned by Bodegas Faustino's owners, the Martínez Zabala family, to commemorate its 160th anniversary in winemaking.

As part of the project, Foster + Partners has also refurbished existing facilities on the site. The studio was selected following its previous collaboration with the family on Bodegas Portia – a Corten-clad structure completed in the Ribera del Duero region in 2010.

"Our valued relationship with the Martínez Zabala Family stretches back to the last two decades," said the studio's founder Norman Foster.

"The new project in Oyón knits together the entire site with discreet, sustainable interventions to the existing buildings and landscape, and an entirely new visitor centre that provides a new social focus and image for the winery with an immersive experience for all."

The Bodegas Faustino visitor centre is the first facility visitors encounter when visiting the site, thanks to the repositioning of the main entrance to the vineyard.

Accessed from the vineyard by a winding path, the barrel-vaulted timber structure measures 50 metres in length and 25 in width, reaching 10 metres at its highest point.

Foster + Partners' distinctive arched design nods to the industrial history of the winery and also provides it with a column-free interior, establishing the visitor centre as an open and flexible space.

"The vaulted roof is inspired by the industrial heritage of the winery, reinterpreted as a lightweight structure made from timber arches," the studio said.

The visitor centre's roof creates large overhangs on all four sides, designed to minimise solar heat gain.

Wooden cladding and interior details complement the extension's timber structure and form part of a wider material palette selected for its earthy tones.

According to Foster + Partners, this palette aims to help "the building to blend seamlessly with the landscape" and offer a soothing biophilic quality.

Inside, the space is divided into two zones, broken up by "an asymmetrical core". Overhead is a mezzanine level accessed by a central staircase and lift to give visitors views over the centre and the surrounding vineyard.

The space is illuminated by generous glazed facades and a central skylight, minimising dependence on artificial lighting.

Completing the extension is a photovoltaic array on the roof, which generates more electricity than the building requires. Excess is diverted to the winery's other buildings.

Other elements of the project include renovations to the estate's existing bottle and ageing cellars, as well as its offices and production yards. Meanwhile, any unused structures have been removed to create space for future developments.

Green planting has been added to a number of facades, while the existing landscape has been updated to help boost biodiversity and prevent flooding during heavy rainfall, which is experienced frequently at the site.

Foster + Partners, the studio founded in 1967 by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Foster, has worked on a number of projects involving wineries.

The studio also recently completed Le Dôme, a low-lying winery in the historic commune Saint-Émilion, and is currently also developing The Kentish Wine Vault in England.

The photography is by Nigel Young, Foster + Partners

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