Synopsis
In 2004 Arup and Foster + Partners were commissioned to design a new winery for Grupo Faustino in the Ribera Del Duero wine making region of Spain. Grupo Faustino owns several wineries in the Rioja and Navarra areas and was looking to establish a high-profile winery and visitor centre in Ribera Del Duero. The land had been acquired and the wine making process had commenced.
Arup was appointed structural building services and façade engineers for the project. Initially it was intended that after the 'Proyecto Básico' stage (roughly equivalent to RIBA Stage D) local consultants would complete the design. However, due to the complexities of integrating the architectural vision and structure, Arup was retained as structural engineer until the construction information phase (Proyecto de Ejecución/Ejecutivo) was completed.
The winery totals 12 500m2, producing around 1M bottles of wine each year. It includes a visitor centre, wine tasting room, offices and a restaurant. It was opened in October 2010 and short-listed for the Institution of Structural Engineers' 2011 Structural Awards in the Industrial and Process Structures category.
This paper describes the design process; from establishing the organisational diagram for the wine making and visitor experience, through to design of the structural systems required to achieve the architectural vision.