CLIENT Tormaresca Agricola, Brindisi
ARCHITECTURE asv3 officina di architettura
STRUCTURE aei progetti
MEP Emex Engineering
DESIGN 2006-2007
REALIZATION 2007-2008
AREA 10.100 sqm
VOLUME 53.000 cum
TOTAL COST 11,4 mio €
STRUCTURE COST 3,5 mio €
PHOTOS asv3, aei progetti


A reflection on the environmental and landscape context gave rise to the architectural solutions concerning the new winery. The early part of the project was influenced by environmental suggestions as those of some elements of the local plant life (as the many prickly pears on the roadside and the flowing movement of the agaves’ leaves). Two panhandles lift off the ground, join and turn into the curved steel roof of the two side blocks of the building (intended to house the fermentation room, finishing room and warehouse) and eventually link up with the embankment at the back.

The central block contains both the bottling room and the traditional barique cellar. Besides being useful for wine fermentation processes, the new wineryr’s parallel strips design, suggested by the agaves structure, recalls the rows of grapevines organization. The big extension of the structure together with its low heights and the curvilinear movement of the roof ‘press down’ the whole complex as if to emphasize the purpose of being strongly integrated into the ground. The new winery has a 5 under-blocks structure 3 of which are 30X100 sqm plan steel-sheds placed side by side to constitute cellar’s main volume.

The 4th shed is intended for the roof of the hoppers’ discharge areas in the external platform; the 5th block is intended for building services and mechanical and electrical systems. The first 4 blocks are realized with a steel structure with r.c. foundations while the 5th is a r.c. block. Pillars of the first 3 blocks are in r.c. up to 2 m from the finished floor despite the steel-structure, in order to bring steel to a high level were there’s no risk of corrosion due to the waste water in the cellar. For foundations ground beam and plinth with connecting riddles were used. Serious consideration was given to wind and thermal seasonal variations due to the type of structure and dimensions of each block that governed the structure and foundations sizing.