Over the past decades, the architecture of wineries has developed into a separate typology with certain requirements. Their design has become fashionable and popular, including among star architects: the names of Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava and Sir Norman Foster attract not only wine lovers, but also fans of modern architecture. The new history of winemaking in Russia is only gaining momentum, but in our country architecture has also become a tool for attracting interest in winemaking complexes and forming their identity. The latest evidence of this is the Gai-Kodzor winery in the Krasnodar Territory, which opened in the summer of 2017, designed by the Kleinewelt Architekten bureau.
Winery "Gai-Kodzor", located on a hill in the middle of the Anapa Valley, has been operating since 2000. Although Gorgippia, which stood on the site of Anapa, was famous for its winemaking in ancient times, in our time it took French winemakers to find a suitable place for growing grapes. The masters of oenology Alain Duga and Noel Rabot, who today still consult the wine house, then found an ideal terroir on the slopes of the Semisamsky ridge near the village of Gai-Kodzor, where 14 southern French grape varieties were planted. The successful development of the Russian brand led to the fact that in 2012 the founder decided to build a modern multifunctional complex, in which the production would be adjacent to tasting rooms and a museum, for which he held a closed project competition. The new tourist center was supposed to be located on a hill called the High Hill: above the village and just below the vineyards. The bright sun, air and unique landscape, which in due time determined the location of the plantings, became the starting point for the creation of the winning project.
The winning team of the Kleinewelt Architekten bureau proposed to create an object that, with its geometric shapes, would stand out in a picturesque valley, serving as a kind of lighthouse in the middle of a gentle landscape, but without disturbing the harmony of the natural environment. According to Nikolai Pereslegin, “the place is very beautiful, with a complex relief, so we decided to make the object as flat as possible”. The spatial dominance of the building was to be emphasized by an observation tower with a tasting room, which has not yet been completed. But even without it, the semi-transparent compact volume of the winery dominates the landscape.
One of the challenges faced by the architects was the development of routes within the complex, designed to become a new tourist center in the south of Russia. “Constantly surprising is one of the mottos of our project. Wine tasting involves the inclusion of all senses - we wanted to complement the taste and smell sensations with a visual and spatial experience. From this message the project was born - seemingly simple, but structurally complex."
The complex consists of several volumes connected by open passages, but thanks to the common roof and wooden deck, the building looks like a single whole. It is perceived as one-story, but has a basement, visible only from the side of the parking lot.
Functional zoning into production and public areas is emphasized by materials - concrete and glass. In the part open to visitors, deep porticos and open terraces and galleries alternate with glass volumes, in which the main public spaces are located: tasting rooms, where each wine has its own place; a museum that tells the history of winemaking; conference room for lectures and seminars. Light metal stairs lead to an open roof with panoramic views of the surrounding area."We have carefully calculated all the points of view of the route so that visitors can enjoy not only gastronomy, but also views of the surrounding landscape."
A special mood is set by the building's covering - metal structures with wooden lathing, cantilevered along the perimeter, and thin load-bearing columns cast shadows - this is how the sun itself “works” on architecture, emphasizing the graphics of simple lines. And although, according to the architects' plan, the coating was more complex - in the concept, the pattern of the gratings repeated the outlines of flowers growing in the area - the authors are pleased with the resulting effect, revealing pure forms. The wooden deck, made of tinted larch, soaks up the sunlight, adding coziness and warmth to the entire structure. The energy of the sun fills the complex, located in one of the sunniest places in Russia, not only visually, but literally: solar panels are installed on the roof, which feed the winery.
Production halls and storage are located in the concrete part of the building. The arrangement of the working part of the winery required the excavation of part of the soil, which made it possible to maintain a certain temperature regime with minimal losses in energy consumption. Faced concrete, which acts both as a load-bearing and as a finishing material, serves as an ideal backdrop for glass bottles and wooden wine barrels.
The center of the whole building is the garden: at the basement level, an open green courtyard is laid out, around an oak brought from Germany. The spectacular space of the atrium is created by the contrast of bare concrete and rich greenery. The steps leading to the garden are unusual - the concrete consoles seem to float in the air, casting subtle shadows on the surface of the walls. To support life, the oasis has four irrigation points.
“Considering that this is one of the hottest spots in Russia, we decided that the oasis should be the main thing in the complex. Luscious greenery is a rarity in this region, and the garden emphasizes the uniqueness of the building. This is a kind of analogue of the Garden of Eden, inhabited by rare plants, which were specially selected by dendrologists. The entire structure and composition of the building develops around it,”says Nikolay Pereslegin.
Kleinewelt Architekten also designed the exhibition and demonstration spaces: in the furnishings of the rooms, the parallelepipeds of the pedestals and display shelves in the tasting and museum rooms continue the theme of simple forms. There are also lifts for people with limited mobility.
In the future, the center is planned to be expanded by adding a hotel complex. Already today, visitors are greeted by an entrance group designed by Kleinewelt Architekten in the same style as the main building of the complex and a small pavilion overlooking the valley.
