Beronia Winery in Ollauri (Spain) by IDOM

The winery is conceived as an extension of the landscape, where the vineyard is the protagonist and the architecture blends seamlessly with the natural surroundings. The project began with a thoughtful approach to the location, considering its historical, geographical, geological, topographic, and symbolic dimensions. The winery anchors itself to the terrain, seeking a unitary operation in all its dimensions.

Located in the north of Spain, in the Rioja Alta sub-region, the winery takes advantage of the ideal climatic, geological, and topographic conditions for wine production. The site is situated in the municipality of Ollauri, on a plateau dotted with small hills and flanked by mountain formations to the north and south. Vineyards and historic wineries extend across the surrounding towns, such as Rodezno, Briones, and Haro.

The design of the winery adapts to the terrain, utilizing an 8-meter concave slope facing southeast. The winery is embedded in the terrain, with the production program underground and the social program above ground. This strategy allows for gravity-fed production, thermal inertia utilization, and landscape integration, connecting the upper and lower levels of the landscape through the building itself.

The winery is structured around two main program blocks: the productive program below ground level and the social and wine tourism program above ground level. The productive program is organized into three packages (tanks, barrels, and cages) articulated in a linear process. These elements adapt to the terrain, forming rectangular buildings optimized to avoid subsoil rock and balance earthworks.

Each building has a different relationship with light and views, depending on the wine’s requirements. The tanks, traditionally buried and without light, are open to the landscape and protected from direct radiation. The barrels receive slight indirect light filtered by the social zone program, while the cages warehouse has no natural light.

The social program is located above ground and maintains a close visual relationship with the landscape and the production process without interference. This industry-territory binomial aims to create a global experience through transparency.

The winery’s structure is resolved using prestressed slabs, precast pillars, and high-rise precast retaining walls, streamlining the construction process and improving work safety. The southern area, with greater geometric complexity, is resolved with an in situ structure and a large post-tensioned slab that acts as a sunshade and roof.

The building’s conditioning strategy combines tradition and innovation, using a semi-passive system designed for resilience. Both the precast buildings and in situ concrete are activated with a GEO-TABS system, maintaining stable temperatures in the warehouses with minimal energy consumption. The insulation and burial of the warehouses contribute to the building’s thermal inertia.

Air quality is controlled parametrically in both the production area and social spaces. The building’s geometry and implementation are essential for solar control, with mobile protections to prevent glare. Natural lighting is combined with low-consumption artificial lighting, and green roofs are used to collect rainwater.

The Gonzalez Byass winery is more than a simple generic container of an industrial process. It is a unitary response to the location, the program, and the production process. A building integrated into the landscape, rooted in the depth of the earth, participating in its cycles, and resulting in a respectful exchange between nature and the final product, wine.

• All landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape:
IDOM, Arkhe paisajismo

• All architecture offices involved in the design:
IDOM

• Other credits:
Project architects: Borja Gómez, Gonzalo Tello
Other architects: Manuel Bouzas, Fernando Garrido, Gonzalo Peñalba, Andreia Faley
Agricultural Engineer: Almudena García Bacarizo
Project Management: Gonzalo Tello, Borja Gómez
Costs: Juan Dávila
Structures: Carlos Castañón, Romina González, Jorge de Prado, Borja Olivares, Beatriz Suárez
Environmental Engineering: Antonio Villanueva, Isaac Lorenzo, Javier Martín
Lighting: Noemí Barbero
Public Health Services: Héctor Mayordomo
Electrical Engineering: Carlos Trujillano
Process Facilities: Federico Reguero, Sergio González
Interior Design: Borja Gómez, Gonzalo Tello
Site Supervision: Borja Gómez, Gonzalo Tello
Construction execution management: Juan Dávila
Photographers: Aitor Ortiz, Francesco Pintón, Gunnar Knechtel, IDOM