#RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS
California winery
With the task to return an old winery to its agricultural and pragmatic simplicity, studio Aidlin Darling Design centerded the wine-tasting experience around a majestic oak tree.
Winner of the Merit Design Award for Architecture at the 2016 San Francisco AIA Design Awards, the Brecon Estate Winery remodeled by Aidlin Darling Design, is located on the “Emerald Necklace” of Paso Robles’ progressive wine growing region.
The renovation involved a complete facelift and reorganization of an existing production facility and tasting room. The previously existing structure had virtually no relationship to the land that surrounded it. Aidlin Darling Design set out to return the building to its agricultural and pragmatic simplicity. Faux-historic decoration was stripped away and replaced with earthen plaster and an untreated cedar rain screen. These naturally weathering materials were chosen to age gracefully, and are intended to reciprocate the agrarian structures found along California’s Central Coast.
The visitor’s approach to the building’s tasting area was reorganized in an effort to reconnect them physically and experientially to the landscape and the adjacent vineyards. Revolving around a majestic oak tree, the tasting area connects indoor and outdoor space, and includes a large cantilevered deck, large pocketing doors, and a tasting bar positioned as a hinge between inside and outside spaces. Aidlin Darling’s approach to design seeks to connect to the inherent spirit of a space, intertwining our experience with our environment through design that is both rational and sensual.
