PODERE FEDESPINA WINERY

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

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Competition: TerraViva Cultural Winery Architecture Competition

Period: 2024

Type/Program: Cultural and Public

Surface:  1.095m2

Location: Tuscany, Italy

Status: Competition Proposal

Team: Özge ZABUN(M.Arch.), Hande ZABUN ESER(M.Arch.), Hande DEMİRARSLAN(Arch.),

İdil DÜNDAR(Arch. Student), Doğa İrem DURULAR(Arch. Student),

İdil Türkü ÖZANDAÇ(Arch. Student).

 

SECRET PATH OF EXPERIENCE

 

Located in the countryside of LUNIGIANA, the proposed building gives birth to a contemporary architecture from the linear structure of the vineyards, supporting the region's 60-year tradition of wine production with social and cultural programmes.

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RURAL CONTEXT | STRUCTURAL ORIENTATION

The proposed project in the Lunigiana region, famous throughout the world for its nature, climate and deep-rooted expertise in viticulture, examines its location in the context of the relationship between humans and nature, focusing on the traces of landscape and life in the immediate surroundings. The natural-cultural heritage of the region consists of components such as the rural landscape, the fertile land with vineyards and the symbolic local farmhouses that have preserved their spatial quality and function from the past to the present. In this context, the proposed building, the cultural winery Podere Fedespina, is buried underground in harmony with the topography and aims to create new public-spatial-cultural relationships in the region by adapting to the existing built-rural-natural environment. The building is concealed by the steeply sloping character of the site, promising users a journey underground. This design proposes the Podere region as a centre of attraction, where all the rhythms of rural life are combined with social and cultural activities.

MASS TECTONICS, PROGRAMME DISTRIBUTION

Focusing on the direction of the vineyards surrounding the project area, 5 main load-bearing and space-organising walls are proposed. Both statically and programmatically, the main load-bearing walls are constructed of sandstone, a local building material. Some of these walls open towards the existing Podere settlement and the vineyards to the south, in order to strengthen the dialogue with these areas. The walls that open to the south are close to the rural landscape, that is, to the north, focusing the spaces on the landscape. The basic character of the project develops through the articulation of the actions to the fluid horizontal and vertical circulation building elements between the five main load-bearing walls separating the actions. The proposed cultural/public building is a path with circulation continuity. The entrance/reception, restaurant, tasting areas, glass cellar behind the bar, barrel area, multi-purpose hall, sales area and exit are all on a single line. The building takes the user from the entrance towards the existing settlement, allows them to participate in various activities with the transformable flexible spaces established on the circulation, and directs the user to open space activities from the exit opening to the vineyards to the south. On the other hand, the wet areas, service volumes and office spaces are ideally planned to serve this circulation. The programme distribution of the new building is designed with the aim of maintaining the programmes of the existing buildings used for accommodation and wine production, so while the production stages continue in the old buildings, the proposed cultural winery is based on enhancing the rural and cultural experiences of users visiting the region from outside.

​The roof of the building, which is integrated into the topography towards the vineyards, is made up of programmes that will bring together rural interaction and activity organisations. One of these is the green amphitheatre above the multi-purpose hall, which focuses on the vineyards and allows for various social and cultural activities. The other is the practice gardens, which will put visitors in dialogue with the fertile soil of the context. The aim is to teach visitors about the agricultural tradition of the region through the workshops organised. The roof of the topographical structure, made up of different activity floors, is also a rural stop in nature, from where you can see both the rural landscape to the north and the vineyards to the south.