Norman Foster-designed Portia Wineries opens

A brand new wine manufacturing facility, Portia Wineries in Burgos, Spain, is now open.

Located in the heart of the Ribera del Duero, Spain, it is the first wine project that architect Norman Foster has designed for Faustino winery group.

The 12,500m² facility has a production capacity of one million bottles a year, and counted on Arup´s services in sustainability, electrical engineering, structural engineering, facilities design and façade engineering.

The design, which integrates seamlessly with the natural landscape, facilitates the wine manufacturing process and reduces the visual impact and energy demand of the building. The building takes the shape of a clover, inspired by the three main production stages – fermentation in steel casks, ageing in wood barrels and ageing in the bottle.

Embedded in the landscape

The Portia Wineries building is designed to take advantage of the slope of the land. Grapes are unloaded by trucks on the upper deck, and gravity is used to move the grapes inside the building, maximising efficiency and minimising damage to the pulp.

Photovoltaic cells have been incorporated into the roof, and the recycled concrete structure uses thermal inertia to help control the indoor temperature, reducing energy demand.

The exterior walls are lined with large panels of Cor-Ten oxidised steel which give the building its distinctive colour. The third wing incorporates large volumes of stainless steel in the form of fermentation casks, referring to the building's function.