Coalpit Road Winery | Gibbston Valley

In 2006, Architecture Workshop (AW) was commissioned to design a new winery shed at Coal Pit road in the viticulture landscape of the Gibbston Valley in Otago. We worked closely with the owner Rosie Dunphy of Tiwha Limited to reduce the bulk and set the new shed as a back drop in the existing cluster of buildings.

The intention was to make an ‘elegant shed’ to house the winery. A minimum gradient gable roof floats over heavy cloistered precast concrete walls set into the ground. The gentle canopy evokes the woolshed forms of earlier times, recalling the previous pastoral land use. Elegant connections of structure and basic raw materials thoughtfully detailed and resolved. Simplicity and effortless functionality characterize this building.

NZIA Awards Jury Citation (2009)

The natural slope of the site was used to excavate the 190-barrel storage room. This gave height for the working area above to load directly into the stainless steel fermenter tanks. The winemaker and services lab rooms access directly off the lower work pad and look out north over the sloping vines to the Gibbston Valley.

Awards

NZIA Southern Architecture Award, 2009