New Cantina Antinori

New Cantina Antinori in Florence, Italy by Studio Archea

For the Marchesi Antinori Winery's new cellars, Studio Archea cut two swaths across the Chianti hillside in Bargino, just outside Florence. This dramatic gesture buries most of the spaces underground, makes the roof a usable space, and also frames views of the landscape beyond. This decision seemed necessary for the architects, who view wine "as a product that is born and develops from the earth...linked to the agrarian landscape and the natural environment."

The project features the production and administrative areas necessary for the winery, as well as hospitality areas, visitor walkways, an auditorium, a library, a day-care center, and a restaurant. In essence, it's a veritable Tuscan wine nexus. Spread horizontally across multiple levels both buried and built into the hillside, the drama begins outside and the large overhang that greets visitors. The sculptural quality of the roof hints at some of the surprises inside.

Arriving for a tour, the visitor is whisked up a ramp to the "vineyard roof", a planted area that is broken up by skylights that bring light into the spaces below. Visitors continue along walkways that give them a peek at the workings of the winery without interrupting its operation.

But definitely the most dramatic spaces are the underground barrel rooms and their asymmetrical brick vaults. Given that the most effort is put into an area typically ignored or downplayed, opening these areas to the public via walkways makes the effort worthwhile for the winery. While locating these and other spaces below grade aids in the climate control for a process that requires a relatively constant temperature and humidity, the shape of the space returns to the architect's desire to find a "reconciliation between the natural and the artificial."