Adega Pico, Winery and Hotel
by SAMI-Arquitectos in collaboration with DRDH Architects
Client Azores Wine Company
Award RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2024
Adega Pico’s winery and guest house on an island in Portugal’s Azores is sensitively placed in a protected Unesco World Heritage site and elegantly executed.
This building is exemplar in its relation to the setting. It nestles almost invisible on the hillside while also serving as a distinctive focal point. Inspired by nature and built of the lava rocks that form the man-made winery terraces, the structure is crowned by an assembly of concrete beams forming a contrasting sculptural element that can be seen from afar.
Various stages of the production process are visible from the circulation routes in and around the building, emphasising the winery’s function.
Adega Pico’s setting is unique due to the challenges of growing grapes in a windswept volcanic environment, which necessitates a protected habitat. The vines are cultivated horizontally in small stone wall enclosures that have shaped the pattern of the landscape which inspired the design of the small hotel.
The structure recedes into the volcanic stone wall landscape that surrounds it, making it almost invisible at first glance. Juxtaposing the stone clad walls are the roof’s white concrete ring-beams which follow the topography creating a bold linear intervention. Because the roof line follows the terrain without breaking the horizon the hillside frames the built intervention making it subservient to the landscape.
Set around a courtyard, the square geometry of the building recalls the cloistered typology of its region providing shelter on this wind-swept plot near the Atlantic coast. A pool that stores rainwater is set against an abstraction of a lava landscape forming an inspiring contrast. Guest rooms have views into the courtyard and to the Atlantic, thereby experiencing enclosure and openness in a dramatic way. Internal white plaster finishes are reminiscent of the manner in which significant historic buildings on the island were finished.
The tasting room and its covered terrace look towards the ocean across a unique viniculture landscape that has produced grapes for centuries.
An outstanding consideration has been given to creating a building that is rooted in its landscape, both natural and cultivated. The façade reflects this duality by using natural and man-made materials in stark contrast. Throughout the site, visitors are aware of productive processes of the winery and the industrial function of the building, designed along a route that interprets and illustrates cultivation.
Location: Bandeiras, Azores, Portugal
Date of completion: 31/07/2020
Cost: Confidential
Gross internal area: 1630 m²
Contractor: Marques SA
Structural Engineer: Fundacoes e Estruturas
Environmental / M&E Engineer: Naturalworks
Water and Sanitation: Campo d’Agua
Fire: ETU Fire Safety Consultants
