Primo Estate Winery / Michael Edward Harvey
© John Gollings
Architect: Michael Edward Harvey
Location: McLaren Vale, South Australia
Collaborating Local Architect: Chapman Herbert
Client: Primo Estate
Project Area: 500 sqm
Project year: 2002-2006
Photographs: John Gollings
Primo Estate is a purpose-built tasting facility in McLaren Vale, South Australia. It is sited over a rise, away from the road, amongst eight hectares of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot vines. Its south façade overlooks the vines and the picturesque Willunga escarpment beyond.
The brief was straightforward – tasting rooms, offices, production areas and a home for a specially imported wood oven. The Italian clients also provided imagery of the things they admired; cloisters, centuries-old gates and doorways and views of the hilltop town of San Gimignano.
floor plan
San Gimignano is an interesting precedent. It appears as a sculptural form in the landscape and appears as a closed, fortress-like township. On the other side of its walls, however, the town reveals itself as a warm, lively series of piazzas, streets and communal spaces. The robust, abstract exterior of the town has strong parallels with the early, rectilinear sculptures of Richard Serra and the Marfa works of Donald Judd.
These visual cues led to the configuration of Primo Estate as a sculpture within the landscape, housing an intimate piazzetta. The protective outer walls conceal a series of smaller-scaled communal spaces, well-suited to the regular harvest celebrations that Primo Estate host. This courtyard is defined by four simple elements, each serving a unique function and each expressed in a complementary material.
© John Gollings
The main building is located on the southern side of the piazzetta and houses the tasting rooms and office areas. It is a masonry building with a series of deep reveals to the south which shade the glazing from late summer sun and have been set out to align with the rows of vines; a simple gesture that ties the building into its site and creates a strong dialogue between the interior tasting spaces and the landscape. In keeping with the masonry character of the building, the openings are tall and deep and finished in a heavily-textured stucco. The pivoting timber door to this building is deliberately massive and tactile. It weighs a quarter-tonne, with cast gunmetal handles that weigh more than 30 kilograms each.
In contrast, the eastern edge of the piazzetta is defined by a lightweight, metal-clad production shed. Simply detailed, this element is a practical shed used for the production of vinegar and, on occasion, large functions.
The long northern wall of the courtyard is clad in tallowwood. Its depth houses a long, recessed niche which serves as seating for outdoor functions and spillover seating for the tasting areas on busy days. The wall is given further depth and texture by cladding it in two different widths and thicknesses of timber, arranged in a random pattern. The wood is deliberately left untreated and will weather to a steely grey over time, much like the familiar boundary fences and head posts of the surrounding vineyards.
© John Gollings
The tallest element in the composition is the western courtyard wall, designed to house the wood oven. Its height and prominence reference the protective walls of San Gimignano, while performing the pragmatic role of shading the piazzetta from the fierce western sun. The wall is five metres high, two metres thick and is constructed from local stone, hand-hewn on site by a team of local stonemasons.
To either side of the main complex are two remote timber structures that perform a dual role. On a day-to-day basis, they are the carports for visitors and staff. Once a year though, they house rows of specialized timber racks, used to partially dry cabernet sauvignon grapes for one of the label’s flagship wines.
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- floor plan
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- east elevation
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- north elevation
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- south elevation
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- west elevation
Very nice…very nice indeed!
i love it!
It all looks very nice, but the space is too predictable, no surprises.
thats the beauty of simplicity…totally love it
beautiful!
Six potties, but no view of the ‘picturesque Willunga escarpment beyond’ from the courtyard.
Agree uninformed observer, the escarpment is the best view looking south/east from that point in McLaren Vale. Only a very small deck on the other side of the tasting area affords that view.
Well considered formal space but you could put it anywhere on earth. Opportunity lost.
….you have to have visited the place to see for yourself; there may be 6 potties and yes you can’t see the Willunga enscarpment from the courtyard but you sure have the view when you sit down for a JOSPEH experience! Fantastic views.
What, no wine barrels? no grape vines? It could be anything, a hotel?
Great idea – nice design. Just never turn on a black-light in there … because you don’t want to see what you will see.
I usually like simple designs. But it seems to me that I’ve seen this one too many times.. by other architects.
No soul was invested in this one, it seems. Looks quite simplistic, not simple.. sorry
the blocks cover with different materials confer the sensation of detach, but the garden permit integration of the spaces… I agree, no surprise, but, nice!
like it lot.
I visited this place over the holidays.
Best winery in the area, hands down.
It’s actually a really windy place, so the courtyard makes complete sense.
The materials and detailing are absolutely top notch. The stone wall is solid, none of that thin veneer stuff. Amazing.
It may be a simple idea, but it is a really beautiful experience. The photos don’t do it justice.
It is also starting to age a bit now – in a good way.
In a few years, the trees in the courtyard will have grown up and it will be an awesome outdoor room.
Love it.
like the interior courtyard but other than that, this project is half baked.
how could you be so wrong and thoughtless with the lighting. what a mess.
your interiors look drab at best.