While designing Etyeki Kúria Winery, the greatest challenge was to place a building, which contains the complex functional programme of a modern winery and visitors’ centre,  on a grape hill, where small press houses determine the scale of the built environment. The solution was to create an exciting, articulated building mass with the playful combination of traditional, archetypical roofs, which blends well with the architectural character of the region and preserves the historical background of its environment.

The commission was to design, as the basis of a complex development, a completely new, modern, iconic building, integrating the small-scale cellar and the press house that already existed on the site. Due to the sloping terrain, it was possible to place the different functions on two floors. Production takes place on the lower level, which is sunk into the hillside, thus creating a base for the catering areas including the representative, panoramic rooms of tasting and classifying wines.

Above the ground only a playful group of smaller buildings can be found with a panoramic view on the vineyards and on different roofs. No matter how traditional the shapes and volumes are, the details are modern and the composition is both playful and exciting, thus fitting the building between the surrounding small-scale press houses and providing it with a hint of contemporary atmosphere.

The small roofs floating above the hillside provide a unique appearance for the winery.

Crossing the road, the entrance is marked by a characteristic row of trees – a transition between the cultured landscape and the built environment. After arriving at a smaller garden and the protected entrance area, the house is fully transparent and opens towards the panoramic view. Spaces are alternating from smaller ones to the spacious representative functions. By this, the characteristic rhythm determining the outlook is perceptible from inside as well.

The openings, which cut up the structures and the large glazed surfaces at the end of the building masses, allow the transmission of light throughout the whole house.

The industrial areas are separated from the representative functions of the winery. The service entrance of the site is hidden, and it opens from the valley. However, throughout a glazed hallway, the whole process can be observed from the arrival of grapes into the old press house until the wine is bottled. Today, Etyeki Kúria is one of the leading wineries of the Etyek wine region. With a clear and logical design, the transparent, dynamic and characteristic, yet humble building is an iconic meeting point for the wine brand and its consumers.

PROJECT INFO

General design: BORD Architectural Studio

Lead Architect: Peter Bordas

Architects: Robert Benke, Annamaria Holovits, Ildiko Pem, Julia Szendröi, Tamas Tolvaj

Structural engineering: Szabolcs Fekete

Landscape architecture: Gardenworks Taj- és Kertepitesz Iroda Ltd., Lead designer: Andras Kuhn

Photo: Tamas Bujnovszky, Eszter Duong Li

Client: Etyeki Kúria Winery

Project year: 2013.

Project status: completed works

Location:

2091 ETYEK, Öreghegy Hrsz. 2699

GPS N 47.43987° E 18.74037°