THE TRA­DI­TION OF WINE AND CON­TEM­PO­RARY AR­CHI­TEC­TURE

The Petra wi­nery is lo­cated in the Tuscan Ma­remma at San Lo­renzo Alto, Su­vereto (LI). The estate co­vers an area of 300 hec­tares in a be­au­ti­fully ru­stic lands­cape do­mi­nated by olive groves that slope down to the Tyr­rhe­nian Sea. The area is filled with his­tory as is shown by the nu­me­rous ar­chaeo­lo­gical fin­dings, con­sis­ting in par­ti­cular of wine am­phorae. The ini­tial pro­ject for Can­tina Petra was con­ceived by busi­nessman and wine pro­ducer Vit­torio Mo­retti, and de­si­gned by ar­chi­tect Mario Botta. The aim was for a buil­ding that would high­light its con­text among vi­neyards and wines and at the same time em­body the mys­tique of the work and li­festyle of those wor­king there. Can­tina Petra is the re­sult of a per­fect in­te­gra­tion bet­ween the crea­ti­vity of the ar­chi­tect, the con­struc­tion pro­cess and a prac­tical, well func­tio­ning estate.

 

 

 

 

 

DE­VE­LOP­MENT PRO­CESS

 

 

 

Petra re­pres­ents ar­chi­tec­ture at the ser­vice of the tech­no­lo­gical re­qui­re­ments of the wine pro­ducer and his need for ex­pres­sion. It is where the wine-ma­king takes place and where wines are aged but it is also a place of en­counter, where dif­fe­rent tra­di­tions and ex­pe­ri­ences are com­pared; it is also a way of trans­mit­ting com­pany va­lues. This is ar­chi­tec­ture with a strong per­so­na­lity, yet that fits in per­fectly with the lands­cape, the func­tion it serves and li­festyle led wi­thin. The brief asked for so­me­thing that would be mo­dern and func­tional but re­spectful of tra­di­tion.

Par­ti­cular at­ten­tion was paid to its so­cial and fi­nan­cial im­pact, with a model of the de­sign being ex­hi­bited for six months in the council room of the Mu­ni­ci­pa­lity to allow ade­quate time for thought and de­ci­sion-ma­king. This “ca­the­dral to wine” co­vers a sur­face area of 8,000 m2. Its highly sculp­tural ap­pea­rance con­sists of a stone cy­linder diss­ected by a slo­ping plane run­ning par­allel to the hill. Either side are two wings with por­ti­coed ele­ments. A stair­case cut­ting through the cy­linder leads to an ob­ser­va­tion point. The huge ring rises up over cul­ti­vated fields sur­rounded by ve­ge­ta­tion that changes in co­lour de­pen­ding on the sea­sons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main ac­ti­vi­ties of the wi­nery take place in­side the cy­lin­drical struc­ture. In the centre are the ro­sette-shaped steel fer­men­ta­tion vats, while the upper floors serve as sto­rage space for har­vested grapes, crus­hing, pro­duc­tion and in­spet­cion.
On the ground floor, beyond the cen­tral zone and area re­served for the oak casks used to age the wines, a long tunnel digs deep into the moun­tain­side until it re­a­ches a rocky wall where it opens out into an end room. This is used for ga­the­rings, me­di­ta­tion even, and is far re­moved from the wor­king areas near the en­trance. Al­most like an um­bi­lical cord, the tunnel connects us up with Mo­ther Earth.

 

 

 

TECH­NO­LOGY

Be­neath the struc­ture in­te­grated with the lands­cape hides a high tech pre­fa­bri­cated mo­dular wi­nery. It was built by the con­struc­tion di­vi­sion of the Mo­retti
group, who also de­si­gned the pro­duc­tion lay-out. This “wi­nery system” pro­vides a new way of ap­proa­ching
the de­sign of buil­dings dug into the ground, with the twin pur­pose of sup­port and res­traint. By ex­ploi­ting the static prin­ciple of the arch, the “vaulted”
ele­ments re­duce the thick­ness of the roofing to a mi­nimum, while en­su­ring ade­quate sup­port when the wine ma­king-rooms are filled to ca­pa­city. To meet the va­riety of re­qui­re­ments of the as­si­gnment, the system was or­ga­nised into struc­tural mo­dules that would offer great fle­xi­bi­lity of space and ar­chi­tec­ture.
The cen­tral ele­ment, faced in stone slabs and set un­der­ground on three sides, uses a 6x6 mo­dule. Can­tina Petra is an ideal com­bi­na­tion bet­ween ar­chi­tec­tural de­sign and prefab tech­no­logy using con­crete and la­mellar wood. The mo­dular con­cept in­te­grates ide­ally with a se­ries of ele­ments espe­ci­ally de­si­gned and built for the cy­lin­drical body of the buil­ding.