In Fläsch, the winegrowers Martha and Daniel Gantenbein took advantage of the success of their Pinot Noir to replace their steel containers with oak barrels. They commissioned the architects Bearth & Deplazes with the design and construction of a new fermentation hall for twelve new containers. A wine-tasting lounge was to be located one floor above the hall.

The architects worked with Gramazio & Kohler on the facade, a double-skin of brick with polycarbonate panels on the interior. As they describe: “robotic production method … developed at the ETH Zurich enabled us to lay each one of the 20,000 bricks precisely according to programmed parameters–at the desired angle and at the exact prescribed intervals.”

Therefore a supergraphic composed of overlapped “grapes” could be created in brick in precast panels without the expense of numerous mock-ups or traditional masons. The wine estate in Fläsch follows the terroir principle. This principle states that the local colour — soil, microclimate, local traditions and the winegrower’s trademark — is directly reflected by the wine. A sensitive handling of space, temperature and light is therefore necessary. This was taken into account by the utilisation of special wall elements.

via Daily Dose