Vancouver Food And Wine: Okanagan Architect Designs Terravista Vineyards

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Okanagan Architect Designs Terravista Vineyards

Okanagan Architect Designs A Winery Facility that Reflects the Region

Terravista Vineyards, a new Naramata Bench winery, worked with renowned Okanagan architect Nick Bevanda to design an efficient, elegant winemaking facility tailored to its location.

[reprinted from Press Release]

Kelowna, BC, September 18, 2012 — The original founders of Black Hills Estate Winery have opened Terravista Vineyards, a new boutique winery nestled into the natural contours of the BC’s Naramata Bench.

Bob and Senka Tennant started Terravista Vineyards with a commitment to producing small volumes of high quality estate-grown white wine. One of their first steps was investing in a winery facility customized to this task and infused with local flavour. Designed by award-winning architect Nick Bevanda, a partner with BC-based CEI Architecture, the building is uniquely sculpted to its site, using materials that make it an ideal match for the climate and landscape of the region.

“The objective was to complement the landscape, not to overwhelm it.” Bevanda says. “We kept the building design clean and efficient, providing everything the winemakers need to make a great product.”

The winery building is constructed from concrete, with an angled roof that complements the contours of the surrounding hills. The structure is nestled into the corner of the five-acre vineyard, in a natural bowl in the landscape. It was designed to suit the production and storage needs of the winemakers, who plan to produce up to 1800 cases of wine a year.

“The reaction has been that people love it,” says Tennant. “It’s modern without being austere. It’s clean and it screams function, but you really like being in it and around it.”

The building’s deep roof overhang is cantilevered to provide a natural sunshade, supported by a minimal structure that does not interfere with the circulation of people and machinery during the wine production process. The building’s face is clad in glass to provide expansive views of the vineyard, and to draw natural light deep into the building.

“We are a little off the radar, and the building is not really viewable from anywhere unless you are on our property,” says Tennant. “It's fun watching people come to the place now that we are actually open. They come down our driveway and they’re wondering, where do we go? Then they look at the building and go, ‘Oh wow.’”

Born and raised in the Okanagan, Nick Bevanda is one of the most prolific architects of wineries in the region. His designs includes the Black Hills Estate Winery, the only winery in Western Canada honoured with the Lieutenant-Governor of BC Award of Merit for Architecture, in 2008. He also led the design of Miradoro Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek Winery, Road 13 Winery, the Hooded Merganser Restaurant, and the recently opened Black Hills Wine Experience Centre.