Brežice Winery

Miloš Bonča, an educator and architect, was able to say that the prerequisite for any architectural excellence is a sincere and constructive collaboration between the client, the architect and the contractor. If one of the three fails, the project is doomed to a torturous persuasion and a battle for quality every time. In reality, in the architectural profession, the occasions when everything “clicks” are rare and remain in our permanent memory.

The wine cellar project is the renovation of the basement of a residential house and the last phase of a comprehensive renovation of a farmhouse in Posavje. In the past, the space was used to age and store local wine, when the farmhouse was still surrounded by vineyards on the southern and western slopes. With the phasing out of domestic wine production, the replacement of vineyards with walnut groves and the renovation of the farmhouse into a modern country house, the space has lost its original purpose. Today, it is dedicated to socialising and remembering the wine tradition of the farmhouse.

The design was strongly influenced by the structural renovation of the rest of the house, when a few years ago the then minor space of the basement had to be pierced with two additional columns and two beams. The technical necessity of the time later became the central conceptual thrust of the renovation of the wine cellar.

The materiality is reduced to two basic materials, reinforced concrete, derived from existing structural elements, and solid oak wood. All the existing beams and columns were finely milled when they were renovated, and the cantilevered counters of the same finish were suspended from them. This unifies the three age periods of the concrete elements in terms of design, with differences between them only at the level of detail. The pavement is also cast concrete on site, with a final grinding. The wall panelling, shelves and sideboard are made of oak wood that has been repeatedly stained. Just as sanding reveals the rich texture of cast concrete, brushing brings out the texture, quality of touch and depth of wear in solid wood. The furniture added to the room, a bench, chairs and a table, follow the same design principles – simplicity, functionality and the use of light birch and alder plywood.

A special feature of the space is a wall of 200 concrete cylinders surrounded by a back-lit wall of light. The idea stems from the desire to ensure that, even though the conditions in the room are no longer suitable for storing bottled wine, it does not lose its memory of its original purpose. The “stone bottles”, with their striking appearance, preserve the atmosphere of a real wine cellar, while at the same time, with their fullness and weight, they bring a touch of melancholic nostalgia into the space. Backlighting, on the other hand, seeks contrast in floating, translucency and indefinable depth.

A seemingly very simple project is in fact full of fine details, light sources, reflections, directions of view. The variety of experiences thus helps to increase the perceived size of the space, which is only 20 m², to the number of guests who enjoyed the space when it opened.

Authors of the project BLENKUŠ Matej, CIMPERMAN Katja, CVETREŽNIK Anja