Wine Nuts / WT Architects

Curated by 韩双羽 - HAN Shuangyu

Architects: WT Architects
Area: 180 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs:Wine Nuts
Construction: Chongqing Puzhao Decoration Design engineering Co. LTD

What is Natural Wine? Natural Wine is naturally brewed with organic or biodynamic grapes, we use only wild yeast during the period of vinification, with minimal synthetic chemistry( chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicide, vulcanizer) at the vineyard. No chaptalization and acidification, So2, filtration, and clarification with little artificial interference. Natural wine has no need to pander to market selection nor belong to one standard style of any Chateau. Natural wine is the most authentic product of nature, it has the appearance of Terror, as well as the sincere gesture of artisans.

"Nuts. "People who take natural wine as their career are normally a bit "crazy", they will spend the day and night on the field with the grapes because of their enthusiasm, they will also research various ancient papers to discover the secret behind the wilderness, and experiment with more naturally original brewing techniques. This group of “nuts” are distinctive and ambitious, their beliefs turn to the courage to be unafraid of the temporal perspective. "Wine Nuts" is found by some girls born after the 1990s. They are fond of the process of wild fermentation; the vitality of things on the ground. They are a group of “nuts” who love and reverence our lands and they are tenaciously besotted with the pure original food from these lands.

"Stonehenge." The idea of "original", and "natural" become the keywords during the beginning communication with the clients, from their concept of the brand and their thinking of natural wine. Stonehenge stands in the Salisbury Plain, southwest of London. Huge stones standing there on the green, mysterious, and full of power, the most original and natural space. Several big stones happen in the space as big columns, at the same time as dividing space, these columns become the thing which makes people feel safe and reliable.

The skin of the stones was crafted abstract through texture which demonstrates a sense of original roughness and strength. The combination of the skin and psychedelic, ambiguous lighting creates a mysterious and relaxed drinking atmosphere. Not to make fake stones looks similar to the real ones, we choose to make them look more abstract that only reflects the feeling of the original by the man-made slot cut crafted. After the craftsmanship of the slot cut experiment with various cement humidity and gap density, the slot was finished under the natural site condition to try to avoid more human intervention.

A huge stone, long 5 meters and high 2.3 meters, lay on the main entry which passes through the glass into the interior. It illustrates a sense of wandering between the real and abstract nature through the diverse forms to experience the similar temperament. It is also the highest formality that is given to the “wine nuts” who come for celebrates the natural wine charm.

The ancient path leading to the stone columns in Stonehenge is aligned with the rising sun on the morning of the summer solstice. The line between the other two stones points in the direction of sunset on the winter solstice. The position of the stones corresponds to the changing time, producing the correlation between space and time. Except for the natural growth process from a seedling to a bunch of grapes, then a bottle of wine, it takes enough patience to wait. The changing moon plates were designed to illustrate the naturally passing time on the door head which represents such a process of the natural wine production cycle. The light with shadow shuttle through the screen board under the night. Each moon has its own unique style under various lights.

Wine Cellar. Creativity and design are reflected on the natural wine label, each bottle has an unpredictable flavor, and consequently, the traditional way to order the glasses with the name is not suitable for “wine nuts”. According, the walk-in wine cellar is designed for the customers to experience an immersive wine selection. A wooden wine rack with glass constitutes the wine cellar, when walk-in the area, the depth of space will produce the feeling of being encapsulated. Deep dark night, 12 Moon Lights glow. The moonlight pass on the surface of the enormous stone that illustrates a sense of mystery, an ancient formation with rough but not coarse wall& column. It's like stepping into the other ancient world.