Rustic Charm: Openness and transparency define a new winery and tasting room

by Jonathan McGaha | 4 January 2015 12:00 am

Oak Farm Vineyards[1] is a relatively new winery situated on 70 acres in Lodi, Calif. For the past five years, the Panella family has been producing wines out of Estate Crush[2], a custom winemaking facility in Lodi. On Oct. 25, 2014, they opened a 12,000-square-foot winery and tasting room on-site.

The new facility features cedar walls and a pitched roof, giving it a rustic, barn-like feel. John Vierra, LEED AP, design principal at Delta Buildings Inc.[3], Acampo, Calif., says the intent was to tie the building aesthetics to the surrounding context of the site, but with modern ideas of openness and transparency.

 

A Mix of the Historic and Modern

Built by Nickell Construction, Galt, Calif., the facility includes a 360-degree tasting bar, floor-to-ceiling vineyard views, private room for wine club members two indoor and two outdoor fireplaces and a covered terrace. A central plaza connects the tasting room with the winery, which stands 500 feet away in the 150-year-old historic redwood barn and includes a tank room, laboratory and barrel room for tours and special events. “I wanted to continue the beautiful rustic nature of the barn to the new project,” Vierra explains. “Cedar wood is used on the exterior designed to weather over time to blend with existing historic structures and vineyard landscape.”

Vierra notes that openness and transparency played a large role in the design of the hospitality spaces. As he explains, visitors enter the structure and arrive into a large open courtyard with a covered sitting area and fireplace to the south, tasting room to the east and winery production to the west. The tasting room has 14-foot-tall sliding doors that open to the entry courtyard on one side and an expansive patio to the east. Aluminum glazing was used to maintain the large expanses of glass, which also created a better connection from the inside and out. Glazing installer The Glass Shop[4], Galt, installed an aluminum storefront system from Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope[5], Santa Monica, Calif., for the project.

“The courtyard is intended to slow the visitors down and transport them into a place about making wine,” he explains. “On one side you have production with barrel and tank storage, winemakers lab and crush pad beyond. The other side you have the hospitality with tasting room, wine club lounge, restrooms and offices. As you enter, one is literally at the center of the operation.”

A Colorful Contrast

Drexel Metals[6], Louisville, Ky., supplied 20,000 square feet of its 150 SL metal roof panels, a 1 1/2-inch snap lock profile in 24-gauge Galvalume. The 19-inch-wide panels can reach up to 26 feet in length on a 8:12 roof pitch.

“Steel was used to contrast the exterior wood cladding with the use of tube steel scissor trusses and metal standing seam roofing,” says Vierra. “The metal roofing provided the modern advantages of durability, longevity and low maintenance, and visually will provide a sharp contrast against weathered old barn wood.”

Richard Pruden, owner of Pruden Roofing[7], Stockton, Calif., the roofing installer and a Drexel Metals Association of Regional Manufacturers
(DM-ARM) member, notes that the roof was steep and tall, requiring the panels to be carried up a ladder.

Along with its steep roof pitch, the roof also had 16 valleys. Pruden notes that the valleys originally took him and three installers four hours just to install the roof panels on one valley. Once Drexel Metals arranged for the delivery of a portable SnapTable HD from Swenson Shear Products Co. Inc.[8], Ceres, Calif., Pruden was able to cut down the process to an hour, saving a lot of time. The SnapTable HD features an adjustable table and can cut, hem and notch the metal roof panels on-site. DM-Arm fabrication contractor Starr-Light Metal Designs[9], Elk Grove, Calif., provided on-site panel forming and fabrication for all the trims and custom penetration flashings.

According to Vierra, the custom-fabricated steel trusses from Fitted By Design, Oakdale, Calif., provided a challenge because they were a different structural system that was new to the entire project team and there were differences on opinion on constructability. “The truss is entirely fabricated and welded together off-site and bolted together on steel tube columns that were embedded in the ground,” he says. “Aesthetically, they are beautifully constructed pieces of art, but placed a challenge to the contractor who successfully pulled it off.”

The new facility has a production capacity of 7,000 cases of wine each year and is currently producing approximately 3,500 cases a year. Once the newly planted grapes mature, the winery will begin its full production capabilities.

In all of his projects, Vierra says he tries to capture what the client’s needs are and how the project responds to the surrounding site. “The historic barn became a large precedent to the project and took several design iterations to get the right language of old and new building materials,” he adds.

 

Oak Farm Vineyards Winery and Tasting Room, Lodi, Calif.
Builder: Nickell Construction, Galt, Calif.
Designer: Delta Buildings Inc., Acampo, Calif.
Engineer of record: Mike Smith Engineering, Lodi
Glazing installer: The Glass Shop, Galt
Roofing fabricator: Starr-Light Metal Designs, Elk Grove, Calif.
Roofing installer: Pruden Roofing, Stockton, Calif.
Aluminum storefront: Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., www.oldcastlebe.com[10]
Metal roof panels: Drexel Metals Inc., Louisville, Ky., www.drexelmetals.com[11]
Metalforming machine: Swenson Shear Products Co. Inc., Ceres, Calif., www.swensonshear.com[12]
Steel trusses: Fitted By Design, Oakdale, Calif.,
(209) 847-5770

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/rustic-charm/

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