Architecture is of the land. In a valley North-West of Sydney, nourishing soil, a fair climate and expansive fields grow some of the best wine grapes in the country. On a shallow hillside gully these grape vines form the Audrey Wilkinson Winery, one of Australia’s oldest Vineyards. The current colonial weatherboard visitor centre sits atop a hill with encapsulating views of the entire region. As you look through the gully multiple shimmering ponds dot the valley floor, surrounded by lush rows of grapes and flora, and framed by the regions rolling hills and expansive blue skies. However, all this natural and curated beauty is rusted and worn by a corrugated iron wine making shed that consumes the centre of this picturesque landscape. A new production space was necessary to improve production but also return an aesthetic continuity to the rolling landscape and return to the site what it reaps.

The new winemaking centre is an extension of the ponded landscape. the reflective shimmer of water is emulated by an ETFE canopy, rising from one pond and falling back to another. A rolling grid shill supports this floating lake, like a structure of guided vines. Tree like posts extend from the sunken floor to a supportive steel fork catching the forces of both roof sections. Beneath the filtered sky wooden pavilions provide auxiliary spaces for wine tasting, a restaurant and workspaces. The centre of it all is the sunken fermentation and processing space, with an adjacent cellar partially beneath the northern pond. A cooling array channels water from the pond to regulate the cellars temperature, while openings in the curtain wall allow cross breezes caught by the sweeping arches to ventilate the structure. In this new space, the environment does more than just grow the grapes but has a hand in the entire wine making process. What was once on the landscape is now an extension of it, reconciling the landscapes crafted beauty like a well-balanced wine.