Architects: Walker Warner Architects
Project: Quintessa Pavilions
Project Team: Kevin Casey, Mike McCabe, Greg Warner
Interiors: Maca Huneeus Design
Landscape: Lutsko Associates
Builder: Cello & Maudru Construction Company
Location: Napa County, CA, United States
Photography: Matthew Millman, Matthew William
The Quintessa Pavilions are the newest addition to the Quintessa Estate, a winery and residence designed by Walker Warner Architects. The result is three, unique wine tasting pavilions that can be utilized year-round despite the weather.
Situated on a ridgeline, each of the three open-air pavilions offer spectacular views of the estate while providing a private and immersive wine tasting experience. Immersed in the landscape and surrounded by vineyard-covered hills, each pavilion is carefully sited to protect visitors from the elements while preserving the surrounding oak trees that naturally shade the area.
The design of the unobtrusive 250-square-foot pavilions echoes the winery’s environmental sensitivity and material palette of durable, sustainable materials that age and weather well. Running parallel to the ridgeline, a bold blade-like concrete wall made with fly ash forms the pavilion entry where a doorway is carved out to reveal the panoramic view from the terrace to the vineyards beyond. The prefabricated steel structure creates long roof overhangs that protect visitors from the elements while expansive walls of operable doors help to maximize the openness for light, views and cross ventilation.
All in all, the approach to the project was one of minimal intervention to ensure preservation of the existing mature oak trees, which provide shade for the area surrounding each pavilion. The result is a unique and intimate wine tasting experience that can accommodate up to a dozen guests.
