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Lisbon-born architect Frederico Valsassina and his team were invited to design the interior space of the Herdade do Freixo estate winery in Redondo, Portugal.
Considering Herdade do Freixo’s aim to preserve the rural Alentejo landscape, Valsassina constructed the winery to materialise as a continuity of its environment. The architect explains, “The morphology of the existing ground was so decisive for the definition of the project, making it imperative to keep it unchanged. Any intervention would jeopardize the balance found on site.” With this in mind, the winery was buried over several floors forty meters underground, asserting what Valsassina describes to be “the best thermal conditions for wine conservation given the reduction of the thermal amplitude and the low-temperature values.” The bold, dynamic interior architecture features levels connected by a dynamic, sloped spiral walkway, reminiscing a corkscrew twisting into the earth. Soon open to the public, the Herdade do Freixo winery is designed to navigate visitors through the space, in a manner revealing of the site’s functional hierarchy.
