Bodegas Protos
“This new winery, which started as a project for the future, is today the flagship upon which we build our present, while we search for the highest quality in our wines. It allows us to define our future with greater clarity” Edmundo Bayon, President, Bodegas Protos.
Bodegas Protos is a wine cooperative in a small village in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain, where almost everyone in the village has a stake in the winery. In response to an increasing demand for Protos wines, a new building has been built to extend and modernise production facilities.
The winery is an industrial building whose design and arrangement follows the process of wine making, from the harvesting of the grapes to the bottling of the wines. Most of the winery’s internal area is underground, where the thermal mass of the ground is used to keep the wine cool, with the production area at ground level beneath a dramatic vaulted wooden roof.
This building connects via an underground link to the original winery and also provides custom-designed areas for tastings and special events, as well as administrative functions.
Because the building had to be cost efficient, the architect chose to use materials found locally. Timber parabolic arches were used as the main structure, taking advantage of the forms ability to carry large loads on very slim beams.
Terracotta roofing tiles are common to the architecture of the region, and the stone that forms the walls is waste material from a local quarry. The use of traditional materials such as wood and stone and the sensitive use of form to break down the scale of the building has resulted in a winery which complements the surrounding traditional architecture style of Penafiel.
With building work completed in September 2008, Bodegas Protos processed its first harvest of grapes from the vineyards surrounding Penafiel during October 2008. Over a fifteen-day period, tractor-pulled trailers carrying the grape crop were driven up the ramp to the processing area on the south side of the building and unloaded into vats for fermentation. The facility is now providing capacity to process one million kilos of grapes a year.
Project information:
- Place: Peñafiel, Valladolid, Spain
- Date: 2003-2008
- Client: Bodegas Protos Co-Architects
- Cost: £15 million
- Gross Internal Area: 19,450 m²
- Co-Architects: Alonso Balaguer Arquitectos Asociados
- Structural Engineer: Arup/Boma/Agroindus
- Services Engineer: BDSP/Grupo JG/Agroindus
Key Awards
2009
- RIBA European Award
- Shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize
- Chicago Atheneum Award
- World Architecture Festival – Production, Energy and Recycling
- Civic Trust Award
- Conde Nast Traveller ID & D, Gourmet Category
- IStructe Award
Click here to see the full job sheet.
--RSHP
Featured articles and news
How can digital twins boost profitability within construction?
A brief description of a smart construction dashboard, collecting as-built data, as a s site changes forming an accurate digital twin.
Unlocking surplus public defence land and more to speed up the delivery of housing.
The Planning and Infrastructure bill oulined
With reactions from IHBC and others on its potential impacts.
Farnborough College Unveils its Half-house for Sustainable Construction Training.
Spring Statement 2025 with reactions from industry
Confirming previously announced funding, and welfare changes amid adjusted growth forecast.
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Architects Academy at an insulation manufacturing facility
Programme of technical engagement for aspiring designers.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.
Building Engineering Business Survey Q1 2025
Survey shows growth remains flat as skill shortages and volatile pricing persist.