Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage, Isokyrö Building, Finnish Modern Industrial Architecture Images

Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage in Kalpatie

New Rural Industrial Building Development, Finland – design by Avanto Architects Ltd

28 Mar 2019

Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage

Architects: Avanto Architects Ltd

Location: Kalpatie, Isokyrö, Finland

Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage

Photos: kuvio.com

The client is a Finnish craft producer of spirits that started from scratch but is rapidly expanding after winning several international prizes including the best gin & tonic in 2015. The fame resulted in huge demand for the world’s northern most gin and whisky distillery’s products. The company organized an invited competition for the expansion. Avanto Architects was chosen to design a master plan, several new buildings and to convert historic buildings on the factory area.

The area is unique. Kyrö river area is classified as a nationally important landscape with well-preserved farmhouses and vast flat fields with old wooden barns. There is a historic Perttilänsilta hanging bridge crossing the river next to the distillery. The site is bordered on the South side by the memorial for historic Napue battle that gave name for company’s famous gin.

The storage buildings were to be placed in a dense forest housing also flying squirrels’ habitat. This gave us the idea to design the storage buildings as traditional barns clad in wooden planks and hiding in the middle of the forest.

The project is the first building in a row of five identic buildings. It soon came out that designing industrial buildings should be done in very tight framework conditions. In order to call spirit whisky, you need to store it at least three years in oak barrels.

Huge storage buildings needed to be constructed even if you don’t know whether the product will be selling well after the storage period. To minimize the financial risk the buildings were assembled from standard concrete pillars, beams and elements unlike in the first sketches that were based on wooden structures.

There are very strict fire regulations concerning the barrel storage buildings as whisky is classified as a flammable liquid. This is why the space needed to be divided in five separate compartments. Each room has a strictly controlled indoor climate with certain temperature and humidity. The amount of alcohol evaporating from the wooden barrels is measured so that the air doesn’t get flammable.

The façade is inspired by typical local wooden barns. The concrete exterior wall sandwich elements were cast on a mold made of planks from a dismantled barn owned by the mother-in-law of one of the distillery owners.

Funnily, concrete reproduces the weathered wood material so well that many people have been touching the façade and still believing it is wood. Typical for the playful Kyrö people, the barrel storage building was inaugurated by organizing a rave in the empty warehouse.

Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage, Kalpatie – Building Information

Building type: Industrial storage building
Location: Kalpatie, Isokyrö, Finland
Design: 2018
Construction: 2018- 2019
Gross Area: 1065 sqm
Total cost: 1,56 m €
Client: Kyrö Distillery Company
Project management: Robert Sivula / Kyrö Distillery Company

Designers:
Architects: Avanto Architects Ltd / Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen, Architects SAFA
Assistants Emmanuel Laux, Architect Miyuki Wakasugi, Student of Architecture
Structural design Ramboll Finland Oy / Markku Savela, Matti Passi
HVAC-designer Ramboll Finland Oy / Tuomo Korpi
Electric Design Ramboll Finland Oy / Tuukka Perttula

Contractors:
Prime contractor: Rakennustoimisto Jussi Korpi Oy
Concrete elements: Oy Tara-Element Ab
Special relief molds: Finn-Form Oy
Excavation and gr. works: Kuljetus Tuomet Oy
Heating and plumbing: Isonkyrön LVIS oy Sähkötyö Haapala Oy
Ventilation and AC: Ilmaset Ky LS-Sähkötekniikka Oy
Building automation: Schneider Electric Oy

Photographer: kuvio.com

Kyrö Distillery Barrel Storage in Kalpatie, Isokyrö images / information received 280319

Location: Kalpatie, Isokyrö, Finland, north eastern Europe

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