PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
The Witness Hills illustrate the original height of the previously eroded and weathered area. These hills do not form a chain, but are solitary islands that stand alone preserving a specific stratification that arose from the former Pannon sea.
Millions of years ago at the deepest part of the Pannon Sea that covered the Balaton Highland and the entire territory of the country, violent volcanic activity took place. The famous hills of the Balaton Highland: Badacsony, Szent György-Hill, Csobánc, Gulács, the Tóti Hill, Haláp, as well as a little further north from these, arising from the plain, the Somló-Hill, the Kis-Somló and the Ság-Hill were all the result of these volcanic activities that interrupted the limestone sediments As the burning lava erupted to the surface through the cracks resulting from crustal movements, it soon solidified, covering and protecting like an armour the sandy-clay island hills hiding beneath. These heights have resisted both wind and ice due to this basaltic armour, and stand witness even today to the height of the “original” land surface.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Badacsony is the highest southern Witness Hill in the Tapolca-basin, rising between two bays of Lake Balaton. The circumference of the nearly round hill is 11 km and the diameter of its plateau region that is slightly elongated in a north-south direction is 1-1.5 km. The highest peak stands at 437.4 m above sea level.
Up to a height of 280 meters the side is covered by varying loose sediments, mainly the remaining layers of volcanic debris, eroded from the slopes of the foothills. Above this grey basalt, cliffs and stone screes emerge from the thick covering of the forest.
The steep regions between the base of the hills and upper regions have often been transformed into terraces, as the loamy basalt debris is not only excellent for growing vines but also provides the body and rich mineral aromas of the wines with their beautiful acid background characteristic of this landscape.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
The other important natural characteristic of the area is the sub-Mediterranean micro climate. On the southern, south-western sunny slopes that are topographically protected from the north, the favourable effect of Lake Balaton can also be felt: the large water surface of the lake prevents the development of extreme temperatures, as well as ensuring higher humidity content in the air. Thus as a result of the even temperature free of extremes the summers are not too hot and the winters lack harshness: as a result, the vineyards do not suffer from frost damage and due to the plentiful and partially reflected sunshine, the high acid content of the wines is accompanied by high sugar and/or alcohol content.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
White grapes are mainly being grown in the Badacsony wine growing region, mostly the Olaszrizling, Szürkebarát and Kéknyelu grapes– with these varieties producing the most beautiful of wines.
The wine of the grey monks from a grape variety of French origin, the Pinot Gris, has been raised to a local speciality for over 600 years. The berries of the Szürkebarát are purple when ripe with the wine being light golden in colour. Its taste, if made dry, is spicy and medicinally herby. In special years the berries shrivel and can become virtually raisins on the vine, resulting in a deep and complex almost sherry type wine.
The Kéknyelu variety is virtually exclusive to this wine growing region in Hungary. It is rarely planted on its own as it carries female flowers and is a poor pollinator, thus vines are mixed with the Budai zöld variety. At harvest it is not picked separately and is processed together being sold under the Kéknyelu name. The wine has a light green colour and a restrained but characteristic aroma; its acid balance is best enjoyedfollowing a long maturation.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Between the vineyards and the retaining walls built from basalt rocks cellars and press houses have been built for centuries providing a home for both wine making and relaxation. Enclosed rooms were built in front of and also above these small subterranean maturation spaces, operating on the one hand as an entrance for the cellars with their unchanging temperature, and on the other the processing of the grapes took place here. The small scale, simple shaped and structured (press) house archetypes provided a specific character to the vine covered hills with their “illuminated” facades.
The descriptions in the Introduction were prepared by using materials from the following institutes: Balaton Highland National Park, Independent Ecological Centre, Hévíz-Info, Zrinyi Miklós Secondary School – Zalaegerszeg, Hungarian Wine Guide.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
The wines of the Laposa-Cellar following the millennium became well known amongst Hungarian wine drinkers under the brand name “Bazaltbor” or Basalt wine. Their growing regions are only on the basalt hills – in Badacsony, Somló, on Szentgyörgy-hill and Csobánc – which is the reason for the characteristic mineral aromas of the wines that mirror their terroir. The cellar today harvest from over 20 hectares local and international varieties, amongst others Szürkebarát, Juhfark, Olasz- and Rajnai Riesling or Kéknyelu. The market entry and dynamic growth of the cellar has also resulted in the expansion of the technological and tourism areas. During the development, besides increasing the scale, the aim on both an architectural and viticultural level was to modernise and maintain the making and presentation of the basalt wine.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Being bound to the earth as a result of the programme should be taken literally: building shall take place downwards along the gravitational principle, so that the grapes are exposed only to the most necessary procedures. This way only a quarter of the total area of the vinery is above ground, the rest is contained in the belly of the hill.
On this basis we cannot work with architectural tools, forms, structures and clear archi(tectonic) matches in a traditional sense, but at the same time we cannot reject them entirely either. The viticultural building has to be like a model, but the hierarchic organisational structure is not an exclusive factor for this.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Inside of the model, the structural order and the sequence of the spaces follow the wine making process in both a vertical and horizontal sense. The processing building consists of a technological wing of more industrial nature and an integrally linked brick covered cellar wing with ripening / storage functions. The two parts at the same time are separated by the floor plan and really form the two wings of a building. The line of cellars is covered by a layer of soil which is over five metres thick, with only the entrance rising above ground level. Only one of the three levels of the technological wing is above ground, the remaining two are underground with access being provided to the cellar wing at the lowest level.
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Photo © Courtesy of Zsolt Batar |
Description from the architects:
site plan--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
level -2 floor plan--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
level -1 floor plan--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
level 0 floor plan--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
section A-A--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
section B-B--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
section D-D--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
section F-F--drawing © Courtesy of PLANT – Atelier Peter Kis |
Project Data
Project name: Bazaltbor Winery
Location: Badacsonytomaj, Hungary
Program: Laposa cellar and processing building
Area: Plot area: 6,956 m2
Project name: Bazaltbor Winery
Location: Badacsonytomaj, Hungary
Program: Laposa cellar and processing building
Area: Plot area: 6,956 m2
Net basic area: 195.86 m2
Total square meter: 419.66 m2
Year: Planning: 2008
Year: Planning: 2008
Construction start: January 2009
Completion: April 2010
Plot percentage: 1,69 % / 2,82%
Plot percentage: 1,69 % / 2,82%
Total number of parking places: 12 db
Key material: Artificial stone
The people
Architects: PLANT – Atelier Peter KisTeam: Principal designers: Péter Kis, Bea Molnár • Design team: Zoltán Bun, Róbert Erdélyi
Client: Bazaltbor-Badacsony Kft.
Photographs: © Zsolt Batar Main contractor: Bazaltbor Badacsony Kft.
Operator: Spányi és Jakab Mérnökiroda Kft.
Constructor: MarketÉpíto Zrt.
Strucure: MtM Mérnökiroda (Péter Markovits)
Garden design: Zsuzsa Bogner
Static: mTm Mérnökiroda (Péter Markovits)
Mechanist: Art-tax Szolgáltató Szövetkezet (András Oltvai, Zsolt Lengyel)
Electronics engineer: Hochplan Kft. (Dezso Sax, Karola Kárpáti)
Public services: László Kádár
Lift: Schindler Kft. (Gábor Balogh)
Transport: Balázs Kiss
Fire protection: György BáderPhotos: Santiago Garcés
Note>>Location in this map, It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
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