Château Lafitte-Rothschild Wine Cellars

The required dimensions for the wine cellar of Château Lafitte-Rothschild, one of the most renowned wine properties in the Médoc, have conditioned the creation of a single space of monumental character. Looking like a crypt on the inside, it appears like a Vauban fortification wall on the exterior.

An octagon inscribed in a square that is 50 meters on each side delimit a hypostyle hall where the radial beams converge, and a structure of concrete walls on the outside.  The residual space between the octagon and the square accommodates a new entrance to the existing wine cellars, the exit to the bottling plant, an office, and a small exhibition area.

Visitors are encouraged to circulate through the gallery without interfering with the people at work below. Columns and balustrades in the gallery are prefabrication elements and their design are based on the geometry of the octagon.

The main construction problem laid in the creation of a structure which would provide a large subterranean obstacle-free space, but was nevertheless capable of supporting the considerable load represented by a two-meter thickness of cultivated soil bearing down on the roof.

The slightly sloping cellar ceiling features 14-metre beams that converge in the centre. The effect of the flat dome is carried to the center, where a single opening allows the filtering of a single column of light. The exterior façade of the wine cellar is made of concrete, with a few horizontals marked in nature stone.

In keeping with the existing façade, the bottling plant building has been treated as an open colonnade over the working and shipping areas. The treatment of exterior spaces consisted essentially in the creation of large plane surfaces which comfortably facilitate the grape picker’s work.

The wine crypt is connected to the rest of the château’s cellars by means of a tunnel. Vines grow above the roof of the cellars, thus the impact on the surrounding countryside is minimal. The grapevines are interrupted by a street of access, designed as a cut in the landscape.

The construction is entirely of architectural concrete, poured in situ. Pre-cast concrete technology was taken to a new level of material perfection for this exquisite space.