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Virginia Tech

Among Earth and Sky: A Winery

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This project began as a desire for large open rooms, unrestricted by programmatic requirements; a realm where architecture, its meaning, and its purpose could be explored unhindered. I chose a winery and located it among the rolling hills north of Charlottesville, Virginia. Inspired by the beauty of vineyards, this winery facilitates the natural process begun in the growing of a grape. Sunk into the hillside, the earth provides the stable temperature and humidity necessary for wine maturation. Accounting for the technical aspects of winemaking, this project likewise addresses the aesthetic, creating not only a functioning winery, nor simply a beautiful building, but a marriage between the two. The winery consists of a series of rooms that house a singular process of winemaking. Architecturally, the rooms are likewise individual in character: centrally planned spaces described by sacred geometry. These rooms are linked by a series of axial relationships. The descent and subsequent ascent lie on axis, rotated 90° from each other. The entrance and exit halls lie on a separate axis, shifted 45° from the former, marking the transition between the exterior natural world and the submerged built world. Visitors follow a more circuitous path. Weaving in and out, the foot's path intersects the main axes at crucial moments, but is otherwise diverted. The vertical axis also heightens spatial divisions and interrelations. Submerged in the earth the rooms each open to the sky, marking their depth within the dark, quiet earth while reconnecting them to the realm of the vineyards.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Architecture
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Architecture
Department dc:contributor.department
Architecture
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Gaines, Ian Matthew
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Gartner, Howard Scott
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Bryon, Hilary
  • Dugas, David

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:1624
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/25220

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Gaines, Ian Matthew. Among Earth and Sky: A Winery. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/25220