de leon and primmer's new agrarian wild turkey bourbon visitor center

de leon and primmer’s new agrarian wild turkey bourbon visitor center
all images courtesy of de leon and primmer architecture workshop

the wild turkery distillery, one of the original seven distilleries of the kentucky bourbon trail, boasts a new face as it is being transformed by its new owners at gruppo campari. kentucky-based firm de leon and primmer architecture workshop was called upon to design a new structure that would not only support the complex but would also stand as the forefront to a re-branding effort offering interactive exhibits, a gift shop, event space, a tasting room, and ancillary support spaces in 9,140 ft2. 

straying from its obvious agrarian roots, the new building exhibits a contemporary take on traditional materials and form. the pitched-roof barn-like building sits appropriately in the bucolic landscape overlooking the kentucky river, but the notion of traditional ends there.  the heavy timber-framed structure boasts a large open space lined with exposed scissor roof trusses and large expansive walls of glass. smaller black wooden slats wrap the exterior in sections of opposing diagonal patterns that create a subtly textured surface reflecting light from different angles and thus rendering various tones.  in the interior, the same dark slats line the naturally-treated primary structural members supporting a ramped central walkway serving as the central hallway to the spaces that ends in the tasting room overlooking the river. the entire bottom half of the buildings east facade is rendered in glass panels allowing visitors to appreciate the landscape from where the drink’s components are gathered.

approach and entry

glass facade supported by angle iron supports

front elevation

detail of wood slat facade design- the pitched area forms a delicate latticework that glows at night

wooden awning signifies the entrance with shade and breaks down a large structure to human scale

entry area and central hallway to the tasting room

interactive exhibit below the tasting room loft

 
exposed timber structure recalls the traditional construction of local agrarian buildings

gift shop

tasting room

view from the tasting room

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project info:

architecture: de leon & primmer architecture workshop
architects: roberto de leon, jr. (principal-in-charge); m. ross primmer (project architect); lindsay stoughton (project manager); david mayo (project team)
owner/developer: gruppo campari (usa-campari america)
engineer – structural: stanley d. lindsey & associates, ltd
engineer – mechanical & electrical: kerr greulich engineers inc.
specifications: conspectus inc.
general contractor: lichtefeld incorporated