The Extension of Sauska Winery, Villány

Architetcs: Péter Sugár DLA
Text: Marianna Berényi
Photos: Tibor Zsitva

The last year is undoubtedly a memorable one for Sauska Winery. Their wine of 2009 named Cuvée 5 has been the first Hungarian one rated as the best at London’s Decanter World Wine Awards, whilst at home their winery in Villány took on its ultimate architecture. Built to designs by Péter Sugár and extended by an entirely new unit later on, the complex may be interpreted as a small town perambulable, both horizontally and vertically.
When Péter Sugár in 2006 was invited by the Sauska to design a representative winery for their farmland in Villány the deadline was extremely short. What Sugár had in mind initially was the concept of a building „growing from the ground”, but this design concept had to be discarded because of the pressing deadline of tendering. Eventually, a total of three buildings characteristically distant with their different functions were built on the site which was a narrow one then, following a basically linear arrangement united by a common yard. The second stage was not intended to change the capacity of the existing building, and targeted to primarily extend the area used for the procession of grapes. The new multi-functional wing is an addition to the end of the existing building facing Villány, as a powerful follow-up. An open-closed hall replaced the temporary tents, which appears a closed structure at night. The simple yet spectacular silhouettes of the building at the back only outline after it gets dark, as a result of inner lighting. The interior of the building has its own surprises: the roofing of the two units also separated functionally are shifted from each other like a playful origami allowing for ceiling lighting. The double cooled store is suited to both fermentation in wooden barrels and storing finished products. The most beautiful part of this space is the stairs with crystallized forms which is also the best example of the sophisticated materials used throughout the complex. Housed in the gallery, the staff canteen and the kitchen also have more than just one function and thus double as a high-standard area suited to receive guests after grape-picking.

Leading architect: Péter Sugár – Radius B+S Kft.
Fellow architects: Péter Müllner, Bence Vági
Structure: András Nagy – Bend-Stat Kft.
Technical installations: András Oltvai, Tamás Oltvai – Oltvai Gépész Studió Kft
Electrical engineering: Ifj. Gyula Sas – Akvila-S Kft.
Fire protection: Zsolt Lipinka – Teramin Bt
Interior of tasting hall: Tibor Somlai
Sculpture: Boldizsár Boldi Szmrecsányi
Main contractor: Merkbau Kft.
Project management: Ildikó Puskely