Off-Grid Wine Pavilion

Situated on a natural grass-covered hill—too steep for grape cultivation but offering sweeping vistas of vineyard, lake, and mountain—a boutique winery commissioned an off-grid, seasonal tasting pavilion designed to heighten the sensory experience of wine in place.

Modern glass house on a hillside with desert plants, mountains in the background, and a clear blue sky.
A modern outdoor dining area with a wooden table and four chairs on a balcony, overlooking a scenic landscape of green fields, a lake, and mountain ranges under a sky with soft evening light.

The brief called for a structure that was both minimal in scale and modular in nature, allowing for efficient assembly in a remote location devoid of conventional infrastructure. With no access to water or power, the pavilion was conceived as a fully self-sufficient environment.

Modern house on stilts over desert landscape at sunset with two people inside and birds flying in the sky.

Architecturally, the horizontal floor and roof planes frame and accentuate the land, lake, and mountain horizons while offering plenty of protection from the intense summer sun. Nestled into the ground, a rammed earth volume discreetly houses the functional core: washrooms, a prep kitchen, wine storage, water treatment systems, and off-grid power generation. This earth-sheltered 'back of house' employs passive cooling and thermal massing, grounding the experience in both environmental stewardship and architectural restraint.

Modern open-concept kitchen with large island, wine bottles, glasses, and a view of mountains and sky through large windows, with two people standing by a high counter in the background.