Bottles’ Congress

In the outskirts of the city of Braga, in northern Portugal, next to Minho’s University, the client required a system to display over a thousand different wine and spirits bottles, designed in a modular fashion and capable of being adapted to different locations.

At the same time, the location the client brought to the table had interesting characteristics that asked for a specific, non-generic intervention: a beautiful natural setting by the Este river, facing the sunset, already a leisure site favored by the city and the University’s students in particular; and a store with two glass fronts that presented an unusual opportunity to play with the inside/outside relationship.

According to Tiago do Vale, “three questions presented themselves as the development vectors for the project: how does one display over a thousand different references while still treating each bottle as a special, unique product; how does one address that uniqueness with a modular solution; and how does one design a modular solution that still answers, with no compromise, the particular characteristics of a place.”

Having to exhibit over one thousand different bottles, each with its shape, size, color and label, the modularity of the design, with its rhythm and repetition, introduced a deliberate order in a potentially chaotic, noisy context: a visual systematization subtly reinforced with the illumination.

The best balance between modularity and individuality was found by designing four different types of display boxes, with each design coming as a precise consequence of the particular shapes, presentation characteristics and resting needs of each specific kind of bottle. Each module consists of four pinewood display boxes, with a storage area underneath. A palette of dark rich tones was elected throughout the store to convey a sense of luxury and coziness, contrasting with pinewood features.

The store is located on a quiet residential area, featuring two glass fronts, one facing an urban context and the other facing a soothing park, crossed by the Este river and served by open-air sporting facilities. In order to maximize the store’s transparency the bathrooms were relocated, resulting in an unobstructed space with open views from the street to the park.

Bottles’ Congress, Braga, Portugal
Program: shop
Architects: Tiago do Vale Arquitectos
Client: Pedro Araújo, Congresso das Garrafas
Constructor: Acrescentar / Sá Taqueiro
Area: 144 sqm
Completion: 2014