A scheme drawn up by Norman Foster for the company Familia Martínez Zabala – which runs six wineries: Faustino, Campillo, Portia, Marqués de Vitoria, Valcarlos, Condesa de Leganza – has been unveiled. He previously carried out a design for Bodegas Portia in Gumiel de Izán (Burgos), which opened in 2010. This time the project is for Bodegas Faustino in Oyón (Álava), and involves working on existing structures, raising a visitor center, and creating a new main accessway from which a promenade gives views of the vineyards.

The new visitor center is the main part of the project titled ‘The Bodegas Faustino Legacy.’ A light timber structure – using wood from local forests – and a palette of earthy colors help the complex blend into the landscape. The vaulted interior, column-free, is a large flexible space with natural light streaming in through a central clerestory and glass facades. The visitor center consumes only 20% of the energy it generates through photovoltaic technologies, and the rest is used by other facilities of the wine-growing premises. The objective is to make Bodegas Faustino 100% self-sustaining, energy-wise, producing almost six times the energy consumed by the building.