Alchemical reaction.

The design of a winery, in the picturesque setting of the south Styrian hills, exploits the tension between satisfying the functional requirements of modern commerce and those ancient ones necessary to the craft of making fine wines.

The winery, designed by Manfred Zernig and his team, is in Leutschach - the heart of vineyards in south Styria - and situated on the highest point of a chain of hills. As well as the wine cellars, the winery consists of a visitors' centre which, made out of an existing bottling plant, contains a wine bar and wine-tasting and sales facilities. The client asked for an interior that would be in harmony with the quality of the wine and modern wine production.

Faced with this brief and a warehouse-like space, Zernig has made a clear, airy interior with divisions signified by screens, different colours and lighting. The atmosphere is one of modernity, induced by use of materials such as glass and aluminium and by the severe theatricality with which the various elements are set out. The entrance is a glass cube that breaches the masonry walls of the building and leads to the sales areas on one side - a red wall signalling red wine, and pale yellow, white - and to the bar and wine-tasting area on the other. Composed of pear wood and aluminium, the bar itself divides up the space and is surmounted by a kind of canopy of perforated aluminium.

In spite of some restrained playfulness of this kind, of skewed angles here and there, the spirit is clear and functional. No doubt conscious of the arcane nature of wine-making and of its antiquity, the architects have counterpoised the dark alchemic wine cellars and made a metaphor of the juxtaposition. Set behind a clear glass door, a mirror reflects rows of ancient iron-bound casks within which take place unseen the processes that will one day produce the wine.