Now entering the final design stages, this extra-virgin olive oil production facility reflects the clients’ ambition to approach the growing market in the region by focusing on quality rather than quantity.
The new olive oil mill is a rhythm and proportion driven building, whose form is intimately bound to the materials that blend with the surrounding context – a recurring theme in our practice. At the same time, every element of the building relates to the human scale.
The mill is carved out from the steep hillside in a simple, linear gesture. It is approached by walking through an olive grove, and at a distance, the structure does not reveal itself as a whole. Only as one enters the full volume of the building is unraveled.
Production and storage facilities are situated below ground to facilitate temperature, humidity and lighting control, all crucial parameters for the quality of the final product.
The interior of the building is organized as a sequence of stepped, descending levels, to adapt to the inclination of the ground and to reflect the functional division. The water garden faces the mountain slope and the rocky landscape in the background.
The main structural walls of the mill are monolithic blocks of post-tensioned stone: an attempt to arrive to a time-tested appearance through using advanced technology. The desired result is a serene, timeless, geological simplicity, an impression that the building has grown from the ground, that it has always been there.