Stone, earth and wood for a winery. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec
22/05/2024.
[Margaux] France
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
Château Cantenac Brown has just inaugurated its new winery built in earth (rammed earth) and wood designed by the architect Philippe Madec, in the commune of Margaux-Cantenac, north of Bordeaux, in the Médoc, located in the Aquitaine region, Gironde department, France.
The project is built at Château Cantenac Brown, a wine estate, which according to the appellation that emerged in France in 1855 to select the best Bordeaux wines for the universal exhibition of that year, the AOC Margaux was classified as the third "Grand Crus Classés". The emblem of Cantenac Brown is its spectacular Tudor-style castle, which makes it one of the most notable properties among the large classified estates.
The project is built at Château Cantenac Brown, a wine estate, which according to the appellation that emerged in France in 1855 to select the best Bordeaux wines for the universal exhibition of that year, the AOC Margaux was classified as the third "Grand Crus Classés". The emblem of Cantenac Brown is its spectacular Tudor-style castle, which makes it one of the most notable properties among the large classified estates.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
Site plan before and after. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
Ground floor plan. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
Longitudinal section. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
Cross section. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
General axonometry. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
Structural axonometry. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
Sketch. New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec.
A few months ago, Philippe Madec (apm) & associés renovated an old hotel complex to re-convert it into a wine building that includes the new cellars and vat room of the SCEA Château Cantenac Brown estate.
The project seeks integration with the environment and the location, which is why the architects avoided building a singular object, to avoid confrontation with the emblematic Tudor-style residence of the estate.
The project is installed in the layout and volumes of the southern part of the estate that it completes, creating a complex with gabled roofs whose ridge height and dimensions do not exceed those of the château.
The materials from the area are used: earth, limestone and wood painted dark red, obtained using an iron oxide also used in the red stripes of the rammed earth walls. To establish a balanced dialogue between the old and new parts, the main façade on the corner of the winery is a long, high-rammed earth wall with a high plinth made of thick limestone blocks that protect it from capillary dampness, helped by a large eave with a Le Havre gutter made of recycled copper.
The project seeks integration with the environment and the location, which is why the architects avoided building a singular object, to avoid confrontation with the emblematic Tudor-style residence of the estate.
The project is installed in the layout and volumes of the southern part of the estate that it completes, creating a complex with gabled roofs whose ridge height and dimensions do not exceed those of the château.
The materials from the area are used: earth, limestone and wood painted dark red, obtained using an iron oxide also used in the red stripes of the rammed earth walls. To establish a balanced dialogue between the old and new parts, the main façade on the corner of the winery is a long, high-rammed earth wall with a high plinth made of thick limestone blocks that protect it from capillary dampness, helped by a large eave with a Le Havre gutter made of recycled copper.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
Project description by Philippe Madec (apm) & associés
A Scottish castle in Margaux
Cantenac Brown, an 1855 classified grand cru, is located in Margaux, France, near Bordeaux. The emblem of this winery is its spectacular Tudor-style château built by a Scotsman, John Lewis Brown, 200 years ago and unique in this region. Upon his family's acquisition of Château Cantenac Brown in 2019, Tristan Le Lous became the custodian of this heritage, vowing to safeguard the property's high standards and quality. In 2020, the architect Philippe Madec, a leading architect and pioneer in eco-construction, was chosen to design a cellar built from raw earth and untreated solid wood, pushing the boundaries on current environmentally responsible practices.
Architectural Position
The project aimed for an energy-efficient renovation: working with what was already there, without disturbing the site or competing with the Tudor château. The restructuring completes the volumes of the southern part of the domain, comprised of a hotel built by Axa in the 1990s and former dependencies dating from earlier times.
A wine harvest hall houses the work and welcomes visitors under a massive moulded wooden frame, painted red (flour paint). A vaulted port-cochere opens onto the vat-hall, a vast two-level space dedicated to an entirely gravity flow vinification process. Natural light is present across the entire depth of the space thanks to a careful design of folds and edges of the roof, accessible by running along the rammed earth wall, and the shaded place where the wine is slowly aged in wooden barrels. The high vault made of solid moulded wood rests on steel compasses.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
The architectural project is a model of eco-responsible construction. The walls of the cellar, built entirely of one-metre thick raw earth, provide optimal thermal inertia. Earth is also the only construction material that naturally regulates ambient humidity. The power of the earth thus offers the perfect atmosphere, in terms of temperature and humidity levels, for the stability and ageing of the wines in barrels without requiring energy consumption.
This project for a bioclimatic and energy-efficient cellar also participates in the development of the biosourced and geo-sourced materials sectors: solid wood, stone, and raw earth.
New Château Cantenac Brown by Philippe Madec. Photograph by Luc Boegly.
Social eco-responsibility
This project fully answers all the commitments to greater environmental responsibility based on three pillars: the economy, the environment, and society. Cantenac Brown has bestowed itself the largest harvest hall ever built in the Bordeaux region. This covered area, at the heart of the new construction, is strategically placed between the vat room and cellar and protects the grape pickers from the ever-hotter summer temperatures. The vat house, the space for everyday work, is bathed in natural light and broadly open onto the park of the domain. Peripheral insulation, of exceptionally high quality, offers stable comfort to daily users in both winter and summer without heating or air-conditioning. Finally, the vat house and the room are positioned on the ground floor following a compact plan, simplifying as much as possible the workflow and the path followed by the grapes.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Ingénieurs.- Ingerop Bordeaux / CE Ingénierie / Le Sommer Environnement / AMACO.
Developer
SCEA Château Cantenac Brown
Area
Restructuring area.- 5,236 m².
Castle + winery.- 9,191 m².
Castle + winery.- 9,191 m².
Dates
Completion.- 2023.
Location
Cantenac, 33460, France.
Budget
Cost of the work.- 19.3 million euros without VAT.
Photography
Philippe Madec
Philippe Madec (apm) & associés. French architecture studio established by Philippe Madec.
Philippe Madec. Born in Brittany (France) in 1954, a pioneer of sustainable development in urban planning and architecture, Philippe Madec lives between Paris and Brussels. Trained in architecture at the Grand-Palais of Paris (Ciriani/Maroti workshop) from 1972 to 1979, he created his studio in Paris in 1989. Meanwhile, he did not practice professionally, he traveled and lived abroad, he carried out research on architectural pedagogy. and theory and wrote his first book on Etienne Louis Boullée. Since then he has developed three activities: writing, teaching and the professional practice of his professions as an architect and urban planner. The Rennes workshop was created in 2005.
Starting from a family heritage, through personal commitment and thanks to the meeting with Kenneth Frampton in 83/84, Philippe Madec has developed an eco-responsible approach to architectural and urban projects since the beginning of his professional practice. As an architect, he designs all types of buildings, from social housing to cultural facilities. As an urban planner he works at very different scales, from villages to ecological cities (Morocco).
In parallel with his professional practice that has earned him numerous distinctions, in particular the Global Prize for Sustainable Architecture 2012, he participates in the general architecture and urban planning policy in France: expert at the Grenelle de l'Environnement, member of the National Council of Cities . and Territories of Art and History, scientific council of the PUCA, member of Europan France, member of the national jury EcoQuartiers / EcoCités, etc.
- Architecture professor since 1996;
- Full member of the Academy of Architecture since 2007;
- Knight of the Legion of Honor of ecology since 2008;
- President of the Office of the Corps of Architects of the State Council in 2012;
- Full Member of the Europe Chapter of the “Club of Rome” since 2010.
In 2015 he became a UN expert for the preparation of the Habitat III summit in Quito in October 2016.
In 2018, he co-authored the manifesto For a happy and creative frugality in the planning of urban and rural territories.
Writer, he has published numerous books, articles and films on art, architecture, landscape, urbanism, architectural theory and pedagogy.
A long-time nomadic professor (Columbia University, ENSPaysage de Versailles, University of Montreal, Harvard University, Paris-Tolbiac, Grenoble, Rouen, Lyon, Technical University of Vienne), he has been a professor at ENSA Rennes since 2010, where he teaches "The invention of the Sustainable Territory."
Research director, he was and is engaged in research on architectural drawing in the School of Ponts et Chaussées in the 18th century, on the theory/pedagogy relationship in architecture, on environmental quality, on the architecture of indefinition, natural ventilation , etc. …
Philippe Madec. Born in Brittany (France) in 1954, a pioneer of sustainable development in urban planning and architecture, Philippe Madec lives between Paris and Brussels. Trained in architecture at the Grand-Palais of Paris (Ciriani/Maroti workshop) from 1972 to 1979, he created his studio in Paris in 1989. Meanwhile, he did not practice professionally, he traveled and lived abroad, he carried out research on architectural pedagogy. and theory and wrote his first book on Etienne Louis Boullée. Since then he has developed three activities: writing, teaching and the professional practice of his professions as an architect and urban planner. The Rennes workshop was created in 2005.
Starting from a family heritage, through personal commitment and thanks to the meeting with Kenneth Frampton in 83/84, Philippe Madec has developed an eco-responsible approach to architectural and urban projects since the beginning of his professional practice. As an architect, he designs all types of buildings, from social housing to cultural facilities. As an urban planner he works at very different scales, from villages to ecological cities (Morocco).
In parallel with his professional practice that has earned him numerous distinctions, in particular the Global Prize for Sustainable Architecture 2012, he participates in the general architecture and urban planning policy in France: expert at the Grenelle de l'Environnement, member of the National Council of Cities . and Territories of Art and History, scientific council of the PUCA, member of Europan France, member of the national jury EcoQuartiers / EcoCités, etc.
- Architecture professor since 1996;
- Full member of the Academy of Architecture since 2007;
- Knight of the Legion of Honor of ecology since 2008;
- President of the Office of the Corps of Architects of the State Council in 2012;
- Full Member of the Europe Chapter of the “Club of Rome” since 2010.
In 2015 he became a UN expert for the preparation of the Habitat III summit in Quito in October 2016.
In 2018, he co-authored the manifesto For a happy and creative frugality in the planning of urban and rural territories.
Writer, he has published numerous books, articles and films on art, architecture, landscape, urbanism, architectural theory and pedagogy.
A long-time nomadic professor (Columbia University, ENSPaysage de Versailles, University of Montreal, Harvard University, Paris-Tolbiac, Grenoble, Rouen, Lyon, Technical University of Vienne), he has been a professor at ENSA Rennes since 2010, where he teaches "The invention of the Sustainable Territory."
Research director, he was and is engaged in research on architectural drawing in the School of Ponts et Chaussées in the 18th century, on the theory/pedagogy relationship in architecture, on environmental quality, on the architecture of indefinition, natural ventilation , etc. …
