"Vertical Panorama Pavilion" has been designed by Studio Other Spaces, an architecture and art firm founded by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann. The conical pavilion is made from 832 glass panels in 24 different colours, for the winery The Donum Estate in the Sonoma Valley, California.


The pavilion takes inspiration from the history of circular calendars and reflects the climate of the Sonoma Valley. A conical structure built from a stainless steel structure comprised of twelve columns, that emulate the months of a year, supporting the colourful canopy, which measures 14.5 metres in diameter.
Studio Other Spaces designed the colourful hues of the glass panels remembering the weather conditions essential for the creation of Donum’s wine – solar radiance, wind intensity, temperature, and humidity.

A winding gravel path leads to an area of outdoor seating. The sun, hitting the orange, blue, pink and red-clad structure with its rays, causes the reflection of glasses plunges the brick wall with a full spectrum of colours, in stark contrast to the surrounding landscape.


Vertical Panorama Pavilion by Studio Other Spaces. Photograph by Adam Potts.


Vertical Panorama Pavilion by Studio Other Spaces. Photograph by Adam Potts.


Vertical Panorama Pavilion by Studio Other Spaces. Photograph by Adam Potts.

Project description by Studio Other Spaces.

The Vertical Panorama Pavilion enables a unique encounter between our senses and our surroundings. The design for the pavilion aims at creating a holistic experience that is based on a journey through several horizontal layers of the site, landscape and surrounding elements – resulting in a type of vertical panorama.

All design elements are abstractions of components taken from a vertical slice through the pavilion’s specific location. We begin with the experience of the crunching sound of our shoes on the gravel path, and acknowledge the fragrances from surrounding flora as well as the soil as not only the ground we walk upon but also a home for precious roots and microorganisms, take in the orchestra of sounds created by the winds, the rustling grass and chirping insects, move along the ground and follow the stream of the occasional fog and mist, and finally turn our attention towards the blue sky above and the various formations of clouds. Passing through this sequence of vertically aligned layers forms an abstract section through The Donum Estate.

The ephemeral conditions of the area set the prerequisites for making great wine. And our approach to capturing a vertical cut of all these circumstances aims at giving an overview that influences the experience in all our senses. One arrives at the property, walking up a path slightly upward sloped. The path guides the visitor in an s-curve, the destination ahead not visible except for the glass roof contrasting the ephemerals. The roof’s coloured glass tiles represent an abstract calendar that depicts yearly averages of the four meteorological parameters sight, wind intensity, temperature and humidity, while we continue our walk and the wall to one’s right slowly rises, bringing smells, sounds and new perspectives close to our senses.


Vertical Panorama Pavilion by Studio Other Spaces.

A path leading to and from the pavilion is carved into the slope. One physically enters into the realm of the soil. The path itself rests on a compacted surface topped with gravel. The wall that separates us from the hillside is made up of earthy bricks, one side glazed with a mirrored surface and stacked in a way that suggests an additional element of movement. While walking along the path and into the pavilion, the wall grows higher, to finally reach eye level. Our eyes, ears and nose are now in line with the turf, where earth and sky meet alongside rich biodiversity.

After this walk, we reach the pavilion, the gathering area underneath the oculus. Once everyone has arrived, the group is accompanied to their seats in the actual tasting space, sitting below the turf. A view over the valley unfolds, the seating arranged to lay special emphasis on the view to the south and the bay. The benches can be arranged according to group sizes, their dimensions enabling a closeness to the ground, one’s body becoming physically aware of the soil, the surrounding species and all elements necessary for creating the wine one is about to taste. Leaning back and relaxing, one’s eyes wander from the breath-taking view upwards, to the roof’s coloured elements, finally focusing on the oculus and sky beyond. The glass tiles form a complex weather calendar for visibility, wind intensity, temperature and humidity.

The pavilion offers a unique experience of the specific qualities of the site, represented in an arrangement that specifically shifts our attention to the elements surrounding us. Vertical Panorama Pavilion creates a state of mind and body that aims at enhancing the wine tasting, making the experience of the wine itself unique and not repeatable – every day at The Donum Estate is inimitable, leaving a deep impression imprinted in our memories.

More information

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Architecture
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Studio Other Spaces. Olafur Eliasson, Sebastian Behmann.
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Studio Other Spaces
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Benjamin Albrecht (project architect/manager), Stefano Arrighi (geometry), Caspar Teichgräber, Margaret Lutz, Niel Meyer, Ornruja Fame Boonyasit, Aleksandra Zajko (visualization), Matthias Gerber, Zeqi Liu, Danny Griffin, Taylor Dover.
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Collaborators
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ArtEngineering (engineering), Signum Architecture (consulting architect), Summit Engineering (consulting engineer), Cleaver Design (landscape architect).
Project Management.- Amy Mortimor, The Donum Estate.
Construction Management.- Cello & Maudru Construction.
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Client
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Donum Estate.
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Dates
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2020 - 2022
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Venue / Localitation
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Sonoma, CA, USA.
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Manufacturers
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Hahner Technik (canopy fabrication and installation).
König Glasbau (glass fabrication).
Bernd Euler, Werkstätten Weißensee, Polsterei Nowel (furniture).
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Photography
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Adam Potts.
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Studio Other Spaces, founded by artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann in Berlin in 2014, connects art and architecture through works on interdisciplinary and experimental building projects and artworks for public space.

Seeking to expand the practice of architecture, they aim at finding experiment-based methods for designing space. Their involvement begins by analyzing the situation and results in the reality of the built project. Their work reflects their approach to a holistic architecture practice.

Olafur Eliasson (Copenhagen, 1967) studied at the Royal Academy of the Arts in Copenhagen between 1989 and 1995. He represented Denmark in the 2003 Venice Biennale and has exhibited his work at numerous international museums. His work is part of private and public collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and Tate Modern in London, where his seminal work The weather project was exhibited. Eliasson lives and works in Berlin and Copenhagen.

Eliasson represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed The weather project at Tate Modern, London. Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, a survey exhibition organised by SFMOMA in 2007, travelled until 2010 to various venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

As a professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Eliasson founded the Institut für Raumexperimente (Institute of Space Experiments) in 2009, an innovative model of arts education. In 2012, he launched Little Sun, a solar-powered lamp developed together with the engineer Frederik Ottesen to improve the lives of the approximately 1.6 billion people worldwide without access to electricity. Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre, for which he created the façade in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects, was awarded the Mies van der Rohe Award 2013.

Sebastian Behmann. Architect Sebastian Behmann, born in Germany in 1969, has worked with Olafur Eliasson since 2001 and is head of the department of design at Studio Olafur Eliasson, as well as co-founder of Studio Other Spaces. Major projects with Eliasson include the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 in London, Cirkelbroen (The circle bridge) in Copenhagen (2015), and Fjordenhus in Vejle, Denmark (2009–18), in addition to numerous installations, pavilions, and international exhibitions.
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