Architect Shigeru Ban is Designing Three Glass Pyramids in the US

The majority of the global production of bourbon, a type of American whisky made from corn and aged in an oak barrel, takes place in the state of Kentucky, its region of origin (and of which the county of Bourbon is part). Like the wine route in Alsace and the sake route in Japan, Kentucky has its own bourbon trail, a route on which you can visit distilleries, sample the drink, and learn more about the distillation process.

To attract a new clientele and stand out from the competition, Stoli Group (the owners of the brand Kentucky Owl Bourbon) commissioned Shigeru Ban to create the plans for a unique space in which every element would be linked to bourbon and its history. But there was one constraint: the space, spread over an area of 170 hectares, had to be a centre of industry (with a distillery and a factory for bottling) and a major tourist centre.

Buildings with a wood-frame structure

Shigeru Ban is renowned for his eclectic projects: known worldwide for his involvement in ‘social’ projects in response to emergencies triggered by crisis situations (such as his use of cardboard tubes to reinforce homes in refugee camps in Rwanda, and the reconstruction of Onagawa Station in Japan, destroyed in the 2011 tsunami), he also designed the Centre Pompidou in Metz and the headquarters for the social branch of the private media group Tamedia in Switzerland.

The three pyramids the architect proposed to Stoli Group will be accompanied by new warehouses, where the whisky will be aged, and will draw inspiration, in terms of their exterior and also interior details, from traditional, 19th-century industrial buildings. Steel, the preferred material back then, will be replaced by wood (for environmental and aesthetic reasons, making the space blend in better with the landscape). And although the three pyramids look similar, each one will have its own unique point: the first will be fully glazed, the second will be half glazed and half cladded with opaque elements, and the last will be mainly covered with opaque elements, with few glazed elements.

These pyramids are Shigeru Ban’s second major timber-based project in North America.

More information on the Kentucky Owl Park can be found on the website for Kentucky Owl Bourbon.