Spring 2014 - 3rd Year Comprehensive Studio

Located in the arts district of Asheville, NC. this Brewmaster’s Institute centers on the guided circulation of various occupants, with each path dependent upon various reveals of structure, views of the site, ramped paths, and the ever present gravity-fed brewing systems. 

Clad in glass and vertical fins the building is suspended along a series of steel columns and beams, and hovers in tension over the ground plane and the river. Within the building a series of microbreweries guide visitors down ramped paths and into a large taproom and out onto an outdoor porch, which has direct access to the breweries to foster interaction between the visitors and the brewers.

Suspended above the breweries and the bar are a series of six apartments for the brewmasters in residence, below which are four offices. Additionally, on-grade parking below the building is available for visitors, workers, and brewmasters alike. Each level of the building is dedicated to a certain occupation, and the grid of columns and beams mediates these differences as well as parcels the program into suspended boxes within the glass cladding.