Location: Los Chacayes, Argentina

Design Team: González Olsina & Vega Arquitectos

Area: 1,700 m²

Year: 2022

Photography: Luis Abba

Design Features: La Vigilia Winery is located in Los Chacayes, within The Vines of Mendoza in Argentina's wine country. Designed by González Olsina & Vega Arquitectos, it responds to the vineyards, the valley and the act of winemaking as a contemporary temple. Volumes, material, light and shadow shape a transition from the breadth of the landscape to a quiet interior, turning the winery into more than a place of production: it becomes a spatial ritual that is experienced through the body.

The main building rises from the ground with an emphatic geometry and a restrained monumental language. Corten steel and darkened concrete settle into the landscape through mineral tones and textures. From a distance, the rust-coloured roof forms a soft horizontal relationship with the vineyards and the Andes, while the dark walls keep the building low and grounded, as if it were slowly emerging from the soil.

The arrival sequence follows a central axis, using rhythm to lead visitors from the open landscape into the building. The tectonic front façade opens at its centre to form a contemporary loggia, while two lateral bodies extend on either side and anchor the overall horizontality. Between light and shadow, the entrance feels both welcoming and inward-looking.

Inside, light is edited into linear layers between walls, ceilings and glass. Living and tasting areas use timber, dark surfaces, glazing and low-level illumination to create places to pause. In the production spaces, rows of vessels, oak barrels and continuous strips of light bring the winemaking process into a calm visual order. Technical equipment is not concealed; material and light make it part of the visitor's perception of the work.

La Vigilia Winery ultimately turns winemaking into a spatial narrative about landscape, time and the senses. From afar, the building reads as a dark horizontal line at the edge of the vineyards. As one approaches, the central axis, heavy walls and subdued interiors unfold gradually, giving both drinking and production a ritual dimension connected to land, history and nature.

Design Team: González Olsina & Vega Arquitectos is a Mendoza-based practice led by Charly González Olsina and Eduardo Vega. The studio develops projects across Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, working on housing, hospitality, restaurants, wineries and other buildings closely tied to regional landscapes.

The practice understands architecture as a conscious act of creation, one that reveals the essence of places and their inhabitants. Geometry is treated as a symbolic and elevated language, while each project balances technical precision with sensory experience. The studio collaborates with Integra CPM on comprehensive project management and delivery. Its wider team includes specialists in architectural and interior design, construction coordination, furniture, project management and site work. For La Vigilia Winery, structural design was by Patricia Gamez, lighting consultancy by Aspen Lumiere, and project management by Integra CPM.