Core 3, Professor Rami el Samahy, MIT

Studio Coordinator Sheila Kennedy

The Valle de Guadalupe is in a state of crisis—an environmental and sociological nightmare driven by a rampant capitalistic system. Once bucolic, land is being bought up by high-dollar outside developers, where even those conscious of their environmental impact have not successfully integrated into the surrounding communities. This proposal suggests that the integration of an open research institution within and among winery programs might provide both resource and agency to the Valle.
The architecture is conceptually developed without walls, using a system of thick columns to organize program in a permeable plan that does not clearly differentiate between public and private spaces, between the accessible and the inaccessible. The residential portion of the winery, intended to house local researchers and winemakers using the winery facilities, is organized around shared facilities and conference spaces, encouraging an immersive live-work community inclusive of students and families, PhDs and harvesters, entrepreneurs and environmentalists alike. The dream of the proposal is that when our current knowledge of environmental strategies fails to save the Valle, the community will—through shared research and collective resilience provided by the commonage.