Paul Barrow BA Architecture Year 2

With the popularity of craft beer and micro-breweries increasing in recent years it is only natural that other alcoholic beverages follow suit. A small number of whisky, vodka and gin micro-dis-tilleries has began to emerge. The focus is on small batch production distilled with extreme care, craftsmanship and enthusiasm.

The distillery is designed to increase employment opportunities for the local people of Hebden Bridge. The main building on the site houses the distillery and offices, the facilities accomo-date the processes of mashing and distilling gin.The The reception area is seperated from the rest of the building by full height walls, punctuated by the mouth of a tunnel, here the tunnel runs through the building branching off into rooms and other tunnels creating suspense for visitors and resembling the column still from the gin distill-ing process. All entrances into the tunnel from; the reception, internal rooms and external en-trances are covered with copper, making reference to the purpose of the building. These are designed to be touched, banged into and rubbed against. As the copper is soft all these ac-tions will leave marks creating unique patterns and textures to tell a story of how the building has been and is used.

The tunnel punches through the outer wall of the building leading to a bridge that opens up across the redirect beck to the island houseing the bar, showing visitors a clear direction of travel. The hand rail of the bridge is a mixture of cast iron and copper again designed to be touched and polished where hands touch it in use.

The split roof of the main building allows light to penetrate into the distilling zone and tall full height windows allow maximum light throughout the building, as well as providing views across the landscaping and beck.

TTo the west of the main building there is a gabion wall which fronts onto the road, this partially secludes the site. The gabion is loosesly filled with large rough cut pieces of local sandstone, allowing dappeled light to filter through into the still rooms, particularly in winter when the sun is low. These loose filled gabions also offer glimpses to passers by into the ongoings of the dis-tillery as they see framed view through the gabs between the stones, creating intrigue and in-terest.

The bar area uses reclaimed timber giving a industrial and used feel, the unique seating pods are constructed from used gin stills that have been tipped on their sides and cut open. These pods create a semi private space for visitors. The bar looks out down stream towards the centre of Hebden Bridge and across the redirected beck towards the landscaped gardens.

The copper spike on the fThe copper spike on the front of the bar is a feature peice that echos the pointed roof at the opposite side of the building. The spike has a glazed top angled towards the east, this is designed to avoid the direct evening sun and to pick up and enhance diffused indi-rect light bathing the bar with a soft bronze light. At the rear of the bar the roof cascades to form a peak perched over the redirected beck. This sheds water directly away from the building and into the beck, creating a water feature in the rain and eliminated the need of obtrusive down pipes and traditional drainage.

The offices of the distillery are open plan eliminating any implied heirarchy among the staff, desks are individual allowing for personalisation of work spaces. There is a mixture of chairs, bean bags and gym balls for seating to create a more casual and relaxed work-ing atmosphere. The ceiling is full height allowing views over into the still room and allow-ing as much light into all areas of the building as possible.

The doors leading to and from the rooms into the tunnel are bespoke, they are construct-ed from cedar with the bottom of reclaimed gin bottles used to create portholes. The handle is made from a long thin piece of copper and stretches from top to bottom, here the copper will be polished where people most frequently touch it to open the door. In other places it will become tarnished showing a pattern of use.