World of Wine Loisium

Steven Holl
LOISIUM World of Wine

The LOISIUM project on the periphery of Langenlois, an Austrian village famous for its wine, is a unique marriage of contemporary architecture, ancient vaulted cellars, and a long tradition of viniculture. The complex consists of an entrance structure leading down to a subterranean world of cellars, as well as a hotel and wine-art garden. Both the U-shaped hotel and the slightly tilted aluminum cube of the entrance building were designed by New York star architect Steven Holl, who was inspired by the geometry of the existing wine cellars. The overall concept was developed by the Swiss designer team Steiner Sarnen Schweiz.

Absorbing interviews and essays on the region and the global phenomenon of star architects appear alongside analyses of the developers who commission their work, and help place the various parts of the project in a larger context.