“Pictograma” Winery

A project that involves an oenologist is a good sign. The discussion with Lucas Dacosta, a young oenologist eager to experiment, led to the unconventional look of the Pictograma Winery. “Lucas wanted a circular shape, so if you are in the central courtyard, you can watch people coming in and out of each room and get clarity on the production process”, Michel Rojkind, founder and director of Rojkind Arquitectos, effuses.

The winery is part of the 6.5-ha BanyanTree Hotel complex nestled in the Valle de Guadalupe in a region of Ensenada, Baja California – a region that is known as Mexico’s Napa Valley, producing about 70% of the country’s wine. Located on the edge of the complex, the client wanted to place the winery, which is operated under a different management from the hotel group, at a distance from the rest of the complex. All the buildings – the villas, the hotel lobby and spas – were designed by the same team.

As it turns out, the winery’s circular shape is not the only thing that is unconventional here. It is also the way Rojkind runs his architectural practice. Bejeweled and tattooed, Rojkind looks more like a rock ‘n’ roller than an architect (Rojkind was in a rock band called Aleks Syntek y la Gente Normal in the early 90s). The Mexican architect established his studio in Mexico City over 20 years ago. Instead of growing it with hundreds of staff, however, he kept it small. Rojkind currently has six staff members in his studio but, he says, he now has “hundreds of associates” with whom he collaborates on various projects. Rojkind encourages anyone who comes to work for the practice to leave after a few years and set up their own studios: “I would like to help them when they are just starting out, as there are very few opportunities around”, he says.

For this project, Rojkind collaborated with Agustín Pereyra (who worked for Rojkind...

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