Barnyard Bouquet – on Stables and Wineries, with Victor Deupi

Barnyard bouquet is an oft-ridiculed term for the aroma of a wine, particularly that of a mature one that resembles the peculiar smell of an animal barn. Yet the association of winemaking facilities and barn buildings is not so frivolous, as these two building types, along with the domestic house, were the key ingredients to making civilized societies. Please join our discussion of “Barnyard Bouquet” with Victor Deupi to see recently built horse stables and wineries from around the world and understand how classical examples fit within the larger panorama of contemporary architecture.

Horse stables, barns, and other equestrian buildings were necessary for people who depended on their usage for work, transport, entertainment, and display. Architecture and wine have been synonymous since the very earliest societies serendipitously discovered that the fermentation of grapes was in fact a gift of the gods.  These buildings preceded sacred temples, and it is difficult to imagine a world without them. Indeed, there are very few building types today that are so universally cherished and loved like horse stables and wineries, rural buildings that sit beautifully in their own distinctive landscapes and reflect the spirit of the people who made them, of the precious animals and elixirs that inhabit them, and of the owners who proudly maintain them. But isn’t that always the case with architecture that emerges from the soil around it, when necessity dictates the need for invention, and beauty is the result of the most unpredictable and satisfying circumstances.
Within this presentation participants will be able to understand the concept of terroir, the environmental factors of a particular place, its soil, climate, and sunlight, and its relevance to barns and winemaking facilities. We will also learn the importance of the vernacular in modern stables and wineries, and have insights into the unique lifestyles of those who live with horses and winemaking.
Victor Deupi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture.
His research focuses on the Early Modern Spanish and Ibero-American world, mid-20th-century Cuba, and contemporary architecture. His books include Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome, 1700-1759 (2015), Transformations in Classical Architecture: New Directions in Research and Practice (2018), Cuban Modernism: Mid-Century Architecture 1940-1970 (2020), Emilio Sanchez in New York and Latin America (2020). He is currently the President of the DOCOMOMO US Florida Chapter.

Free for ICAA members
$20 for Non-Members