America’s Vickers Design Group recently unveiled The Distillery of Modern Art, a warehouse turned distillery, gallery, and event space located in Chamblee, Georgia. The distillery portion is conceived as a square rotated 45 degrees, breaking the traditional grid and serving as a feature element regardless of where you are within the larger tasting bar and restaurant or event areas. Gin and vodka are distilled via a visually arresting thirty-foot column which forms the centrepiece and heart of the space and lends a sense of immersion to guests.
Inspiration for the design came from mimicking the layering and increasingly complexity that characterize the various stages of tasting spirits. This translated into careful consideration of the architectonic experience of visitors as they journey across the Distillery’s array of spaces.
The experience comprises a hybrid tasting room/restaurant and cocktail lounge, patio area, event space, and gallery space. The gallery serves dual functions: it acts as a discovery volume for showcasing the work of local, emergent artists of all ages in a stylish and approachable format, whilst also offering intimate, behind the scenes glimpses of the bottling and office areas. Although this portion is a dedicated gallery space, the entire building is also conceived as an art space, with various programmatic elements each inspired by specific artists.
The grid style theming and colour palette of the gallery is inspired by Mondrian; the chic 2800 square foot tasting room and its elegant wrap around bar and dining areas are inspired by Rothko, and the flexible and versatile event space is inspired by Kandinsky. The event space was intentionally designed to offer maximum flexibility to be able to cater to a broad range of guest requests, from intimate dinners to cocktail and canape events to large and lively receptions. It is accompanied by a patio which can accommodate up to fifty guests.
Throughout the Distillery, copper is used as both a warm and dramatic element to accent and unite various areas into one cohesive and immersive experience. Outside, a copper corrugated screen extends this motif, forming a shell over the building envelope and transforming the old warehouse into a thoroughly modern iteration which gives the illusion of an entirely new building.
