As the most public building at the Williams Selyem Winery, the look of the winery’s administration building takes on added importance. To ensure the structure projected the desired image, the building’s designer, Alex Ceppi of D.arc Group in New York, utilized iconic elements of winemaking as a generator of form and meaning. Those elements were rendered in wood and zinc from RHEINZINK.

Being the first from-the-ground-up new winery to be constructed in Sonoma County, CA in nearly a decade, the design process for the renowned Williams Selyem winery was complex and demanding. To capture the essence of Williams Selyem’s iconic status within the industry and its place in Sonoma’s cultural evolution, the design had to recognize the winery’s natural and minimalist philosophy while demonstrating Sonoma’s evolving modernization process.

While Alex Ceppi, a Venezuealan born architect, was the lead designer, the architect of record for the project was Patrick Mervin Associates of Calistoga, CA.

The administration building is capped by a cantilevering wood and a RHEINZINK barrel-vaulted roof structure. It was created using approximately 7,700 of RHEINZINK stepped panels, fabricated by MetalTech—USA in Peachtree City, GA. The panels were installed by Architectural Metal, Inc., Hopland, CA.

“The flying barrel vault panel system is beautiful,” said Ceppi. RHEINZINK was also utilized for fascia soffit and gutter trim. The sides of the building utilize local redwood and masonry-clad programmatic volumes.

The general contractor on the project was Jim Murphy & Associates, Santa Rosa.