Adega de Cristal is the architectural jewel atop Portugal’s Monte d’Oiro, accentuating the dynamic perspective of the celebrated vineyards below. The pavilion is an inverted excavation that seamlessly tucks into the natural beauty of the landscape. Adega de Cristal is positioned to reflect and highlight its geographic disposition. The design is orchestrated from triangulating visual axes-of-approach, while pairing the inherent geometry with an additional reflective urban layer of trapezoidal forms from the local village.
 
The baroque nature of Portuguese architecture is found in the pixilation of azulejos interwoven with native stone. The result is a contemporary rendition of Portugal’s classic ceramic ornament. The structure’s facade is also locally sourced to ensure visitors have a distinct sense of place to accompany the larger panorama of visual drama.
The triangular volume of Adega de Cristal is a visual echo of the vineyards.
Elevated on two steps, the pavilion’s balanced entrance is an invitingly sleek stone sculpture where an asymmetry reveals the endpoint of a monolithic table that wraps into itself, as if tied down from flying away over the fields.
 
The pavilion is trisected into three moments, an Axis Mundi trinity. The door is the first element, a solid mass portal that hails passage to the second element: The cork wood tasting room.
Natural light floods the interior - except for one area of perpetual shadow used to display the premier vintages of Quinta do Monte d’Oiro.
The procession of space expands in parallel to the evolving scale of a grand table and into the pavilion’s final realm, a glass veranda coupled with a cantilevered terrace designed to singularly accommodate guest protocols. The veranda is transformational, a tasting patio that can remain closed or fully opened to decant the scenery that surrounds Adega de Cristal.
The shape of the room, the grand table, and the view tableau are in harmony, framing the senses for the wine tasting to follow.