The Wondrous Brewing Company’s new headquarters in Emeryville, San Francisco Bay Area, is a minimalist brewery that celebrates craft beer. Completed by multidisciplinary firm Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design, the project is a contemporary mix of large stainless steel brewing tanks, refrigeration areas and grain grinding zones. Originally an empty industrial warehouse, ‘the change in use to a brewery required a seismic upgrade of the building and all new concrete floor slab to support the weight of the extraordinarily heavy tanks’ explains the American architecture practice’s principal Farid Tamjidi.
The project came about after an investor had introduced Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design to master brewer and founder of Wondrous Brewing Company, Wynn Whisenhunt who needed a new home for his growing business. ‘Brewing is a very precise and complicated process with a lot of moving parts. We built a level of expertise and then engaged the right team of consultants to execute the project’ states Tamjidi.
The majority of the scheme consists of a large brewing facility but also offers a sleek front-facing taproom. ‘We agreed to avoid having this room look like a pub or a bar. It was a place to taste the varieties of beer. In early discussions about the overall design of the project, the pure simplicity and practicality of Japanese design resonated with us all’ explains Tamjidi. The unadorned spaces employ a raw material palette where clean concrete, refined stainless steel, and rich plywood are complemented by the exposed ceilings and lofty interiors.
Over the last twenty years, Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design has worked on a wealth of commercial, retail, and residential projects worldwide. ‘Projects like this keep our work interesting and we’re always eager to try new ideas’ states Tamjidi. The firm prides itself on creating timeless design that is meticulously detailed. For their latest project, ‘the primary goal was to build a safe, functional system to support and facilitate the creative process of crafting beer. In the case of the Wondrous Brewing Company form truly followed function.’ §
