Shigeru Ban designs pyramid distillery for Kentucky Owl whisky

The firm of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has been selected to design a 420-acre site called Kentucky Owl Park for SPI Group, the parent company of Stoli Vodka and the Kentucky Owl whisky brand.

Located near the Cedar Creek Quarry in the southeastern US state of Kentucky, the project will include rickhouses for ageing, a bottling centre, a state-of-the-art distillery shaped like a pyramid and offices for the American Whiskey Division of Stoli Group.

The development will connect to other distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, including brands such as Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey.

A press release from SPI Group says that Shigeru Ban’s design for the site uses 19th-century techniques, with "long-span steel structures that have been reinterpreted with the use of mass timber" and buildings that have forms that references the "bourbon-making process", including turning the "existing quarry pits into beautiful lakes".

Dean Maltz, Shigeru Ban Architects managing partner, said: "These plans serve as our first Kentucky distillery and incorporate unique highlights and nods to the industry and its history".

Images courtesy of Shigeru Ban Architects/SPI Group