Schenk Suisse Opens Eco-Winery Production Center Featuring the Largest Amorim MD Facade® Project to Date
The project marks the largest application of the Amorim MD Facade®
Case StudiesSchenk Suisse SA has opened its new eco-winery production center in Rolle, Switzerland. Conceived as a long-term architectural, territorial, and sustainable statement, the project reflects a contemporary vision of viticulture in which performance, material responsibility, and sobriety are closely aligned.
Developed over a four-year construction period, from 2020 to 2024, the building was shaped by a clear ambition to rethink the role of industrial architecture. The project transforms a place of production into a meaningful and integrated component of its territory, while remaining firmly anchored in its function as a wine production center.
Expanded Cork as Architectural External Cladding
Designed by Jean-Frédéric Luscher, the eco-winery expresses an architectural language rooted in the precise and deliberate use of raw materials. The building is both discreet and assertive, conceived not only as an operational facility but also as a place capable of carrying a collective narrative connected to land, time, and process.
The façade is the defining element of the project and establishes it as the largest application of the Amorim MD Facade® system to date. The entire building envelope is clad in expanded cork panels produced by Amorim Cork Solutions, with a total volume of 1260 m³ of expanded cork incorporated into the façade. The choice of cork is fully aligned with the purpose and identity of the building.
“My dream for the architecture of a winery was to find a balance between beauty, sustainability and rationality. The choice of expanded cork would achieve all my expectations”
Expanded Cork as Architectural External Cladding
As a center dedicated to wine production, the eco-winery embraces a material that originates from a natural, regenerative process and maintains a close relationship with the land and agricultural cycles. Expanded cork reinforces this connection while contributing essential technical performance to the building envelope.
Still rare at this architectural scale, expanded cork is used as a continuous external cladding system that combines insulation, durability, and architectural expression. Installed in two layers, one horizontal and lighter, the other vertical and denser, the cork forms a stable and resistant envelope designed to perform over time.
Beyond its expressive qualities, expanded cork plays a key functional role in the building, contributing significantly to thermal insulation and helping to ensure stable interior conditions required for wine production. Conceived to age naturally, the façade reinforces the building’s long-term vision through durable performance and material integrity.
Each façade plane is framed with a refined metal profile that protects the cork edges and introduces depth through a recessed detail, resulting in a precise and understated architectural identity.
Naturally renewable and free from chemical additives, expanded cork delivers high thermal and acoustic performance while aligning with principles of minimal transformation and circularity. Through the Amorim MD Facade® system, cork becomes both a protective external cladding and a central architectural material, fully consistent with the building’s function and environmental intent.
Between Vineyard and City
Conceived as an urban entity, the eco-winery plays a strategic role in the transformation of the site. By relocating production activities upstream, Schenk Suisse SA frees land for a new residential district developed by Halter, positioning the building as a point of balance between industrial activity, urban life, and the surrounding vineyards. The project reconnects scales often kept apart, integrating production into the everyday fabric of the city and reaffirming architecture’s role as a clear and responsible mediator between territory, industry, and use.
Project Credits
Project: Jean-Frédéric Luscher Architectes
Location: Rolle, Switzerland
Year: 2024
Photography: Jean-Frédéric Luscher and Claudio Merlini when noted ©CM
Exterior Cladding: Amorim MD Facade®