A whisky experience center built by Macallan at a cost of 1.2 billion and 380,000 independent components.
01 Tourist Experience Center
The first thing to enter is the visitor center. Visitors are guided through the underground passage into the new building, starting with the presentation area and gallery area where the McAllen brand is introduced.
You can learn about the history and production story of whiskey before you actually get into the whisky brewing process. This is an important window for visitors to learn about the brands of Scotch Whisky, Speyside and Macallan.
Because visitors can't see the distillation process inside, this interactive installation shows the long-standing distillation process, which is vivid, simple and clear. Turning this interactive device, you can see where the global Scotch whisky market is located, and you can intuitively understand where they are sold and where they are more popular.
Projection technology is used to show the ancient traditional wine-making process on the inner wall of the wooden barrel. The fit between the environment and the video content gives visitors a better experience!
In this interactive gallery, the display is the renewal of Macallan products, and what slowly rises in the middle is the malt whisky brewed through the accumulation of years of experience and cultural heritage. To experience the myth, history and spirit of traditional whiskey brands.
The exhibition interacts with natural light and shadow and architectural fields, and integrates with the surrounding natural landscape, creating a sense of atmosphere vividly and giving visitors a strong experience.
In the center of the visitor center is an open circular bar, where you can chat and enjoy wine. The open space makes you feel more comfortable.
The unique wine cellar, oak barrels are displayed here like works of art, as if you can smell the wine through the photos.
02 The Magical Roof
The winery has an area of 14,800 square meters and a total investment of 149 million pounds (approximately 1.2 billion yuan). It took 4 years and was completed in 2018. At the same time, it is also one of the most complex wooden roof structures in the world and has won many awards.
It is inspired by the ancient round stone tower in Scotland, like five rolling hills, blending with the beautiful natural landscape around it.
Both the appearance, function, and internal configuration are very different from the past wineries. The most eye-catching feature of this project is its roof.
The wavy wooden roof structure consists of 1,800 single beams, 2,500 different roof components, and 380,000 individual components, almost no place is exactly the same.
The roof structure has two main parts: tubular steel structure and wooden beam structure. The main steel frame passes through the center of the wooden beam structure to help resist torsional forces.
The pillars of the V-shaped steel structure support the huge roof, without any modification, the structure reveals a unique beauty.
The beam is a composite of glulam and laminated veneer lumber (LVL), reinforced with steel in certain key locations.
In addition to the wooden deck above the timber structure, there are also a steam control layer, an insulating material layer, a waterproof layer and a vegetation planting system.
The green roof was laid because McAllen established a principle at the beginning: "Do not destroy the precious natural landscape of the local area." So there is such a design, planting a lawn on the roof.
The raised triangular ventilation panels are regularly distributed on the roof. There are triangular supports on the periphery of the concrete structure wall, which has greater supporting force.
The double-glazed façade runs through the east and south sides of the building, and the arc-shaped floor-to-ceiling glass has a height between 2.6m and 5m. Such large-area glass windows bring sufficient daylight to the interior, and the view from the inside to the outside is also very open.
The Macallan makes the distillery no longer just a whisky factory, but also a modern art building that perfectly combines the visitor center and the production space.
