Turnbull Wine Cellar

MARKET
BEVERAGE
METHOD
PRECAST
Turnbull Wine Cellar
THERMOMASS CASE STUDY
Nestled in the heart of Napa Valley, this unique building combines modern construction
science with age-old methods to create award-winning wines and elegant surroundings
in which to sample them.
MODERN MEANS FOR AN ANCIENT PROCESS
LOCATION
Oakville, California
COMPLETED
November 2002
FLOOR AREA
15,000 sf
THERMOMASS PRODUCTS
System NC
Today’s wine makers are faced with critical temperature management
issues. The storing and fermenting of wine requires a stable environment in
order to ensure a pristine final product. A fluctuation of just a few degrees
in temperature or only a slight deviation in internal relative humidity can
make or break an entire bottling.
In the days of the Roman Empire, and perhaps earlier, wine makers stored
their products in caves to preserve the wine and let it age gently. While
they did prove useful to ancient vintners, caves aren’t always an option for
modern vineyards.
Fortunately, Thermomass insulation systems paired with concrete sandwich walls and concrete roof members provide an ideal solution - an
“above ground cave” that offers a precisely controlled environment.
NATURAL MATERIALS, UNIQUE RESULTS
Constructed by Bethlehem Construction of Wasco, California, the Turnbull
Wine Cellar features 3 inches of Thermomass System NC placed between a
9-inch concrete structural layer and a 2-inch concrete exterior veneer layer.
Above: The Turnbull Tasting
Room illustrates the elegance
that can be achieved even with a
simple material like concrete.
Inset: Concrete sandwich walls
and an insulated concrete roof
create an ideal storage facility
for Turnbull wines.
The Turnbull owners wanted a unique finish that would allow this facility to
blend in with its surroundings by using sustainable redwood siding planks
fastened to furring strips anchored in the 2-inch concrete veneer and
fastened into place once panels and fenestrations were in place.
The owners also decided early in the design process to use total concrete
construction to complete the “above ground cave”, and a hollow-core roof
system was incorporated. When detailed in sync with the precast sandwich
wall panels and covered with four inches of rigid insulation, fabric, and
white stone ballast; the hollow-core members became a durable, cool
roof. Combined with the concrete sandwich wall panels, the assembly is
designed to provide complete insulation coverage that lasts many years.
THERMOMASS BENEFITS
For more information
about Thermomass and its
complete line of concrete
insulation products, please
call us at (800) 232-1748
or contact us online at
www.thermomass.com
Studies of over thirty years worth of structures insulated by Thermomass
have shown that this high interior mass dampens the maximum demand
for both heating and cooling. Also, because the concrete absorbs and
releases moisture reflecting the relative humidity of the interior air, the
interior humidity is stabilized.
In all, the Thermomass system in this “cave” provided a 67 percent
reduction in mechanical tonnage and the only indefinite life solution - a
long term building with the ultimate in energy efficiency, stable interior
temperature and humidity control.
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