Pub. 3 2020 Directory

32 NORTHERN NEVADA ARCHITECTECTURE .20 | 2020 | www.aiann.org ARCHITECT: VanWoert Bigotti Architects CONTRACTOR: Miles Construction COMPLETION DATE: 2020 LOCATION: Minden, Nevada HONOR H ow do you make a dream come true? How does a flicker of thought turn into a viable, physical reality?That is what the Owner of the Bently Heritage Distillery inMinden, Nevada asked the team of designers, engineers and other creatives in 2015. The ten-acre former manufacturing plant “campus” had been abandoned for years. Though weathered and outdated, three of the seven buildings on the campus were deemed salvageable and targeted as the main structures for starting a new era of use. Two of those structures, which are directly adjacent to one another, the Mill Building and the Creamery, were vacant and of historical significance, aged over 100 years. The third, a windowless warehouse, was being leased to a small charter school. The plan was to strategically take down (deconstruct) the four unusable, far too worn-out structures on the site and reuse those pieces and parts as salvaged material for the new construction, remodeling, and preservation of the existing buildings that would be re-purposed for distilling and production. The creative task was to design within the historical means of the structures, honor the viable “bones,” celebrate the character of the “skin,” and integrate the owner’s new vision with a design that respects and complements the history while viably functioning for today and tomorrow. In response to the Owner’s request, the design team’s concept focused on the creative integration of old and new. Every program and functional need became an opportunity to ideate. It was a continual exercise of historical study, innovative thought, material and graceful detailing. The Mill Building (11,000 SF), a distinct structure of near landmark presence along Highway Route 395, presented the opportunity to re-purpose the entire original structure. It wore a shroud of aged corrugated metal siding, which was removed to reveal a handsome three-story brick facility supported by a heavy timber structural grid. Its timber structure was meticulously disassembled and stored while steel columns and beams were craned in from above and placed within the original brick walls to create a seismic cage. The existing heavy timber posts and beams were re-installed to provide a sales and welcome center, public bar and private tasting room. The inside quadrant panels of the four original steel grain silos were cut out to create space within the silos for process equipment that now produces single malt whiskey. Two magnificent Forsyth copper stills imported from Scotland adorn the space between the silos and BENTLY HERITAGE ESTATE DISTILLERY