Monasterevin Distillery, Dublin
Church of Oak Distillery is situated on the canal just outside Monasterevin, Co.Kildare. The site is deeply routed as part of the town's industry and the site's history as a grain mill informed the decision to guide visitors through fields of barley and long grasses.
While moving through, one can witness the storage of this grain in silos over the cafe, before beginning a raised linear tour through the process of distillation. Gallery spaces, exhibition halls and terraces float above the distillery in pyramidal forms and have interactions to the industrial spaces below through floor voids so that one can experience the innovative distilling processes first hand.
While changes to the existing footprint of the scheme are minimal, the avant garde distillery adds so much to the town's fabric and a defining stop off on the Blue Way of the Grand Canal.
The aim was to retains as much of the charm, texture and history while the contrasting new elements sit in harmony with the original fabric.