Paralelo winery is laid out in two intersecting crosses (one Roman, the other Greek). Tunnels lead to submerged earthen wine caves and out into a patio and an open-air amphitheater. From a distance, the winery disappears into the landscape.
An open-air amphitheater planted with St. Augustine grass is used for cultural events such as concerts and dances during the August harvest festival known as Fiesta de la Vendemia.
DAcosta sits atop a wine barrel in the underground wine cave of his latest winery, Paralelo. The architect imprinted rammed-earth walls with things he found on the property: olive branches, nopal cactus and old tires. This building is in touch with Pacha Mama Mother Nature, DAcosta says.
DAcosta and his wife Claudia Turrent sit in the underground wine caves in a window well that brings natural light into the interior. Designing for me is not a matter of light but of shadows. Most people talk about the light but the more romantic part of a building is in the shadows, DAcosta says.
DAcosta stands next to wine barrels and rammed-earth walls imprinted with nopal cactus. At one point the cactus actually started growing in the walls, he says.
DAcosta designed the Casa de Piedra -- House of Stone -- winery for his brother, winemaker Hugo DAcosta, located in the Valle de Guadalupe. The building is composed of rusted corrugated metal taken from a chicken factory that was going out of business and “piedra ambar, a stone found on the property.
The Casa de Piedra winery features a symmetrical building with a wine-tasting area in the center. A second-floor office above the tasting room is reached by way of a stair taken from an old boat.
DAcosta stands inside the old Santo Tomas Winery and restaurant in Ensenada, one of his first remodeling projects when he moved to the area. More recently, he designed the Bodegas de Santo Thomas winery. For the sustainable winery located in the Santo Tomas Valley, DAcosta combined 22,000 used tires with earth to form the retention walls, while recycled metal gasoline tanks function as tunnel corridors for the underground winery.
