The Peacock Adega by Kyle MertensMeyer is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award de Platina in Design de Espaços Interiores e Exposições Competition Category.

PlatinaInterior· 2022

The Peacock Adega

by Kyle MertensMeyer

Client: Godolphin

A' Design Award de Platina Winner in Interior Category

330,300

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #134579

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Colors

The Design

About The Peacock Adega

O Peacock é uma adega de cerca de dez metros quadrados. A adega é revestida por mil azulejos de terracota com esmalte azul, cada um moldado e acabado à mão. Os azulejos estão dispostos numa matriz de tripla curvatura inspirada na forma de um pavão. Cada azulejo acomoda uma garrafa de vinho e integra uma pequena luz que ilumina o azulejo inferior, sendo a única outra fonte de luz um único foco sobre a mesa central. Os azulejos foram produzidos por artesãos de Jingdezhen, na China, com um esmalte azul de textura de pena da Dinastia Song. O arrefecimento é gerido por um controlador inteligente.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Platina

The Peacock Adega conquistou o A' Design Award de Platina, um reconhecimento extremamente prestigiado atribuído a designs verdadeiramente excecionais, elegantes e magníficos. Os vencedores da Platina são maravilhas da criação, testemunhos dos limites da criatividade intelectual, e demonstram o profissionalismo inigualável e o génio dos seus designers. Espera-se que estes designs sejam as obras mais reconhecidas, que definem a estética de uma época, contribuem para o bem-estar da sociedade e fazem avançar as fronteiras da arte, da ciência, do design e da tecnologia. The Peacock Adega exibe um nível transcendente de excelência e torna, sem sombra de dúvida, o mundo num lugar melhor graças às suas características vantajosas e valiosas. The Peacock Adega é uma obra vencedora do A' Design Award de Platina que desperta desejos, inspira, entusiasma, delicia e faz nascer uma grande alegria.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The Peacock Cellar's use of ancient craftsmanship combined with contemporary fabrication technologies creates a beautiful and intentional joining of past and present. The blue tone of the cellar comes from one thousand individually handcrafted blue glazed clay tiles, glistening like the peacock's feathers. The symbolism of the peacock showcases both elegance and strength. To create these tiles, the design team and client worked with artisans from the historic porcelain town of Jingdezhen, China, known for the most exquisite porcelain throughout the dynasties.
Dimensions & Packaging: Within the 10m2 cellar, the feathered tiles are splayed using a triple curved parametric array inspired by the majestic form of the peacock. The cellar tiles are designed with a dual purpose to hold each bottle and serve the cellar's light source. 3D printing was used to prototype the shape of tiles for stability. Additionally, at the base of each tile is a single small LED that lights the tile beneath the other; there is no additional lighting within the cellar other than a single spotlight directed downward above the central table resembling the peacock's head.
Tags: Terra-cotta, Wine Cellar, Blue, Glazing, Song Dynasty, Jingdezhen, Tile, Parametric, 3D-Printing
Production Technology: For over two years, the artisans worked to recreate the glazing for each tile one by one in small kilns. Incredibly, the technique required extreme heat to achieve the blue color tone, and as a result, only 1 in 10 pieces crafted survived in the end. For every tile seen in the cellar, nine others cracked in the extreme heat or were flawed. Due to the difficulty and time needed to create such craftsmanship, it's unlikely that such work would be attempted again or repeated by others, making this a one-of-a-kind piece of art for our time.
Design Challenge: The most challenging aspect of this project was to create the specific blue feathered glazing for the terra-cotta tiles. More than fifty artisans attempted, and only one prevailed. The process of creating each was long and intensive. Each tile was made as a hollow sculpture and glazed in blue twice. Extreme heat needed to create the blue color caused many of the tiles to crack in the process and required delicate expertise. Our team and the artisans realized through this process why this glazing typology had been a rarity throughout history.
Research: The primary research required for this project pertained to testing the shape of the blue terra-cotta tile and its ability to safely hold the wine bottles while still allowing ease of access. The team used a series of 3d printed prototypes and shake tests to evolve the shape of the tile. Additionally, the team used the 3D printed prototypes to build mockups to study the lighting integration methods for the wine cellar.
Inspiration: From 960-1127, during the Song Dynasty, artisans crafted a unique style of feather-textured blue porcelain glaze. Since then, this particular blue glazing technique has disappeared. Our team spent months searching for artisans who could bring back this feather-textured glazing technique as the key feature for this cellar.
Project Duration: The Project Began in January 2019 in Shanghai, China, and was completed in July 2021.
Operation Flow: The cellar operation is designed to be seamless and functions with ease. The primary cooling function is controlled by a smart controller with access via APP for the wine cellar's owner. Additionally, a custom aluminum ladder was designed to access wine bottles at elevated heights. The ladder is light and easily moved as it attaches to a floated steel ring around the top of the cellar.
Patents: N/A
Team Members: Kyle MertensMeyer
Ni Yangchao
Tang Linwei
Image Credits: Main image is Image #1: Wen Studio
Optional Image #1: Dirk Weiblen Photography
Optional Image #2: Dirk Weiblen Photography
Optional Image #3: Wen Studio
Optional Image #4: Wen Studio

Video Credit: Wen Studio