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CheckMate Winery Pop‑Up

Oliver, Canada

Designed to sit lightly on the land, this pop‑up tasting room is a space for visitors to enjoy CheckMate Artisanal Winery’s award‑winning Chardonnay and Merlot wines while taking in views of the winery’s vineyards stepping down into the valley below. The transformable structure provides a public window into CheckMate Winery, which was previously open by invitation only.

At 575 square feet, this compact and moveable tasting room can be transported to any of the von Mandl Family Estates wineries across the viticulturally rich Okanagan region. These include Mission Hill Winery and Martin’s Lane Winery, both of which were designed by architect Tom Kundig. Like the artisanal wine that Anthony von Mandl has been refining for decades, the structure provides an unpretentious yet elevated experience where the grapes take center stage.

Essentially a steel‑and‑glass box, the pop‑up is enclosed by perforated corrugated metal shutters on three sides that will develop a weathered patina over time. When open for special events and tastings, these shutters can be manually raised via a system of gas springs. Lifted up, the shutters double as shading roofs for the exterior deck, extending the tasting room out into the arid landscape. Kebony wood floors flow from inside out to the deck, which will lighten to a silver tone with exposure to sunlight.

Inside, an ebony‑stained plywood display wall features bottles available for tasting. Untreated maple plywood ceilings and custom casework, including a tasting counter, complete the unadorned interior. In keeping with the spirit of the larger CheckMate Winery expansion project, which Olson Kundig is also designing, the pop‑up incorporates a minimal, industrial aesthetic, placing emphasis on von Mandl’s artisanal wine and the Okanagan landscape that yields it.

My hope is that the pop‑up will be appreciated in many different ways, especially in how it celebrates its context, whatever those surroundings might be—urban or rural, cultural or natural. Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Design Principal

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