Sodium Design

The brewery typology proves to be a unique challenge as a design problem as it must both embody the aesthetic vision of the client but also skillfully integrate the intricate and extensive “brewing machine.” As such this project exhibits itself similarly to a motorcycle - simultaneously exposing and protecting the machine within while creating a unique and comfortable environment for its users.

The New Belgium Brewery is a 150,000 sf craft brewing facility located on the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina. The 500,000 barrel facility draws heavily from the site, the former livestock yards of Asheville, and attempts to blend into the neighborhood by breaking down the large mass of the building and make it of a familiar scale to the surroundings. This facility capitalizes on this heritage and reclaims much of the material from thecarefully deconstructed buildings previously on the site and reappropriates the wood, corrugated metal and some of the structural components into the new facility giving the building an a level of patina rarely seen in new facilities.

Completed in the summer of 2016 this building has quickly become the centerpiece of the beer culture of Asheville, North Carolina and is already a travel destination for enthusiasts throughout the Southeastern United States.