Horse Soldier Farms

Somerset, KY

Horse Soldier Farms is a 227 acre masterplan, overlooking Lake Cumberland in Somerset, Kentucky, USA.

At the heart of the site is a bourbon distillery and production facility, comprising maturation warehouses, a bottling facility and finished logistics warehouse, which will produce between 3-5 million gallons of bourbon annually.

The distillery reflects the historic 12 Horse Soldiers story, including 12 fermentation vessels that circle the 54 ft column still. The Stillhouse is also articulated as an array of 12 inclined structural elements, reminiscent of the staves of a whiskey barrel under construction. The inverse of the Stillhouse geometry is expressed in the form of an enclosed water garden called ‘The Everyday Heroes Gallery’. At the centre of this space is a replica of the Horse Soldier monument found near Ground Zero. When read together the two elements of the Stillhouse and the memorial water garden pay homage to the Twin Towers.

The primary built structures are simple long and low horizontal buildings, inspired by the traditional agricultural vernacular of barns and warehouses in Kentucky. These dominant forms, set amongst the undulating natural landscape, reinforce the salient lines and geometries of the site.

Black in colour, the warehouses and distillery echo the county’s traditional tobacco barns and provide a simple palette, which, along with the lush green landscape and accents of colour, are pertinent to the brand.

A retail park, chapel, event centre, equestrian centre, community rooms, and health and wellness opportunities will welcome the estimated 200,000 annual visitors.

A 60-room lodge complex with spa, will invite veterans, locals and bourbon connoisseurs to stay and reflect for longer.

Location Kentucky, USA

Date 2020 - ongoing

Client American Freedom Distillery, LLC

Site Area 227 acres

Architect of Record EOP Architects

Structural Engineer Brown + Kubican

Process Engineer VITOK

MEP Engineer CMTA, Inc.

Landscape and Civil Engineer Carman

Experiential Design BRC Imagination Arts

Facilities Management CRM Companies

Contractor D.W. Wilburn, Inc.

St Lawrence Market North will combine courtrooms, offices and a large market hall as part of the St Lawrence complex. Home to a successful farmers market and Sunday antiques market, the design aims to reinstate these markets as a unified piece of the urban fabric. The marketplace itself is a covered outdoor space which can be enclosed or screened to allow other activities and functions and work with the seasons.

There has been a permanent market on the site since 1803 and the precedent for a civic use/market combination was set in 1831 when a new market building was constructed, incorporating an assembly hall at first floor level. In 1850 St Lawrence Hall was built to the north and the complex became the social centre of the city, hosting public meetings, concerts, lectures and exhibitions. The St Lawrence market quarter continues to have a rich street life and is popular with city residents and visitors.

A glass spine runs the length of the five-storey market building, designed by RSHP, forming a bright, glass-ceilinged atrium. This covered street runs through the centre of the site and opens up views and pedestrian routes from the South Market, through the new building and into St Lawrence Hall to reunify the complex. The market area is maximised to create a flexible, permeable space with glass doors to the ground floor that, when opened, turn the building into an arcade allowing the market to spill out onto the neighbouring streets.

A mezzanine floor provides space for a gallery, a café and support functions as well as providing flexibility for additional market space, concerts, receptions, weddings, product launches and other events. A direct entrance to St Lawrence Hall allows the buildings to function as a single facility.

Support accommodation is located on the second and third floors and the court rooms on the fifth, beneath the roof. The court rooms are accessed by the public from a wide balcony along the covered street and a separate entrance is provided for judges from their chambers on the floor below, avoiding the possibility of confrontation. The intention was to make the courts a tranquil environment, through north light, generous volumes and views to the sky.

The environmental strategy for the building is low-energy. Its simple form makes for a straightforward energy system that will exceed the latest city codes for environmental design; the spaces are designed for mixed-mode environmental conditioning to make the most of natural light and ventilation, green roofs will minimise the heat island effect in the city, and solar water heating panels will supply the portable hot water needs of the building.

Architect

Adamson

Structural

Yolles /

M&E Engineer

Smith + Andersen

Facade Engineer

Entuitive

Landscape Architect

Quinn Design Associates

Lighting Design

Smith + Andersen

Heritage Consultant

ERA Architects

Main Contractor

The Buttcon Limited/

The Atlas Corporation

Competition Jurer

151 East 60th Street

New York City

Richard Paul – Partner – RSHP

The brief set by Kuafu Properties presented an exciting opportunity and challenge to create a new high rise residential tower at the south east corner of Central Park. Its location on the periphery of the emerging cluster of high rise residential towers around the southern end of the Park will ensure the tower preserves a prominent aspect as the urban fabric develops over time and will enjoy uninterrupted views due to the zoning restrictions around it.

The site’s location presents a widely contrasting aspect in the surrounding street environs. The 61st Street frontage captures the typical terraced townhouse environment of the Upper East Side residential fabric whilst 60th street has a clear service emphasis. The brief required the project to achieve a zoning area of approximately 343,000 sq ft, whilst aiming to capitalise on the wonderful vistas of Central Park, which can be achieved at around 200ft from ground level.

In the initial phases of the competition, alternative core positions were studied which involved initial investigations into a central core solution as opposed to a core located to the south of the floorplate. The final solution positioned the core on the south side of the floor plate, which created an asymmetry in the structural stability system for the building, whilst optimising the space available on the floor plate to prioritise the residential apartments to the northern and north west views of Central Park.

At the external façade, the building expresses the pure modulation of the towers vertical emphasis, in the form of columns on a 14ft / 6 inch module. These elements are clad using a glass shadow box assembly flush with the adjacent vision panel units, and could be prefabricated as double storey units. To capitalise on the ability to allow the internal living room space to flow out to the loggias on the North West and south east corners of the tower, the design incorporates a bi-folding door system. These doors will fold away from the corner of the loggia to be stacked parallel to the blade columns so as to increase the percept of the space extending to the outside. The external loggias have been configured so that their perimeter is greater than 50% of the enclosing façade to enable them to be exempt from zoning area.

At the top of the tower the building slopes up to the northern façade. This contains double height living spaces within the penthouse apartment with views over the park. Additionally the angled façade creates an articulation of the building’s form.