Who said an olive oil mill could not be spectacular? This selection of some of the finest oil mills in the world proves it. Design, avant-garde, modernity, aesthetics, respect for tradition - all concepts that faithfully represent extra virgin olive oils.
The Colchugua Valley is located 230km south of Santiago, between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is an area that has similar climatic characteristics to the Mediterranean, with mild winters and relatively dry summers, while the diversity and richness of its soils and natural barriers against pests allow an optimal concentration of aromas in the fruit and the best conditions for olive growth.
In this setting, the 1,052 hectare (2600 acres) olive plantation in José de Marchigue (La Estrelle, VI Region) owned by the renowned Chilian business identity, Alfonso Swett, Olivos del Sur or Olisur was born in 2004, and is currently the leading producer and exporter of extra virgin olive oil in Chile.
This avant-garde oil mill winner of the Gold Medal architectural award (Miami Biennial in 2009), incorporates the use of biodegradable materials and bioclimatic technologies both on the buildings as well as in the production process, taking on a genuine commitment towards sustainability, energy efficiency, and protection of the natural environment.
A volume of simple and emphatic architecture - tiered on different levels, or indoor terraces, to play along with gravity and work with the slopes of the terrain - which allegorically reinterprets the anonymous constructions of the coastal drylands of the central valley in the VI Region, where the main structure recreates the horizentality of the landscape and its geography, perched on the soft wooden slopes, and projecting the lines of trees upon its facade.
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