La Cité du Vin

BORDEAUX, FRANCE
COMPLETED 2016

La Cité du Vin is a permanent visitor attraction in Bordeaux, France. It shares and celebrates the history of wine with tourists and the international public.  It is the world’s largest visitor centre dedicated to the story of wine.

OUR ROLE

Greenway Associates were appointed as Cost Consultants and Procurement Managers for the permanent interior display at La Cité du Vin. Jared Mensah and Jon Kirby made up our key team on this project, and they regularly travelled to site from London to inspect and meet with the team.

THE PROJECT

The permanent exhibition and the real show piece of La Cité du Vin was designed by Casson Mann. It includes 22 interactive installations that steer visitors through everything there is to know about wine. Entrance to the permanent exhibition and wine tasting in the Belvedere is ticketed.

Spread across a floor space of more than 3,000 square meters, a variety of different themed areas take visitors on a journey of discovery through the history and culture of wine. The exhibits range from large-scale, cinematic fly-overs of the world’s most stunning vineyards, to tactile digital interactives.

The design team placed an emphasis on sensory interaction, with immersive displays as well as aural and aromatic delights. To sustain visitor interest across the space, Casson Mann drew on the spectrum of interpretative design techniques, creating changes of scale, mood, pace and tone, allowing for moments of rest as well as intensity.

The visitor experience starts with the spectacular “World Wine Tour,” a film experience which plays out over three enormous screens, presenting the different global landscapes where vines are cultivated.

The “Terroir Table” includes film shot at the same vineyards, but here visitors are able to ‘meet’ the wine-growers. The aim of the exhibit was to bring visitors face-to-face with these men and women, to hear their stories. Visitors can watch and listen to the film and touch the documents, maps and books that are projection-mapped onto the table, with touch triggering new events and animations to the table.

The “Buffet of the Five Senses” are a series of interactive displays that give visitors the chance to smell a selection of the more unusual scents of wine, from leather and pencil shavings to burnt matches and old books. The exhibits take their inspiration from old apothecary equipment and Victorian theatre, with glass cloches, copper trumpets and atomizers, brought to life by digital media.

Visitors can then go on a ‘boat trip’ in “All Aboard!”—a fully immersive, 270-degree cinema experience, shaped around the bow of a boat.

The visitor experience is complemented by a handheld digital media guide, which Casson Mann helped develop, which offers interpretation in eight languages and access to additional content.

PROJECT CHALLENGES & ACHIEVEMENTS

With unexpected site constraints, a fixed opening date set and multiple contractors expected to be on site at the same time, La Cité du Vin presented a challenge for the project team. Despite these challenges, the project was completed on time and within budget.

Through a series of innovative and spectacular displays, La Cité du Vin has become a showpiece in the city of Bordeaux, both for the locals and tourists. The project has been recognised by many renowned organisations for its unique and informative visitor experience. It was shortlisted for the Museum & Heritage Awards 2017. The exhibition attracted 270,000 visitors in the first six months after opening and 445,000 in 2017.

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IN THE PRESS

THE DETAILS

Client: City of Bordeaux
Designer: Casson Mann (Roger Mann - Creative Director, Gary Shelley - Lead Designer)
Architect: X-TU
QS: Greenway Associates
Value: €57m (construction & exhibition)
Completed: 2016
Awards:

• 2017 ADC Awards - Merit

• 2018 International Best of Wine Tourism

• 2019 Wine Tourism Awards Special Jury Prize