The National Wine Centre is designed to provide a focus and symbol for the Australian wine industry, embodying its tradition and quality in a venue that combines appreciation of food and wine in a beautiful landscape. The Wine Centre is a celebration of simple materials – timber, earth and glass – reflecting the good things in life, wine and food. They have been used to create a landmark building of civic scale and soaring volumes. Movement through and around the buildings is a key feature of the Centre, with a sweeping entry ramp leading over First Creek, along the flank of the industry offices and into the main building, which evokes the spaces found within wineries. The vaulted concourse overlooks and conveys light into the

subterranean cellar. In turn, the vat-like shapes of the exhibition halls, enclosed to invite enquiry, project over the concourse. With progression through the building the materials become more refined, paralleling the process of making wine. The relatively course materials found at the beginning evolve into finer proportions and smoother textures. The scale of the spaces similarly progresses from the public to the personal, from the scale of production to the intimate level of wine appreciation. This journey culminates in the tasting room. Elevated to give privacy and a sense of detachment, with broad vistas of the Botanic Gardens and the vineyard, the tasting room is an ideal environment in which to savour wine.