Common interests and goals brought together Travis Hasse, founder of Travis Hasse Distilling Co., project architect Sketchworks Architecture LLC, Middleton, Wis., and builder, Middleton-based 1848 Construction Inc., to build the new Dancing Goat Distillery in Cambridge, Wis.
New distillery keeps modern barn design and agricultural feeling
Completed in January 2017, the Dancing Goat Distillery is located just outside of Madison. The 16,700-square-foot building is broken up into a 7,500-square-foot factory, 6,250-square-foot storage area and 2,950-square-foot business area. There is a two-story retail space with glass overhead doors that open during events, a tasting bar and a window wall for visitors to see into the distillery and production area.
Brad Koning, partner at Sketchworks Architecture, says, “The design goal was to create a modern distillery and visitor center using traditional Midwestern agricultural design cues and materials for a unique design on a traditional barn vernacular.” “Its location outside of an urban area, and the type of products used in the manufacturing process inside the building, pointed to a hint of an agricultural building,” adds Jim Anderson, CEO of 1848 Construction.
To achieve the required height needed for the distilling equipment, the designers opted to use a Continuous Beam metal building system from Varco Pruden Buildings, Memphis, Tenn. “We created the lean-to,” Koning says, “which defines the space and provides a more comfortable, human-scale space when in the tasting area, but then opens up into a much larger volume of space that allows views into the production facility of the distillery.”
Anderson adds that the metal building system was the right solution for the project from a functional and economic perspective. The required heights and clear spans were most efficiently achieved by using steel, while the pre-engineered building system provided a lower price.
In addition to the metal building structure, the project features 7,641 square feet of Varco Pruden’s Vee-Rib wall panels in Cool Granite Gray and 2,911 square feet of its Impress Clad wall panel in Colonial Red. For the roof, Varco Pruden supplied its SSR panels in Cool Granite Gray.
The majority of the production facility is clad in metal siding, while the visitor center and tasting room are clad with stone veneer and reclaimed wood siding to further tie into the Midwest agriculture vernacular, and blend with the surrounding farmland and agricultural buildings.
Inside, exposed steel beams keep with the distillery’s modern barn theme, while the tasting bar features reclaimed barn wood and the barstools are made from hand-forged iron. “The industrial look of the exposed steel beams plays off the idea of heavy timber framing,” Koning explains, “yet provides a modern look and feel juxtaposed to the reclaimed barn wood siding and details.”
“The exposed steel structure fit well with the industrial use of a portion of the building, as well as the interior design concepts of the retail area,” Anderson adds.