Charles Smith Wines Jet City

Originally a Dr. Pepper bottling plant and later a recycling center, the design of Charles Smith Wines Jet City preserves as much of its hard-won industrial patina as possible, while opening up the building to the surrounding Seattle neighborhood, the runways of Boeing Field, and dramatic views of Mt. Rainier. On top of the building, nearly seven-foot-tall letters wrap the building in billboard fashion, announcing “Charles Smith Wines Jet City.”

The former 32,000 square-foot building is composed of two structures, a two-floor office building and a contiguous open-structure steel truss warehouse. Together, they provide space for everything from grape crush to barrel storage and bottling, to tasting rooms and sales. The transformation of this 1960s era building involved the removal of a portion of the exterior street-side façade replacing it with a 19x60-foot span of windows, opening the building up to the neighborhood and views.

Once through the twenty-foot-tall steel entry door, visitors have the choice of two tasting rooms. The rustic, entry-level lounge features polished concrete floors, exposed wood joists, sliding black steel wall panels, wood cocktail tables made from laminated salvaged 6 x 6’s, and a bar made of stacked, salvaged wood.

“With wine, we talk so much about the ‘terroir,’ about the soil in which the grapes grow,” Smith said. “In the same sense, I wanted Jet City to be connected to the fabric of Georgetown, to celebrate that proud history of manufacturing and aviation in our region. Wine has a history just like Georgetown. It’s the past, it’s now, it’s forever.”

A plate-steel staircase inserted into the original structure connects the first-floor lounge to the expansive second-floor tasting room. The winery’s second story effectively captures an early 1960s aviation vibe with its original wood floor planks, white tuck-and-roll upholstered perimeter seating, and center stage powder-blue Lucite-topped bar on wheels. This tasting room overlooks the runways of Boeing Field and provides dramatic views of Mt. Rainier, while a second set of interior windows allows guests to view the winemaking process.

Olson Kundig Architects

Project Team:
Design Principal: Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Project Manager: Michael Picard, LEED AP
Project Architect: Mark Olthoff
Architectural Staff: Yousman Okano

Consultants:
Engineer - Mechanical: Warner Mechanical Engineer
Engineer - Structural: WSP
General Contractor: Foushee Contractors