Circular Pictograma winery in Mexico designed to "echo the land"
Mexican design studios Rojkind Arquitectos and AMASA Estudio have collaborated to create a wheel-shaped winery with radiating vaults in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico.
The Vinícola Pictograma was completed in 2023, comprising 1,963 square metres (211,300 square feet) on a 35-acre vineyard on the north end of the Baja California peninsula
Rojkind Arquitectos and AMASA Estudio, both based in Mexico City, designed the earth-toned building to act as a dialogue between contemporary architecture and the wine region's landscape.
"Designed with an acute sensitivity to its surroundings, the project seamlessly integrates into the rugged terrain, ensuring minimal environmental impact while enhancing the winemaking experience," the team told Dezeen.
The earth was built up around the building to submerge it into the ground. Visitors enter through a wedge-shaped opening on the north side of the ring, gathering in a circular courtyard at the centre of the round plan.
Two rows of bubbled vaults ring the courtyard, containing the winery's various production, storage, and hospitality spaces under burnt clay brick vaults.
Parabolic concrete arches form heavy pendulous portals into the tasting, bottling, barrel, and back-of-house spaces, while the eastern vault was removed to create an open-air garden.
The layout maximises efficiency, reduces circulation space and promotes cross ventilation through the interior portico that is reminiscent of 16th-century architecture, the studio explained.
"The winery is not just a production facility – it is an immersive architectural experience," the studio said. "The layout orchestrates a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces, offering visitors a journey that moves from the intimate process of winemaking to expansive views of the vineyards."
The palette of local sand-coloured concrete, weathered steel, red clay bricks, and timber was selected to age naturally, blending the building into the landscape.
"Every material at Pictograma was chosen to echo the land — not to mimic it, but to be in conversation with it," the team said, noting the textured exterior concrete catches shadows and allows the surface of the building to change with the sun.
"The palette is restrained, but intentional — every surface, every joint, meant to age with dignity and tell the story of place over time."
The building works to reduce its environmental impact with passive cooling strategies, thermal mass and strategic orientation – all of which align with the region's push toward sustainable wine production.
"Architecture is not just about buildings; it is about the hands that build them, the people who inhabit them, the lives they touch, and what they can give back to the community," Rojkind said.
"Our role as architects is to create environments that honor this interconnectedness, fostering inclusive, dynamic, and purpose-driven communities."
In 2020, Rojkind Arquitectos unveiled the conceptual design for a resort nearby with 28 villas embedded in the Valle de Guadalupe hills and a curvilinear swimming pool. The studio is also responsible for the concrete concert hall overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in Boca de Rio.
The photography is by Edmund Sumner.
Project credits:
Architectural project: Rojkind Arquitectos + AMASA Estudio (Michel Rojkind, Agustín Pereyra, Andrea López)
Rojkind Arquitectos: Ruth Diaz, Eli Ambris (Model), Victor Cruz, Daniel Flores, Ricardo Hernández, Yoshio Fukumori, Fernando Franco, Victoria Grossi
AMASA Estudio: Roxana León, Omar Valdés, Jorge Santiago, Sonia Santaella, Fernanda Corona, Karen Alcaráz, Diana Gómez Matehuala, Fernanda Rodriguez
Branding and concept: Cadena y Asociados
Interior design: SMARQ
Structural engineering: Ing. Juan Felipe Heredia
Landscape design: Paula Pijoan
Lighting: Grupo UBK
MEP: Ing. Germán Muñóz
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