The unusual tasting room at Twisted Hills Craft Cider — dubbed the Cider Dome — has received recognition in the 10th annual Thompson Okanagan Kootenay Commercial Building Awards.
Owners Kaylan Madeira and Joe Schneider chose to build a geodesic dome for the Cawston cidery’s tasting room.
Madeira said the structure is the only dome tasting room in Canada and creates a unique landmark for the community of Cawston.
“It really gives customers a fun place to come to,” she said. “We wanted something that was eye catching and different.”
The construction was done by Ben McKay of Fractal Geodesics.
The dome measures 11.5 metres in diameter with a seven-metre ceiling. There is a cupola on top.
The area is 111 square metres on the main floor, with 28 square metres of office area on the mezzanine level.
On the main floor, half of the dome is used for the tasting room, with the rest used as a storage area.
Building the dome structure required 160 triangles in six sizes. Each one was individually placed and bolted by hand.
The triangles are constructed finished in cedar, with pine trim around each one.
There are also 16 custom triangle windows and five custom cupola windows to allow for plenty of natural lighting in the building.
Madeira said the dome is 33 per cent more efficient than regular construction due to the ability of air to circulate more easily because of the dome shape.
The cidery, on Highway 3, was established in 2012. Last year it acquired an additional two hectares, on top of the existing three-hectare orchard.
Twisted Hills was also named best cider in Canada this year in the WineAlign Awards for its Midnight Cherry cider.
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