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New headquarters of the Calem Wineries

Oporto, Portugal

With a tradition stretching back some 150 years, the House of Calem is among the most famous names in Port Wine history. Founded in 1859 by Antonio Alves Calem, the firm has collected a great number of awards and acknowledgements.

The winery premises offer modern services to cater for the many tourists who visit Calem - typically more than 100,000 every year. The process of renovating the buildings was concluded in 2004, and there is now a section specially equipped to host cultural, social and business events. The three main public areas are the museum, the cellars, and the tasting and sales salon.

In this context, the approach adopted for the lighting design was one of maximum respect for the architecture of the buildings, and for the particular needs presented by each set of surroundings. The Kriss appliques, with 100 W high pressure sodium vapour lamps (HST - white), offer a low, warm emission that enhances the features of the walls and provides a common point of reference throughout the premises.

The lighting for the museum is suitably museographic, using Le Perroquet fixtures mounted on tracks. In the tasting and sales area, the light emission of the Le Perroquet units is widened to provide direct lighting on the horizontal surface of the tables. The offices are equipped with suspended Berlino luminaries and HIT150W metal halide lamps, which provide direct-indirect lighting. The grazing light projected onto the walls by the Kriss fixtures comes in this instance from halogen lamps, and is complemented by direct light from Le Perroquet fixtures with halogen lamps and flood optical assemblies.

The architectural renovation project at the Calem winery received the “Best of Wine Tourism Award” for 2006.