Design of a Brewery

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I recently went to an exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Westwood that focused on the small to large designs of the Heatherwick Studio.  Amidst the weird prickly architecture and the ingenious designs for roll out bridges was the above design of the Bombay Sapphire distillery.  An old paper mill in the south of England needed to blossom into a dedicated gin house.

What this design firm did was to “use” what was obviously in front of them.  They were on a river so they played that up.  They planted the botanicals used in gin.  They also made the visitor centre less a visitor only space and actually showed off the distillation process.

It got me to thinking about the next phase of craft brewery spaces and tours.  Stone has it’s gardens and design look but where else really capitalizes on what they have in a unique space.  That may not be possible on a shoestring in an industrial park but instead of just hanging community art on the wall and exposing a brick or two has been done. 
I’m not looking for a redux of Busch Gardens in Van Nuys but I hope breweries are thinking of more immersive ways to welcome guests to their tap rooms.