Shigeru Ban Unveils Kentucky Owl Park

If the short film below is any indication, Shigeru Ban Architects will be designing much more than just the three pyramids. A press release points out that the $150 million project will include: rickhouses for aging, a bottling center, a state-of-the-art distillery and offices for the American Whiskey Division of Stoli Group, which bought Kentucky Owl last year. The video also portrays a station for the vintage dinner train that would stop on the property, connect to other distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and help turn Kentucky Owl Park into "a tourist experience unlike any other."

Mass timber is the material of choice for structuring the various buildings, most influenced by vernacular long-span structures; the pyramids, obviously, harken to more remote influences. Sited at Cedar Creek Quarry, the project will have a considerable landscape component, including turning the existing pits into lakes with limestone-filtered water.

Dean Maltz, Managing Partner of Shigeru Ban Architects, said in a statement: "We are honored to have been chosen to build Kentucky Owl Park and are eager to bring the joint vision of Stoli Group and Shigeru Ban to life. This is an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves like never before, as these plans serve as our first Kentucky distillery and incorporate unique highlights and nods to the industry and its history, while prioritizing light and a connection to nature, features the architectural world has come to expect from our firm."

​Kentucky Owl Park is expected to open in 2020.