The experience is spread across two floors, within the former pressing centre of the Maison Pommery, at the foot of the historic slopes of Ay-Champagne. On the ground floor, visitors explore a series of installations, which express the elemental basis of champagne and its terroir: chalk, rain, sunshine, and the deep vine roots, which tie champagne making to this region.
The first floor experience focuses on the savoir-faire of champagne-making, and the combination of innovative and age-old practices used in the process. The historic pressoir is brought back to life with a projection-mapped installation, telling the story of the harvest. The apex of the visitor experience is the walk-in, wrap-around-cinema, which celebrates ‘bubbles’, using the research of Gerard Liger Belair and his team at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne. Visitors interact to change the bubble trails on the walls around them: a joyful expression of the essence of champagne.
“Pressoria is a testament to the success of collaborative relationships in which, client, architect and experiential design work together to honour the authenticity of subject and place, as well as the curiosity and imagination of the visitor."
Laure Cheung, Project Manager, Casson Mann