Stoli Group close Shigeru Ban Architects to oversee planning and development of the 420-acre site at Cedar Creek Quarry in Bardstown, Ky. The facility will include rickhouses for aging, a bottling center, a state-of-the-art distillery and offices for the American Whiskey Division of Stoli Group.
With plans for a vintage dinner train to stop on the property, Kentucky Owl Park is expected to become a must-see destination, connecting to other distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and creating a tourist experience unlike any other.
Kentucky Owl Park will be a collection of one-of-a-kind buildings that are rooted in industrial vernacular design, each of which will be carefully sited within the natural rustic landscape. Shigeru Ban’s vision for the site hearkens back to the 19th century with long-span steel structures that have been reinterpreted with the use of mass timber. Each building will have a distinct structural form that incorporates visual elements of the local bourbon-making process. The existing quarry pits will be turned into beautiful lakes with crystal-clear, limestone-filtered water.