Bureau de Change was invited to rethink Glenrothes’ buildings and facilities in their Speycide base, to create a more coherent production and visitor experience.

We began by looking at the individual buildings, and creating openings and connections in the process of adjusting them to fit the brief. The overall principle of the diagram was to move the production facilities and back of house spaces closer to each other to create an efficient journey but to connect this journey with the visitor spaces. Whether it’s a window into the production space, a glazed wall into the casks area, or a walk through the master distiller’s testing room, it is clear at every step of the way that the visitors are inside a whiskey distillery.

An accordion bridge sits as a tiny addition to the fabric of the old buildings, introducing the new era of the brand which complements its history and tradition. The overall palette of materials was inspired by the geology of the area, the timber used for the casks and the geometry of the whiskey bottle. Different stone elements appear in different spaces, reminding the visitors of the Rothes land. They are complemented by different timbers - a parquet floor inspired by the shape of the bottle, internal roof structures that add texture to the spaces and joinery pieces, in the staff break out space.