Gaggenau Wine showcase and bar:
A contemporary vision of luxury beverage storage in the living room

Opening up new markets - through a journey from user research to design concept to technological predevelopment

Gaggenau has been conducting extensive user research on global wine culture in 2015 and 2016. In-home interviews in Gaggenau’s major markets revealed that consumers were looking for solutions to store and present wine within the context of their living room but that adequate products were missing.
The main concerns with the existing product offerings were the unsuitable dimensions (especially the depth of the appliances), the look that was not fitting common aesthetics in the living room and the missing flexibility that did not allow to use wine coolers for spirits or other beverages as well.

All these aspects have been addressed in the concept for a wine showcase. The design features a completely new technical architecture with only a single machine room that integrates the compressor and the evaporator in the bottom part of the appliance. The housing is entirely constructed using a sandwich material of vacuum insulation panels and 3mm thin ceramic slabs. The shelves move up- and downwards in guide rails that also integrate the ventilation openings on the back. Every shelf is electrically connected to strip conductors in the rails and is equipped with LED lighting. This construction principle frees the housing from the need to integrate any additional components. Contrary to traditional cooling appliances production techniques, where air ducts, wiring for illumination and sensors and mechanical fixation points are embedded in the foam between the inner and outer shell, the new design is permitting the complete cladding with vacuum insulation panels and enabling extremely thin side walls with best insulation performance.

The interior consists of materials that are more adapted to the warm atmosphere of a living room while maintaining the technical performance and fulfilling food safety requirements such as large format ceramic, anodized aluminium, thermally modified wood and Alcantara. The shelves cannot only be moved up and downwards but also pivot around the horizontal axis to give users the flexibility to either present their precious bottles of wine in an inclined position or to use the appliances for the lying or upright storage of bottles.

____

Photography: Gerhardt Kellermann