The Architectural Review's July/August 2026 issue, themed around industrial building, carries an essay by Michael Snyder on a tequila factory in Jalisco designed jointly by Estudio Macías Peredo and Atelier ARS. The piece sits inside a broader package on how industry is reshaping architecture, alongside essays on a fly-protein plant in Brazil and AI-driven construction.
The building in question belongs to La Hacienda, the 50-acre production and visitor complex that Clase Azul México opened to the public on May 22, 2026, north of Guadalajara. Coverage from Dezeen, Wallpaper and The Spirits Business corroborates the outline: the site was assembled starting in 2016, ground broke in 2017, and the estate took roughly a decade to complete before its reserved-visit opening this spring.
Five firms, one masterplan
Clase Azul founder Arturo Lomelí commissioned five Guadalajara-based studios rather than running a conventional design competition. Atelier ARS, Elías Rizo Arquitectos, Estudio Macías Peredo, Tacher Arquitectos and Huber Design Studio each took a building, with Atelier ARS acting as master planner. Estudio Macías Peredo designed the distillery and ceramics workshops, described in Wallpaper's account as a hexagonal, honeycomb-like arrangement of production spaces, while Atelier ARS built the bottling nave, warehouse and office structure with a sawtooth roof, Catalan vaults and load-bearing brick. Reported land figures vary slightly across outlets, from just under 22 hectares in Dezeen and Wallpaper's reporting to 50 acres on Clase Azul's own site, a gap likely reflecting different survey boundaries rather than a factual dispute.
What the buildings actually hold
Beyond the architecture press treatment, production details have surfaced in consumer coverage. The distillery houses six masonry ovens, two tahona stone mills, eight fermentation tanks and six copper stills custom-made in Scotland and shaped to echo the brand's decanter silhouette. Builders used more than one million handmade bricks along with volcanic stone and excavated earth from the site itself. Atelier ARS's warehouse and office building was shortlisted in the Brick Award 26 competition's Working Together category, cited for its sawtooth clay-tile roof and use of regionally produced brick and salvaged stone.
The tourism economics
La Hacienda is launching with two paid formats capped at ten guests per group: a roughly 4.5-hour Discover tour priced at $280, and a seven-hour Live experience at $600 that includes a six-course pairing dinner at the estate's restaurant, OYA. That structure, and the scarcity built into small group sizes, points to Clase Azul treating the site as brand theater rather than a conventional distillery tour. It follows the February opening of Casa de los Leones, a Mexico City brand home in a renovated Polanco mansion, part of a broader push by founder Arturo Lomelí to extend Clase Azul beyond the bottle into hospitality and design.
What we have and have not scored
Clase Azul is in our database, though not among our higher-scoring houses. Our blind panel rated Clase Azul Plata at 79 and Clase Azul Reposado at 80, both carrying an Unverified purity status. Historically, Clase Azul's tequila has been produced under NOM 1416 at a facility in the Jesús María area of Arandas, a plant that has also produced other brands. Nothing in the current reporting confirms whether tequila now flowing through La Hacienda's stills carries a new NOM registration or represents a shift in the brand's actual production chain versus a visitor-facing showcase built alongside existing operations. That distinction matters to buyers more than the architecture does, and it remains unresolved in the public record.
What we are watching
We're watching whether Mexico's tequila regulator lists a new NOM number tied to La Hacienda, which would confirm the site is doing more than hosting tours. We're watching whether Clase Azul discloses agave sourcing and diffuser use for whatever is actually distilled on site, information that would bear on purity verification. We're watching the Brick Award 26 final results for the Atelier ARS warehouse building, and whether other architecture outlets follow The Architectural Review's lead with independent site visits rather than brand-supplied photography. And we're watching whether La Hacienda's opening moves the needle on Clase Azul's retail pricing or availability, given the brand's tequilas already range from roughly $140 to $2,000 a bottle.