Fallingwater Presents Professional Symposium for Architects as Part of Inaugural Design + Build Studio
Fallingwater will present a professional symposium for architects as part of its inaugural Design + Build Studio on Friday, May 28, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.
The event, called Interpreting Landscape Qualities, Site Physics and Metaphysics, begins at the Barn at Fallingwater and includes academic and professional project presentations. It is jointly presented by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Pittsburgh.
The symposium will feature a preview of the exhibition, Design Competition: The New Cottages at Fallingwater, as well as a keynote address by Peter Bohlin, FAIA. The 2010 AIA Gold Medal Winner, Bohlin will highlight Fallingwater as a living design laboratory and center for exploring contemporary environmental stewardship, sustainability, and building craft issues.
During the first session, Fallingwater Institute student residents will present proposals for sculpture covers for the Fallingwater outdoor sculpture collection as well as small-scale seasonal interventions that will offer winter protection to Fallingwater’s footbath and plunge pools.
In the afternoon, Fallingwater Curator of Education Cara Armstrong will talk about Fallingwater as an educational organization. Fallingwater Institute Director John Reynolds, RA, will present information about the North American competition for a master plan to guide the development of six small-scale housing prototypes, including a design proposal for a prototypical unit that will drive expansion of educational programming at Fallingwater.
A tour of the Barn at Fallingwater, which received the 2009 Green GOOD DESIGN award from The European Center for Architecture and The Chicago Athenaeum, will then be led by Bohlin, whose firm, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, designed the Barn and has been at the forefront of the green building movement. “We’ve always viewed sustainable design as not only the right thing to do, but also an opportunity to make richer and more powerful architecture,” said Bohlin.
Bohlin’s projects have earned 14 national AIA Awards, including COTE Top Ten Green Project Awards, AIA Committee on Education and AIA Housing Awards. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was the recipient of the 1994 AIA Firm Award. Bohlin is the 66th AIA Gold Medalist. He joins the ranks of such visionaries as Thomas Jefferson (1993), Frank Lloyd Wright (1949), Louis Sullivan (1944), LeCorbusier (1961), Louis Kahn (1971), I.M. Pei (1979), Frank Gehry (1999), and Renzo Piano (2008).
Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann. It served as the family’s weekend home until 1963, when Edgar Kaufmann jr. enstrusted the house, its contents and grounds to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The Conservancy welcomes 160,000 visitors to Fallingwater annually and maintains the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve on which Fallingwater is located.
The symposium will conclude with discussion at Fallingwater and outdoor reception on the bridge.
Registration Information:
AIA Member Pricing: $120 per person
Non-member Pricing: $135 per person
Participants must register by Friday, May 21st at 4 p.m. Space is limited.
For questions and to register over the phone or email, contact Amy Kifer at Fallingwater, 724-329-7829, akifer@paconserve.org or visit www.fallingwater.org.
AIA/CES Continuing Education:
AIA members must complete 18 hours of continuing education annually. Eight hours relate to Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW) topics; four of these eight must also satisfy Sustainable Design (SD) topics. This program will fulfill all 8 learning units in the HSW and SD categories.
In-depth tours of Fallingwater, which fulfill 2 additional AIA learning units, are available the afternoon before or the morning after the symposium by advanced reservations for an additional $65.
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About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) enhances the region’s quality of life by protecting and restoring exceptional places. A nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932, WPC established six state parks and has conserved more than 228,000 acres of natural lands and waterways. The Conservancy owns and operates Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Mill Run, Pa. that symbolizes people living in harmony with nature. In addition, WPC enriches our region’s cities and towns through 140 community gardens and greenspaces that are planted with the help of 10,000 volunteers. The work of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is accomplished through the support of more than 10,000 members. For more information, visit WaterLandLife.org.
Media contact:
Stephanie Kraynick
Director of Communications
(412) 586-2358
skraynick@paconserve.org