MILL RUN, PA. Fallingwater today announced that a jury has chosen Patkau Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, as the winner of its first-ever design competition for on-site cottages that will support residential educational programming at the Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork in Fayette County.

The second-place winner of the competition is Phoenix, Ariz.-based Wendell Burnette Architects, and Olson Kundig Architects of Seattle, Wash., has been chosen as the third-place winner.

Patkau Architects' winning design for six small, efficient, sustainable cottages will serve as the basis of a final design, to be implemented following regulatory approval and fundraising.

“In its subtlety, it is provocative and it carries forward the discourse about where architecture can move,” the jury said of the winning design. “Its strength is not just in what is included, but in what is left out.”

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which preserves and maintains Fallingwater, will build the cottages on the grounds of the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve that surrounds Fallingwater, some distance from the house itself. The design competition is the first that Fallingwater has sponsored for construction of new buildings on-site.

The new cottages will serve an important outreach goal by expanding lodging capacity for participants in Fallingwater Institute’s diverse educational programs. These unique, immersive educational offerings are tailored to broad age levels and interests – and to people from the Western Pennsylvania region and beyond.

“When Edgar Kaufmann, jr. entrusted Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, he envisioned education as a critical component of Fallingwater’s new role as a public resource. He saw Fallingwater as not merely available to the public, but as a force that could continue to drive the development of architecture and good design as well as advance their appreciation and understanding,” said Lynda Waggoner, director of Fallingwater and vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. “He said, ‘Fallingwater grew and still grows.’ We feel that the winning design by Patkau Architects will allow Fallingwater to grow by actively demonstrating the principles we espouse: good design in harmony with nature.”

>>    Fallingwater Announces Winner of Design Competition for On-Site Cottages

PITTSBURGH, PA. Carnegie Museum of Art will exhibit design proposals by six architectural firms for green, energy-efficient cottages to be built in the vicinity of Fallingwater at Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Situated some distance from the house, the cottages will accommodate students, teachers, academics, and researchers interested in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s greatest architect, and in the ecology of the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve surrounding this cultural landmark.

This is the first time a competition has been held for new construction at the Fallingwater property. The proposals by three American and three Canadian practices were submitted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which preserves and maintains Fallingwater, at the beginning of May, and the winning design will be announced on May 21. Presentation boards and models by each firm will be exhibited June 12–August 22 in the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art, where they will be on view to the public and to students participating in the museum’s summer architecture camps.

“We are delighted to exhibit these proposals, which represent a 21st-century interpretation of many of Wright’s concerns in the 1930s yet also address today’s pressing issues of environmental stewardship and sustainability,” said Raymund Ryan, curator of architecture at the Heinz Architectural Center.

“Contestants should not only integrate good design and modern technology into their ideas,” added Cara Armstrong, Fallingwater’s curator of education, “but also ask themselves how living in harmony with nature is inseparable from the modern ideals of good design.”

The six participating firms, each known for environmental sensitivity, are:

·    Marlon Blackwell Architect, Fayetteville, Arkansas
·    Wendell Burnette Architects, Phoenix, Arizona
·    MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Halifax, Nova Scotia
·    Olson Kundig Architects, Seattle, Washington
·    Patkau Architects, Vancouver, British Columbia
·    Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, Montreal, Quebec

The winning design should incorporate the use of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building materials. The cottages will be situated to take full advantage of natural heating and cooling opportunities and to minimize environmental impacts. Each structure should include a basic kitchen, a fireplace, and a shower, and should recycle kitchen and shower gray water for use in the toilets. They must be easily maintained during three seasons and just as easily closed over the winter.


>>    Design Competition: New Cottages at Fallingwater | Carnegie Museum of Art

The Governor General’s Medals in Architecture recognize outstanding achievement in recently built projects by Canadian architects.

This program, created by the RAIC, contributes to the development of the discipline and practice of architecture, and increases public awareness of architecture as a vital cultural force in Canadian society. These awards are administered jointly with the Canada Council for the Arts, which is responsible for the adjudication process and contributes to the publication highlighting the medal winners.

>>    Government of Canada: Honouring outstanding design with the 2010 Governor General's Medals in Architecture

>>    RAIC: Governor General's Medals in Architecture 2010 Recipients

A jury has unanimously recommended the conceptual design submitted by Patkau Architects Inc., Vancouver, with Kearns Mancini Architects Inc., Toronto, for the new Visitor Centre at Fort York National Historic Site.

Fort York National Historic Site is the birthplace of urban Toronto and the site of Canada's largest collection of 1812-era military structures. The Visitor Centre is key to the planned revitalization of the entire 17-hectare (43-acre) site, and is scheduled for completion in 2012 for the Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812.

In the recommended design, the Visitor Centre forms a new escarpment of weathering-steel, re-establishing the original sense of a defensive site. The jury noted that the success of the Patkau/Kearns Mancini collaborative design lies in the use of the steel-escarpment and a simple foreshore of grasses, which, when combined with the recently launched multi-media art installation Watertable, interpret the historic site condition of the original Lake Ontario shoreline bluff and provide a strong visual presence for the fort.

From a field of 31 architectural firms that originally expressed interest in the Visitor Centre design, five teams were invited to make conceptual design proposals. In December 2009, four teams submitted designs. After being displayed at a public open house, the anonymous designs were reviewed by a jury, which included George F. Dark, Antonio Gomez-Palacio, Rick Haldenby, Rocco Maragna, Marianne McKenna, Charles Pachter and Anthony Tung. As part of their evaluation, the jury considered a summary of public comments gathered at the open house.

Submissions were received from Patkau Architects with Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. (identified as Design A); Raw Design with Gareth Hoskins Architects (Design B); du Toit Allsopp Hillier/du Toit Architects Limited (Design C); and Baird Sampson Neuert Architects (Design D). Additional information regarding the jury and the conceptual designs is available at http://www.toronto.ca/visitorcentre.

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone (Councillor, Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina), Chair of the City of Toronto War of 1812 Bicentennial Steering Committee, praised the recommended conceptual design for creatively integrating the fort with the surrounding urban landscape.

He congratulated all the competition participants: Everyone was impressed with the high quality of all four designs, and I want to thank all of the design teams for putting so much time and effort into the process and into assisting us with one of our Citys most important historic sites.

The Visitor Centre will be designed to meet or exceed the performance targets and guidelines contained within the City's latest Green Development Standard.

The building of the Visitor Centre will facilitate a much needed change in how Fort York is perceived as a public resource. Located outside the walls of the existing museum, but within the 17-hectare (43-acre) National Historic Site, the Visitor Centre will reframe Fort York to include not only the seven-acre museum within the fort's walls, but also the archaeological landscape/former Lake Ontario shoreline to the south, the Garrison Common/battlefield, military cemeteries located at Strachan Avenue and Victoria Memorial Square, the Fort York Armoury and Garrison Creek parkland being developed to the east. The Visitor Centre will be the hub connecting visitors to the experience and content of the entire site as well as to the surrounding neighbourhoods and the city.

At the December 4 launch of the design competition open house, Mike Wallace, Member of Parliament (Burlington), was on hand on behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, to announce that the federal government, through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, had approved a grant of up to $4 million for the construction of the Visitor Centre. The City has committed $5.3 million. The Fort York Foundation will be launching its fundraising campaign early in the new year. Those wishing to make donations or receive more information should contact: fofy@sympatico.ca. The final cost of the Visitor Centre is estimated at $18 million.

Toronto is Canada's largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in delivering public services. 2009 marks the 175th anniversary of Toronto's incorporation as a city. Toronto's government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents.