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BOHLIN CYWINSKI JACKSON EMPLOY CREATIVE RENOVATION ON AN OLD BARN USED BY THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVANCY.
Although its name might suggest a closer physical relationship, the Barn at Fallingwater is located a quarter of a mile up the road from Frank Lloyd Wright's 1937 masterwork. Visually, the barn is also somewhat removed from Wright's aesthetic--the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, a nonprofit that owns both buildings, stipulated as much when commissioning the barn's transformation--but nonetheless, they do bear a resemblance. Both Fallingwater and the revamped barn are at one with nature: one through design, the other through materials.
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The conservancy maintains more than 5,000 acres of land adjacent to Fallingwater. Although it occupies offices on-site and in Pittsburgh, the organization needed more desk space and meeting rooms. It also wanted exhibition space and a retail shop that would be visible from the main county road.
At first, the conservancy thought only a new building could accommodate these needs. But since the group seeks to protect natural landscapes, and the staff felt uncomfortable with new construction, it decided to convert a nearby storage barn instead.
The Barn at Fallingwater is actually two structures set into a hillside: a large, two-level building dating from circa 1870, and a smaller, single-story addition from the early 1940s. Since barns are associated with the rural landscapes that are disappearing across Pennsylvania, the conservancy decided to restore this barn's iconic silo.
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Bohlin Cywinski Jackson...