Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater Institute gets sleek expansion

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ), the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-founded architectural practice best known for its iconic designs for Apple stores in New York City, France, and Japan, has completed four new dwellings at High Meadow, the Fallingwater Institute’s home base for its summer residency program.

The architecture, artist, and design residency to study the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece quickly outgrew the its original structure, a 1960s cabin with four bedrooms located on a historic farm adjacent to Fallingwater. The resulting plan, designed by the firm’s Pittsburgh studio, doubled the property’s capacity by way of simple wooden cabin-like “portals” that frame views of the surrounding landscape.

The entrance is made up of a central screened porch that joins the existing building with the new construction and also acts as a communal dining and outdoor gathering space. The horizontal screen, made of Norway Spruce harvested and milled on site, extends along a walkway that leads to the four individual dwellings.

Perched above the ground on a network of “nimble” steel columns, the High Meadow residency includes minimal decoration and furniture, with each abode containing just a desk, closet, bathroom, and two twin beds.

The newly expanded Fallingwater Institute will reopen this spring for its second season of increased operation. High Meadow received the 2016 AIA Pennsylvania Silver Medal, the highest honor given by the Institute's Pennsylvania chapter. Take a look below.

Photo by Alexander Denmarsh