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FARNSWORTH HOUSE:NEW VISITOR EXPERIENCE PRESERVATION AS PROVOCATION

2015-2016 International Student Design Competition

INTRODUCTIONThe 2015-16 Preservation as Provocation, International Student Design Competition challenges students and multi-disciplinary teams in architecture, preservation, landscape architecture, planning, engineering, sustainable design and other cross-disciplines, to create a new Visitor Center and approach experience for the iconic Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe in Plano, Illinois.

Solutions are encouraged to respect the Farnsworth House and site while creating an appropriate orientation and visitor services building(s) that prepares the guest for the Farnsworth experience. Solutions are encouraged to explore the relationship between historic preservation and contemporary design, landscape design, the changing climate and development patterns that result in the worsening flooding conditions, off-grid energy consumption, land use and habitat protection, heritage tourism and the design of public space. The goal of this competition is to explore how the collaboration between existing historic buildings and new design can produce uniquely thoughtful new places that negotiate the relationship between the past and the present. The solution should celebrate the past while optimistically addressing the aesthetic, cultural, spiritual, economic, practical and climactic challenges of our times.

The competition is organized by the American Institute of Architects Historic Resources Committee (AIA/HRC) along with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), a unit of the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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HISTORYFarnsworth House, one of the most photographed works of architecture in the twentieth century, inspires and challenges architects and the public. The house is a National Historic Landmark and internationally recognized as Mies van der Rohe’s residential masterpiece as it is the first domestic structure designed with glass walls on all sides and with a clear span interior without supporting internal walls. The house represents the search for architectural order and truth based on a rational approach to design. The transparent walls emphasize the complicated relationship between man and nature and the immediacy of the river heightens the awareness of the natural world. Designed between 1946-49 and constructed between 1949-51, as a retreat house for Dr. Edith Farnsworth, the house remained as a private residence until 2003, at which point it was opened to the public as a museum.

As worded in the Historic American Building Survey documentation:

In this, the Farnsworth House is the most succinct expression of the design philosophy Mies perfected in his American period; the creation of a legitimate modern architecture by fusing new industrial materials with enduring, universal principles of scale, proportion and balance. Mies’ highly individual expression, codified by a generation of American students and admirers into a ‘style’, came to dominate downtowns across the world in the second half of the twentieth century. The Farnsworth House, therefore, serves as a primer, a pellucid statement of the idea at the core of the global modern architectural movement.

LOCATION AND PROPERTY DEVELOPMENTThe Farnsworth House,named for Mies’ client, Dr. Edith Farnsworth who was a nephrologist who lived and practiced medicine in Chicago. is set within a meadow-like clearing on the edge of the Fox River near Plano, Illinois. Plano is a small city located approximately an hour and a half southwest of Chicago. The original site was a 9-acre floodplain and prairie parcel bounded by River Road to the north, Plano-Millbrook Road to the west and the Fox River as the southern boundary. A line of trees near the service drive marks the eastern boundary of the original site. In 1969, as part of a county improvement project, two acres of Dr. Farnsworth’s original parcel were acquired by the county through eminent domain. This land was used to construct a new, wider road and bridge across the Fox River 175 feet closer to the Farnsworth House than the earlier bridge and road had been. At this time, Edith Farnsworth purchased approximately 55 acres of property to the east as a protection measure. But she found that the new road location brought cars, noise and tourists too close to the house, disturbing the serenity that she had sought as a refuge from the stresses of her work in Chicago. Very soon afterwards she put the house up for sale. Lord Peter Palumbo, a British property developer and collector of fine arts and architecture, purchased the property in 1972 and kept it for 30 years before selling it in an auction in 2003. During his ownership he hired Lanning Roper a landscape architect to improve the grounds. Together they planted several hundred trees and thousands of flowering plants, generally following the British informal garden tradition. Lord Palumbo and his family used the Farnsworth House and site primarily for recreational purposes. Over time he installed a boat house for access to the Fox River, an in-ground swimming pool and a tennis court all of which are still located on the property. Palumbo and Roper also created a sculpture walk that included eighteen acres of the additional land purchased by Dr. Farnsworth. Here he installed part of his collection of large outdoor art objects.

THE PURPOSEThe Farnsworth House, one of the most important buildings of the twentieth century, is already considered by many an architectural pilgrimage site. This sublime building reflects the architectural past and is a source of inspiration for the present. While it is one of the most studied buildings from the mid-century, it has only recently become a public place. The current visitor center was constructed quickly and affordably to solve immediate visitor service needs but does not reflect the character and quality that Farnsworth represents. Also, as the site programming, staff, and offerings have developed, the current visitors center has become inadequate for current operational needs . It lacks sufficient space for the proper greeting and orientation of visitors, for visitor amenities and for staff and support functions.

Creating a design for a new building that must relate in some significant way to an iconic structure presents the designer with multiple challenges. The new building(s) should respectfully express a relationship with the historic, while at the same time rest comfortably in the present and provides insight to the physical and social context of the Farnsworth House and site. The varying relationship, over time, between served and servant spaces is but one example of the critical issues presented by this project that need to be explored. The goal of this competition is to explore how the collaboration between historic buildings and new design can produce uniquely accretive-layered landscapes. Farnsworth House has transitioned from a private retreat home to a thriving cultural site. Re-imagining the Visitors Center secures the social and economic vision of this place that is a setting for arts programming, education and inspiration as well as a dynamic and progressive house museum.


FARNSWORTH HOUSE

The Design and Construction of FarnsworthEdith Farnsworth (1903-1978) was a prominent Chicago nephrologist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University. She commissioned Mies van der Rohe, after meeting him at a dinner party, to build a retreat home on a rural floodplain parcel of land she purchased the year before. Her desire was to use the house during time off from work to pursue her personal interests – her dogs, enjoying nature, playing the violin and translating Italian poetry. Mies first visited the site in 1946 and the design was completed in 1947. It was famously included in the exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art that same year, curated by Philip Johnson who used the Farnsworth House as the inspiration for his own Glass House (New Canaan, Connecticut, 1949). Construction did not start until the fall of 1949 and Mies’s office served as the general contractor. During construction there were cost overruns and when Farnsworth did not pay the final invoice, Mies filed a suit against her for non-payment. Farnsworth counter-sued for damages and the court ruled in favor of Mies, leading to a settlement. Although their legal dispute was settled, the relationship between Farnsworth and Mies was irreparably damaged. They never spoke to each other again and Mies never saw his iconic house completed. Even after Dr. Farnsworth put the house up for sale, he refused to go out to look at it.

The Original SiteThe surrounding landscape determined the orientation of the building, which was set ten feet behind a large Black Sugar Maple tree (it died due to old age; but the wood has been salvaged) and facing the river. Mies intentionally set the finish floor elevation to be one foot higher than the highest recorded flood of the Fox River. While the house was designed for the lower deck (terrace) to flood, the main portion of the house was designed on pilotis to float above the cresting river.

The Edith Farnsworth YearsThe house was instantaneously famous, and Edith Farnsworth, an introvert, constantly had architectural tourists trying to peek at the house from the land across the river, the adjacent road or by boat or kayak. The boldest, to get a better view climbed over the fence and walked up to the house . She is quoted as saying “The truth is that in this house with its four walls of glass I feel like a prowling animal, always on the alert…I can rarely stretch out and relax” (House Beautiful, May 1953). The insects on the site were unbearable, so she added bronze screens to the upper porch deck (now removed, see photo) that were painted black. She did little to cultivate the the landscape. She used the contractor’s drive (no longer extant) as her entrance and parked adjacent to the building. The surrounding landscape was naturalized but peppered with a few specimen trees and more natural growth trees and bushes lined the edge of the river. The land east, north and south of her, was owned by the McCormick family and used for experimental farming and other agricultural purposes. Mies never got the chance to design any furniture for this building. It was furnished eclectically by Dr. Farnsworth with furniture mostly from her apartment in Chicago.


The Lord Peter Palumbo YearsWhen Palumbo, an architecture aficionado, purchased the house, he removed the screens, constructed a more formal, curved arrival driveway lined with a variety of maple trees and retained Mies grandson, Dirk Lohan, an architect, to furnish the house in the manner he felt Mies would have if he had been given the opportunity. This resulted in the interior of the house being a close approximation of his concept of the Miesien ideal.

Peter Palumbo actively engaged the land with the assistance of the American-born, British landscape architect, Lanning Roper. They created a horticulture plan and trail system referred to as the sculpture walk. Palumbo commissioned and collected sculpture for this walk by Andy Goldsworthy, Anthony Caro, Alexander Calder, Richard Sera, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenberg, and Ellsworth Kelly. Palumbo also added the boathouse, the swimming pool, and the tennis court.

The National Trust and Landmarks Illinois YearsThe Farnsworth House was the first architecture sold by an arts auction house, Sotheby’s, demonstrating how the house straddled between the art and architecture worlds. It was purchased by two preservation organizations and a group of supporters led by Chicago philanthropists to underscore their commitment to saving important Modernist architecture, to having a positive impact on how modern architecture is viewed, to making the house available to the public and to keeping it from being dismantled and relocated to another site; possibly overseas.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois have added the bridge that spans Rob Roy Creek, the Ipe bridge over a small swale at the original eastern edge of the property, the visitor center and Barnsworth, a design-build studio project (IIT, professor Frank Flury) created to exhibit the wardrobe which was restored after the last flood, but not returned to the house. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois added the Ipe Bridge over a small swale at the original eastern edge of the property and updated the current visitor center, which along with the Rob Roy Creek bridge dates from Palumbo’s time. Barnsworth, the circular structure near the visitor center was a design-build project by architecture students at IIT, led by professor Frank Plury. It was created to exhibit the wardrobe that was damaged by the last flood and restored. It will be stored there until the risk of flooding has been addressed.

The Landscape TodayThe National Register Nomination identifies the period of significance as 1951 and the features of the property that relate to that period include the House, the garage, and the older trees. The current site is divided by Rob Roy Creek and over the years the former sculpture walk has become a forested glen between the visitors center and the Farnsworth House. The land, to the east of the current visitor center is still used agriculturally. The National Trust rents it to a local farmer who alternates bean and corn crops.

The majority of the land to the east of the site, north across River Road and south across the river is state owned park land that is used for hunting, fishing and other recreational uses. There are a few single family homes on the north side of River Rod towards the west end of the property. There is also a pasture that a local farmer uses to graze cattle.

Current Flood Mitigation The Fox River begins in Wisconsin near Wakesha and flows south into the Illinois River, draining an area of over 2000 square miles before it arrives at Farnsworth. The Farnsworth House has been flooded by the river numerous times because the calculations done by Mies based on the information available at the time, proved to be inaccurate. Each flood, even those that do not enter the house damage elements of the building. The more serious ones destroy parts of the fabric of the building as well. Due to continuing urbanization of the Fox River watershed, hydrologists who have modeled the river have concluded that the frequency and intensity of flooding will increase over time, inundating the house on average every 7 years.

The owner of the house and the land, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the easement holder, Landmarks Illinois are committed to mitigating the risk of the house being flooded. For more information on the flood mitigation project, visit www.Farnsworthproject.org

Competition Program Credits Ashley R. Wilson, AIA, ASID, Graham Gund Architect, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Maurice D. Parrish, Executive Director, Farnsworth House, National Trust for Historic Preservation Rie Yamakawa, Architectural Intern, National Trust for Historic Preservation

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PROGRAM REQUIREMENTSThe program for the new Visitors Center should accommodate a maximum annual visitorship of between 15,000-18,000 per year, provide space for a greater range of programs and events and improve the overall visitor experience.

The new Visitors Center should be around 5,000-6,000 sq. ft. but this program is purposefully ‘loose’.

Farnsworth is located in the Midwest which experiences harsh winters. There are no public tours of Farnsworth during winter months but the visitor center remains open for staff who work year round and for private tours that are offered, weather permitting. Outdoor spaces are seasonal and can be designed to support lectures, picnic areas, art space, and gathering spaces and spaces for quiet contemplation.The landscape between the new Visitor center and the Farnsworth House should be designed and included as part of the overall program. An exterior event space should also be designed for special property uses. Design the event space to accommodate an event attended by 125 people in a variety of seated configurations. This might be an area that can be covered by a tent or tensile structure.

Proposed Spaces

Lobby/Tickets 300 sqft Toilets 475 sqft Staff Office 400 sqft Staff Kitchen + Break Room* 600 sqft Multi-Purpose Room 900 sqft Interpretive Exhibits Gallery 600 sqft Conference Room 300 sqft Gift Shop with Storage 1,000 sqft General Storage 360 sqft Circulation/Walls 225 sqft Mechanical Room 140 sqft Covered Patio** 600 sqft (for 60 people) Total: 5,900 sqft (5,000-6,000 is allowable)

* Kitchen may be minimally outfitted. This space will also serve as prep area for catered events. It should be out of site of visitors. ** Covered patio is designed, but not conditioned space Parking

Bus Parking 2 spaces Daily Parking 30 spaces, includes daily parking for staff Event Parking 20 spaces for overflow on the lawn


RESOURCES

Visiting FarnsworthWe suggest that if possible, you visit the site because Farnsworth should be experienced. If you are able to visit the site individually or with a class, please contact the Farnsworth House at 630-552-0052 to make special arrangements. [email protected].

Documents/ImagesDownload images of the Farnsworth House, site, and flooding along with drawings of the existing structures, site and landscaping here:http://www.acsa-arch.org/docs/default-source/competition-documents/15-16-farnsworth-documents-images.zip?sfvrsn=2

Research• Aubert, Danielle, editor, et al Thanks for e View, Mr. Mies, Metropolis Books, 2012.• Benjamin, Susan. Historic American Building Survey: Edith Farnsworth House (narrative). Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1974.• Brown, Jane. Lanning Roper & His Gardens. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987.• Calkins, Meg. The Sustainable Sites Handbook: A Complete Guide to the Principles, Strategies, and Best Practices for Sustainable

Landscapes. Wiley Series in Sustainable Design, 2012.• Carroon, Jean. Sustainable Preservation Greening Existing Buildings, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010.• Friedman, Alice T. “People who live in glass houses; Edith Farnsworth, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Philip Johnson, “ American

Architectural History: A Contemporary Reader, Keith L. Eggener, ed. New York, Routledge, 2004.• Global Architectural Detail, Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth House, (GA Drawings), 1976, A.D.A. Edita Tokyo, Japan.• Johnson, Philip. Mies van der Rohe, The Museum of Modern Art; originally published 1947.• Lambert, Phyllis, ed. Mies in America; Canadian Centre for Architecture and Harry N. Abrams, 2001.• Richard Longstreth, Susan Calafate Boyle, Susan Buggey and Michael Caratzas Cultural Landscapes: Balancing Nature and Heritage in

Preservation Practice (2008).• Mertins, Detlef, Mies, Phaidon Press, 2013• Mertins, Detlef, The Presence of Mies Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.• Neumeyer, Fritz. The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art, MIT Press, 1991.• Schulz, Franz, Mies van der Rohe a Critical Biography, The University of Chicago Press, 1985• Schulz, Franz, Mies van der Rohe: Critical Essays, The Museum of Modern Art; distributed by The MIT Press, 1989.• Stewart Brand, How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built, 1994. New York, NY: Viking.• Tyler, Norman. Historic Preservation: Introduction to its History, Principles, and Practice. New York and London, W.W. Norton and Company,

Inc. 2000.• Ueda, Yoshihiko, Mies van der Rohe: Photographs by Yoshihiko Ueda, Kajima Institute Publishing, 2013.• Williamson, Kenneth. Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites. New York City: Routledge, 2010.


COMPETITION GUIDELINES

Schedule Summer 2015 Competition AnnouncedFall 2015 Registration Begins (there is no fee for registration) March 30, 2016 Registration DeadlineMay 11, 2016 Submission DeadlineJuly 2016 Prize winners chosen by the design jurySummer 2016 Announcement of competition winners

AwardsThe design jury will convene in July 2016 to select winning projects and honorable mentions. Winning students, their faculty sponsors, and schools will receive cash prizes totaling $10,000, with distribution as follows:

First Prize Second Prize Third Prize Student/Team $3,500 Student/Team $2,250 Student/Team $1,500 Faculty Sponsor $1,500 Faculty Sponsor $750 Faculty Sponsor $500

Prizewinning submissions will be exhibited at the 2017 ACSA Annual Meeting and the 2017 AIA National Convention. A limited number of honorable mentions may also be awarded at the jury’s discretion. Winners and their faculty sponsors will be notified of the competition results directly. A list of winning projects will be posted on the ACSA web site at www.acsaarch.org.

EligibilityThe competition is open to upper level students (third year or above, including graduate students) from all ACSA member schools (full, candidate, domestic and international programs). All student entrants are required to work under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Entries will be accepted for individual as well as team solutions. Teams must be limited to a maximum of five students. Submissions should be principally the product of work in a design studio or related class.

RegistrationFaculty who wish to enroll students must complete an online Registration Form (available at www.acsa-arch.org/competitions) by March 30, 2016. Complete a form for each individual student or team of students participating. Students or teams wishing to enter the competition on their own must have a faculty sponsor, who should complete the form. There is no entry or submission fee required to participate in the competition. Each registered student and faculty sponsor will receive a confirmation email that will include information on how to upload your final submission online.

Faculty ResponsibilityThe administration of the competition at each institution is left to the discretion of the faculty sponsor(s) within the guidelines set forth in this document. Work on the competition should be structured over the course of one semester during the 2015-2016 academic year.

Evaluation CriteriaEach faculty sponsor is expected to develop a system to evaluate the work of the students using the criteria set forth in this program. The evaluation process should be an integral part of the design process, encouraging students to scrutinize their work in a manner similar to that of the jury. The final result of the design process will be a submission of up to four presentation boards describing the design solution. In addressing the specific issues of the design challenge, submissions must clearly demonstrate the design solution’s response to the following requirements:

• Clearly express a concept for the architectonic transformation of the site.• Enhance the historic significance of the existing property and landscapes.• Demonstrate an articulate mastery of formal concepts and aesthetic values.• Solve the functional requirements of the problem in an architectural manner.• Create new ways to experience the site in light of human needs and social responsibilities.• Integrate new “green” technology into the existing buildings in an aesthetically responsible way, and exhibit a mature awareness of environmental issues.


SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTSEach presentation must directly address the criteria outlined in the Design Challenge and Criteria for Judging and must include (but are not limited to) the following required drawings: site plan showing the surrounding buildings, topography, and circulation patterns; floor plans; elevations and building sections sufficient to show site context and major program elements; large-scale drawing(s), either orthographic or three-dimensional; a three-dimensional representation in the form of either an axonometric, perspective, or model photographs, one of which should illustrate the character of the project.

Submission must include:

4 digital boards at 20” x 20”Submissions must be designed on no more than four 20” x 20” digital boards.

The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on the boards. All boards are required to be uploaded through the ACSA website in Portable Document Format (PDF) or Image (JPEG) Files. Participants should not use text or graphics that cross over from board to board. Incomplete or undocumented entries will be disqualified. All drawings should be presented at a scale appropriate to the design solution and include a graphic scale and north arrow.

A Design Essay/AbstractA brief essay, 500 words maximum, (in English) is required as part of the submission describing the most important concepts of the design project. Keep in mind that the presentation should graphically convey the design solution and context as much as possible, and not rely on the design essay to convey a basic understanding of the project. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear in the design essay.

ONLINE PROJECT SUBMISSIONEntries must be uploaded through the ACSA Competition website at www.acsa-arch.org/competitions by 5:00 pm, Eastern Time, on May 11, 2016. If the Submission is from a team of students all student team members will have the ability to upload the digital files. Once the final submit button is pressed no additional edits, uploads, or changes can be made. Once the final Submission is uploaded and submitted each student will receive a confirmation email notification.

A final submission must contain the following:• Completed online submission information including all Team Members and Faculty Sponsors;• Each of the four 20”x20” boards uploaded individually as a high resolution Portable Document Format (PDF) or Image (JPEG) Files;• A Design Essay/Abstract.

The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on any of the submitted material. Winning projects will be required to submit original files/images for use in competition publications and exhibit materials.


COMPETITION ORGANIZERS Presented by the American Institute of Architects, Historical Resources Committee (AIA, HRC) & Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is a nonprofit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. The school membership in ACSA has grown from 10 charter members to over 250 schools in several membership categories throughout the world. Through these schools, over 5,000 architecture faculty are represented. ACSA provides a major forum for ideas on the leading edge of architectural thought. Issues that will affect the architectural profession in the future are being examined today in ACSA member schools.

Since 1857, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has represented the professional interests of America’s architects. As AIA members, over 83,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners express their commitment to excellence in design and livability in our nation’s buildings and communities. Members adhere to a code of ethics and professional conduct that assures the client, the public, and colleagues of an AIA-member architect’s dedication to the highest standards in professional practice. The mission of the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) is to identify, understand, and preserve architectural heritage, both nationally and internationally. HRC is engaged in promoting the role of the historic architect within the profession through the development of information and knowledge among members, allied professional organizations, and the public. The educational goal of the AIA HRC is to integrate an understanding of preservation practice into the preparation of all architects, and to demonstrate that the design values for practice are universal.

COMPETITION SPONSORNational Center for Preservation Technology Training (NCPTT) advances the application of science and technology to historic preservation. Working in the fields of archeology, architecture, landscape architecture and materials conservation, the Center accomplishes its mission through training, education, research, technology transfer and partnerships.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, works to save America’s historic places. We are the cause that inspires Americans to save the places where history happened. The cause that connects us to our diverse pasts, weaving a multi-cultural nation together. The cause that transforms communities from places where we live into places that we love. As the nation’s leading voice of preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is focused on saving America’s historic places. These are the places that tell our stories, offer unique and memorable experiences today, and promise a vibrant future for the generations of tomorrow. Chartered by Congress in 1949, today’s National Trust has become the organization its founders envisioned: the vigorous leader of an expansive movement that is changing the face of America.

Designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1945 and constructed in 1951, the Farnsworth House is a vital part of American iconography, an exemplary representation of both the International Style of architecture as well as the modern movement’s desire to juxtapose the sleek, streamline design of Modern structure with the organic environment of the surrounding nature.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONProgram updates, including information on jury members as they are confirmed, may be found on the ACSA web site at www.acsaarch.org/competitions. By submitting your project, you certify that you have granted ACSA permission to use all graphics included. ACSA reserves the right to publish drawings, written descriptions, photographs of entries, and the names of student entrants, without compensation.Additional questions on the competition program and submissions should be addressed to:

Eric Wayne Ellis, Director of Operation and ProgramsAssociation of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 1735 New York Avenue NW | Washington, DC 20006Tel: 202.785.2324e-mail: [email protected]