The 2015-16 Preservation as Provocation, International Student Design Competition challenged 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 were 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 had the most participation of any Preservation as Provocation competition yet, with 459 total participants from 34 different architecture schools. The jury met in July and the winning submissions can be viewed on the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) website.
The winning projects will also be on view at the 2017 ACSA Annual Meeting in Detroit (March 23-25) and the AIA convention in Orlando (April 27-29).
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.