Describe The Farnsworth House

The Farnsworth House is mainly know as a glass pavilion sited on stilts that takes advantage of the surrounding landscape which makes it one of the best examples that show the strong relationship between architecture and nature. The house is one of Mies’ iconic projects where the main structural elements used are steel and glass. The house is defined by eight white I-shape steel columns that support the frameworks of the roof and floors. The house is raised 5 feet and 3 inches off the ground allowing the structure to extend into the landscape because he intended the house to be light on the site to not disrupt the landscape.
The architectural proposal for the new visitor’s center follows the concept of respect the existing elements on the site. That is why, the response of the team was to develop a different architectural language to create contrast and not compete with the clean lines and shapes from the Farnsworth House. The location of the visitor’s center was determined to be closer to River Road for better and faster access to the site. As a result, the language of the new building has a triangular geometry. The triangular floor plans push people to look out to landscape. The building has two floor plans. The …show more content…
As a result, there are four elements that represent each phase of the house. The Black Maple Tree represents Dr. Farnsworth and her love for nature. Another element proposed is the Barcelona chair which is a very iconic piece by Mies van der Rohe located where he used to sit underneath the Black Maple Tree and look at the house. Finally, the footprint of the house is defined by rectangular concrete elements that are either seating area for hardscape which will function as an out