Tredo Engineers in collaboration with HHL Architects and SITU designed the renovation, adaptive reuse, and expansion of the visitor center at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff, located on the bluffs of Lake Erie outside Buffalo, NY. Bringing together Graycliff’s historical significance, compelling landscape and renewed vision for public engagement, this project transformed undersized aesthetically unappealing structure into a cultural destination that will welcome visitors year-round!
The project expanded an existing 1800-sf concrete block gymnasium that had served as the visitor center by 3200-sf to house a larger gift shop, new service and staff facilities, a reception area, cafe, and exhibition space, while also serving as an informal and inviting buffer space between more specific uses that allows various programs to expand or retract as activities require.
Extending outward from the gym, an open, light-filled lobby space creates a new face for the building. The walls are simple consisting of only two materials: board formed finished concrete and floor-to-ceiling glass. The polished interior floor and the surrounding concrete terraces meet at the base of the windows connecting the interior and exterior spaces visually.
The board formed finished concrete is the true center of attention though. Cast in place vertically, the walls are architecturally finished on both sides sandwiching a core of rigid insulation. Utilizing post installed Dayton Superior ST100 HK Ties, a non-structural architectural wythe was bonded through the rigid insulation to a thicker structural wythe. Self-consolidating concrete was used to ensure finish quality and real wood boards lined the formwork in lieu of form liners.
The building is topped by an intensive green roof that cantilevers outward toward a restored fruit orchard creating an outdoor covered porch area. Clad in natural wood, this prominent roof feature seeks to bring the outside in and ensconce the new center within the existing landscape.
