Location Buffalo, NY
Size 7775 sq ft
Date 2009
Firm Sonya Lee, project architect
Toshiko Mori Architect
Greatbatch Pavilion
The Visitor Center provides support spaces for visitors to the Darwin D. Martin House, Frank Lloyd Wright's residential complex in Buffalo, New York. Programs housed in the Visitor Center include exhibition space and permanent galleries. The design seeks to enhance the Martin House through contrast rather than imitation. The Visitor Center reinterprets the Martin House to expose the structural, infrastructural, and programmatic relationships of the historic building, while continuing Wright's lifelong interest in innovation through the exploration of new materials, technologies, and techniques. The inverted hip roof of the Visitor Center, for example, both references the form of Wright's building and allows uninterrupted viewing of the Martin House. The glass facade of the Visitor Center reflects the public nature of the building's program and contrasts with the introversion of Wright's design.
The Visitor Center has been featured in numerous publications including Architectural Review, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Record, Architect's Newspaper, Architect,and Azure Magazine.
Photography by Iwan Baan