Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 - (Page 15)

A PUBLIC SPACE It is perhaps appropriate that Wright’s Boathouse design would end up as part of the West Side Rowing Club. The club has the largest youthbased rowing program in the country, serving some 500 to 600 kids each year and has more than 80 boats. The club has turned out 10 competitors in the Olympics and 34 U.S. National team members. According to Sharon Courtin, executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Rowing Boathouse Corp., the club had outgrown its current boathouse space, and building the original Wright building would increase the club’s capacity by 20 percent. The nonprofit corporation obtained permission from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to use his plans and began raising funds for the boathouse’s construction in 2000. It took seven years to pull together the more than $5 million necessary for the project. The completed boathouse, in addition to being a working building, is open to the public for tours. It will be part of the larger draw of Wright structures in Buffalo. And even to the knowing eye, the building looks as if it might have been built in 1905. The interior, under Puttnam’s direction, is contemporaneous with Wright’s vision. Even though Wright didn’t include the interior in his original plans, Puttnam selected the kind of materials consistent with Wright’s other projects. The interior features Wright’s signature horizontal lines with wood strips on the ceiling and beautiful quarter-sawn red oak doors. On the second floor, there are diamond-paned windows under the cantilevered roof. MAY/JUNE 2008 | PRECAST SOLUTIONS 15

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Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 Contents Sustainability and Practicality Security Blanket A Frank Lloyd Wright Takes Shape Concrete Joins MENSA Precast Lightens Up

Precast Solutions - May/June 2008

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