A three-year, $7 million conservation project at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is scheduled for completion in April, finally addressing the building's endemic leaking problems and structural vulnerabilities. The project focuses on replacing waterproofing assemblies, repairing roofs, exterior walls, terraces, windows, and doors to protect the house from water infiltration and a changing climate, all while preserving its original aesthetic.
The work highlights the ongoing challenge of preserving Wright's experimental, boundary-pushing designs, which often contained engineering flaws. The conservation effort forces a reckoning with how to maintain a structure designed to harmonize with nature in an era of climate change, where the surrounding forest and even the waterfall itself may be fundamentally altered in the coming decades.