Buildner has officially announced the winners of its international Howard Waterfall Retreat architecture competition, revealing innovative designs that reimagine multi-generational living within a pristine forested landscape in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The contest, developed in partnership with the Howard Family Trust, challenged architects worldwide to create a family retreat centered around the dramatic Howard Falls and its surrounding gorge. After reviewing numerous submissions from across the globe, the jury selected three top winners plus several special award recipients who demonstrated exceptional sensitivity to both environmental stewardship and family legacy. The winning projects showcase how contemporary architecture can harmonize with steep topography, water systems, and ecological constraints while honoring the site's historic summer cottage.
The competition brief emphasized a thoughtful dialogue between built structures and natural surroundings rather than prescribing a single architectural solution. Participants were required to balance shared communal spaces with private living areas suited for multiple generations of the same family. The steep terrain and floodplain constraints presented significant technical challenges that designers had to address through creative engineering and sustainable practices. Additionally, the brief called for designs that would respect the site's sensitive ecology while incorporating the history of the original cottage into a vision that could evolve over time. This approach attracted diverse architectural responses that reflected different cultural perspectives on landscape, memory, and domestic life.
French architect Mathieu Henri Pierre Nouhen claimed first prize with his project titled "Strata House," which preserves the historic upper structure of the original cottage while introducing a new lower-level volume subtly embedded into the terrain. The design organizes movement as a gradual descent from the arrival area to the river's edge, culminating in a communal space fully immersed in the landscape. Private functions remain on the upper floor, while the garden level hosts shared spaces including a library, kitchen, and indoor garden. Nouhen's approach minimizes architectural interventions to emphasize continuity with both site and history. His sustainability strategies include rainwater harvesting, controlled irrigation, and passive thermal cooling, with the overall composition reflecting the geological strata of the site itself.
The second prize went to an American team consisting of Aleksandra Zofia Forystek, Min Kyu Kim, and Zehua He for their "Branch" design, which retains the original cottage's pitched roof form while adding a sprawling horizontal addition. The new volumes extend outward like tree branches, each oriented to frame specific views of the river, waterfall, and forest while maintaining respectful deference to the historic structure. A generous roof deck and green roof system merge architecture with terrain, creating an elevated landscape. The plan clearly separates communal, private, and service areas while offering seamless indoor-outdoor connections across multiple levels. The team achieved structural lightness through a stilted foundation system that minimizes ground disturbance and elevates living spaces above the stream, incorporating material reuse, passive solar design, and rainwater recycling.
Third prize winner "Triptyque" by British designers Jamie Kevin Willmer and Maureen Armida Vivienne Soupe expands the program into three distinct wings representing morning, day, and evening activities. The design honors the inherited cottage while carefully navigating the landscape through low-slung forms that emphasize horizontality. Each wing responds to site exposure differently: the Howard Wing recalls the original home's legacy, the Falls Wing opens to communal life near the water's edge, and the Evening Wing offers retreat around a fire garden. A shared garden axis connects these volumes through delicate landscaping and curated views. The project integrates rainwater harvesting, green roofs, and solar energy while allowing topography, geology, and light to guide spatial sequence and atmosphere. Special awards recognized additional projects for sustainability and student innovation, demonstrating the competition's breadth of talent.
