Tall Orders for Tiny GnomE HOMES N
o architect works alone. Certainly not Frank Lloyd Wright, who surrounded himself with apprentices and builders to construct groundbreaking designs, such as Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, for hundreds of discerning clients. And not young Miles Moehle, whose inaugural design needed to satisfy a three-inch, bookish gnome named Wiby Throttletinker with seven pet snakes. Two years ago, Miles, now age 9, participated in Fallingwater’s Gnome House Design Challenge, a program for students in grades 3 through 7 who want to experience what it’s like to be an architect. “I wanted to show who I am and how creative I am,” Miles says. His first thought? “This will be impossible!” But with encouragement and support from his parents and younger brother, Miles realized “This will be possible!” Entering its 10th year in 2025, the Design Challenge has inspired more than 4,480 students from as nearby as Uniontown and as far away as Australia...students such as Miles, who might imagine their future selves designing solar-powered skyscrapers while they tinker with tiny plastic building bricks on their living room floors. In 2015, Fallingwater’s now-Curator of Education Ashley Andrykovitch saw a gap in programming for younger
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