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    Gavin L. Engler, 27
    Intern Architect
    Carol A. Wilson Architect


    “An exceptionally talented young architect, totally committed to the practice of architecture, to the quality of the work, and more specifically, to seeing Maine architectural design compete on a national level.” So writes nominator Carol A. Wilson of Forty Under 40 award-winner Gavin L. Engler, intern architect at Wilson’s architectural firm in Falmouth.

    “His work and dedication has turned the heads of Portland’s established design community,” she adds.

    A Skowhegan native, Engler earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in architecture at Norwich University in Vermont, then worked in Seattle for a short time before being drawn back to Maine’s landscape. He is a skier and a climber, and “his architectural thesis centered on the design and construction of a suspended cliff dwelling serving as a hostel for traveling climbers,” Wilson notes. “His love of the out-of-doors reinforces his commitment to as green an architecture as possible.”

    A member of the Maine Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Engler co-founded “storefront for architecture maine” and organized/ curated storefront’s first major exhibition, “maine modern: 50 years of modern architecture in maine.” He was a co-founder of The Maine Prize for Architecture, a biennial, $10,000 award honoring a significant contribution to the legacy of Maine building.

    Buildings he admires include Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill; and locally, the Edward Larrabee Barnes-designed campus at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Henry Cobb-designed Payson building at the Portland Museum of Art: “A great contribution to the city.”

    It’s a city Engler has no desire or plans to leave. “I hope to continue contributing design and architecture to the state, as well as teaching in schools the importance of design, not just in architecture, but in everything, because it affects the daily lives of everybody.”

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