Intersight 23 by University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo

The School of Architecture and Planning University at Buffalo The State University of New York 125 Hayes Hall Buffalo, NY 14214-8030 ap.buffalo.edu ap.buffalo.edu/intersight

Intersight is an annual publication that highlights the work of the students at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo. The intent of this journal is to record and discuss current academic and cultural activities of the school. This issue includes coursework completed throughout the calendar year of 2020. All photographs and drawings are courtesy of the Visual Resources Center, contributors, and students unless otherwise noted. Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent volumes. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, except for copying permitted by section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press. Every effort has been made to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinions, or statements appear in this journal. The data and opinions appearing in the articles herein are the responsibility of the contributor concerned. Editor: Charles Wingfelder Assistant Editor: Katelyn Broat Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Cramer Editorial Committee: Martha Bohm, Dennis Maher Editorial Assistance: Barbara Carlson, Joelle Haseley, Rachel Teaman Printed by Chakra Communications, Inc. Typeset in Gotham © 2021 School of Architecture and Planning University at Buffalo, The State University of New York All rights reserved 23 | First Edition Cataloging-in-Publication Data Intersight Volume 23 ISBN: 978-0-9973650-8-5

TWENTY THREE

letter from the dean

Emerging from Disruption

Dean Robert G. Shibley 8

As the journal of student work for the year 2020, Intersight 23 chronicles the School of Architecture and Planning’s inspired response to a historic moment. It is an honest and hopeful exploration of how a community of students and their faculty struggled, adapted and grew together during a time of unrelenting challenge. The body of student work cataloged here is the ultimate triumph, revealing that out of the disruption we have emerged with new insight, agency and aspirations for a better world.

Continuing Traditions The following pages put on full display the spirit of enterprise and collective action that carried us through the past year. Through meticulous reportage, thoughtful reflection and artful presentation, Brunkow Fellow and Intersight 23 editor Charles Wingfelder (MArch ’21) has captured the intellectual currents of the School at a pivotal moment in time, documenting student work generated over the course of 2020. Curated and produced with the guidance of a stellar faculty committee, the book joins a more than 30-year tradition of annual Intersight publications supported by the generous endowment of Kathryn Brunkow Sample and former UB President Steven Sample.

Healing through Reflection In their interviews and conversations with students and faculty, Wingfelder and assistant editor Katelyn Broat dig deep into the hearts and minds of our community. These forums for open student-to-student dialogue offer us a space to record, make meaning, and, in a sense, heal. The sense of loss from learning at a distance, and without the full intensity of hands on, in person learning, is real. But so are the victories: organizing nearly 100 first-year architecture students into small “pods” to allow students to learn in person during their foundational year; leveraging the flexibility of Zoom to engage new partners and community members in an urban planning studio on public housing in Buffalo; diving into the immediacy and dynamism of Miro-based desk crits; maintaining the annual regatta for our junior “Tectonics of Buoyancy” studio; and – last spring, during the peak of the pandemic – shifting a design-build graduate studio on terra cotta to an intensive endeavor in sculpting from home. Together we found ways to pivot, problem-solve, and sustain the hands-on, collaborative learning that defines our School.

Sticking to our Principles Amidst the shifting currents of the past year, we were anchored by our core values and guiding principles. Intersight 23 captures a School with renewed focus, clarity of purpose and resolve to act upon the grand global challenges of the day. Responding to the calls to action around us, students have generated powerful and paradigm-shifting work – new perspectives, new ideas, and new ways of working. Rising to the surface are our inclinations to make and work with material and form; to engage the immediacy of our environment; to design and plan for and with the communities we serve; and to push for the design and planning of resilient, vibrant and just places. And so while we have all felt the distance of the past year – academically, socially, emotionally – Intersight reminds us that all along we have been in this together. The book is in itself a convening of our community – a heartening look at who we are and the values that bridge the divide. In documenting a year like no other, Intersight 23 stands out among the volumes. We invite you to join us in celebrating our students and the hope they offer for a better world for all.

reflection: Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Daniel B. Hess, Professor and Chair 10

In planning, design, development, and preservation, our approach to education is place-based and people-based. This is a reflection of the ways in which we engage communities and offer pathways for improvement to help address pressing challenges. Some faculty report that they are able to offer instruction in a focused way via digital conferencing tools. Certain class discussion are enhanced through digital conferencing, and some students are emboldened to engage more in discussions and group activities via Zoom than they would in an on-the-ground classroom. In particular, the engaged teaching and learning setting of a studio-workshop course has sometimes been enhanced through digital conference, where team building and collaboration can happen and flourish. Students have benefited from experts and professionals from throughout the U.S. and across the globe visiting their classrooms as everyone adjusted to life in the pandemic and became more comfortable delivering presentations via Zoom. Our faculty members and instructors strive to create an inclusive learning environment that takes into account unique circumstances for class members and challenges that students might experience. We do miss, however, the opportunity to assemble together in activated shared space for teaching and learning, to engage with client and community groups who are participants in and consumers of our work, and to experience first-hand the places that are the sites of our interventions in planning, design, development, and preservation. Our faculty members have demonstrated both resilience and flexibility during the pandemic in the continuation of their research and scholarship. This is a point of pride for us. Faculty members have applied for - and been awarded - more research grants. I consider this a significant accomplishment in our remote work environments and given all of the complications that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought us. Many faculty researchers have adjusted/modified their research programs to accommodate experiences related to the pandemic. In the department chair’s office, Norma Everett and I miss seeing students on a day-to-day basis, but we have smoothly adjusted advising, student support, and other administrative aspects of students’ academic programs to a distance/remote format. This has been effective so far; however, we look forward to a return to greater in-person engagement. We are in the process of gauging the after-effects of our pivot to remote learning during the pandemic. Some aspects of remote instruction may remain with us. And we will take away certain things we discovered about teaching and learning planning, design, development, and preservation. In planning the future of our academic programs, we will keep in mind the student experience, as we try to create inclusive settings for engaged learning.

In March 2020, the transformation was abrupt and sweeping. It was also imperfect, and particularly upending for a department largely defined by “hands-on” learning. There have always been uncertainties and experiments in the training of architects. Modern architects pondered how to integrate new structural and material technologies; the digital revolution prodded questions about digital and analog learning, design, and construction; and the economic collapse of 2008 posed an existential threat to architectural practice, relaunching speculation on the future of the profession. But the current epoch of rising social awareness (and tension) – coupled with the immense economic, social, and health stressors of the pandemic (and, again, existential reflections on humanity) – may have as transformative an effect on architectural education as any prior era. While the spring 2020 term was closing out and planning for the fall term was beginning, the murder of George Floyd – and many, many Black women and men before and after – elevated international mindfulness of systemic racism not only in policing but also in healthcare, employment, housing, and beyond. Faculty, staff, and students in the department took on the important work of revisioning architectural education in this light as well – engaging critical discussions on the ways in which architectural history, the profession, and the built environment have exacerbated marginalization, exploitation, and disparities related to race, gender, disability, and other factors. And awareness has grown that educational systems do not consist only of curricular structures and assignments. The culture of architectural education is equally, maybe more so, about “desk crits” with professors, evenings alone in the computer lab, studio conversations with friends, study groups in the library, and working an internship. Not only have the pedagogies and technologies of architectural education changed but so have daily routines and the places in which those routines play out. I’m speaking beyond the shift from the studio to the bedroom workspace. We don’t ride the bus (as much). We don’t hang out in the coffee shop (as long). We don’t gather together in a restaurant or at someone’s home. We don’t pass randomly in the corridors of Crosby, and experience improvisational conversations of joy, frustration, or grief. But true learning is spatial and emotional, sometimes unexpected. We remember things in context – in a place and with the feelings. Remote, digital education has a knack for flattening space, time, and emotion – and maybe the depth of learning. Maybe we can see an optimistic side: the built environment matters. Schools, hospitals, parks, and museums are not simply a backdrop for activities of daily living; these places have direct impacts on learning, health, socialization, and self-reflection. While I am deeply saddened by the lives lost and negatively impacted by both the pandemic and racial injustices, I am grateful for the unique, counter-point vision we’ve gotten the past year. Without it, we might not be able to see the norms of architectural education we had. Now, more than in prior epochs of contemplation, we might see what forms of learning we aspire to achieve.

reflection: Department of Architecture

Korydon Smith, Professor and Chair 11

INTRODUCTION

Charles Wingfelder

intersight 23 This year's edition of our student journal is a slice of work and conversations taken during a moment of dramatic change in how and where we learn and collaborate. The separation required during the COVID-19 pandemic meant that we had to mostly abandon our traditional methods and places of learning, and rapidly innovate the ways in which we collectively work. The calendar year of 2020 was packed with historical significance, which made identifying the topic of Intersight 23 very difficult. We chose to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was the force that most directly disrupted our patterns of life. However, we made this choice with the acknowledgment that other major movements of the year, including equity and racial justice, would be represented through the work and activism of our students and faculty.

Adapting Through the pandemic, we have gone through many different phases of isolation, reopening and further restriction. Even with vaccines rapidly being deployed, it seems likely that in the coming years we will live through a gradient of isolation, experiencing many in-between states. Similarly, our learning format during 2020 is a gradient from fully in-person, to fully remote. This volume is a selection of student work from a variety of course formats. From the Spring semester are examples of work that began completely in-person and ended completely remote. The work from Summer studios and seminars showcase that produced completely remote in an intense, condensed format. And from the Fall semester are examples of work produced in a variety of models, with a gradient of instructional formats from completely in-person to completely remote, and many hybrid courses that occasionally occupied both. The dramatic arc of 2020 and our navigation of the pandemic-era restrictions demonstrate the ingenuity, resiliency, and creative problem solving that our faculty, staff, and students are capable of. By quickly adapting to and experimenting with new ways to hold class remotely, we were able to continue the Spring semester, even if the final result wasn’t what everyone had originally expected. And through careful planning and thorough masking and distancing policies, many students were able to take part in some on-campus experiences in the Fall.

Place imagery

Photo: Brian Wilder

The photos, drawings, and screenshots highlighted in purple are intended to archive the “places” of work during the pandemic. They highlight home work spaces, a distanced return to campus, the infinite Zoom room, and digital collaboration on Miro. Although the latter two are not “places” in the physical sense, Zoom has become the primary place for class, office hours, presentations, celebrations, and social hours. Over the course of 2020, we have spent an enormous number of hours in this single, uniform space. As it is an environment we will likely continue

to inhabit, there is an opportunity to reimagine what the human experience in the digital realm should be.

Conversations Through a series of conversations, the Intersight team sought to capture stories that represented the variety of places and methods in which we worked during the year 2020. Initially, we wondered if the format of the course would have an impact on the work produced. We largely found that not to be the case. Whether completely in-person, completely remote, or a hybrid combination, students and faculty continued to pursue issues of larger social importance. We began by having conversations over Zoom with faculty to understand the context of courses taught during this extraordinary year, then continued on to reach out to students. Assistant Editor Katelyn Broat and myself spoke with groups of students that represent different and illustrative learning experiences through the rocky year; those who were part of studios that were significantly disrupted, continued smoothly, and perhaps even experimented with innovative new formats. For some students, the experience of remote learning was downright grueling, leaving them feeling deprived of the education and social interaction they were expecting. Others were very positive, grateful for the flexibility and efficiency of remote learning. Most students fell in the middle, acknowledging the difficulties of learning from home — whether they were technical, motivational, or sibling related — but still holding on to an overall view that together we have all pulled together, and these difficult semesters have been surprisingly successful. When it came to returning to campus, there was also a mix of responses, with some students appreciating the opportunity to gather and learn together, while others felt that the precautions necessary for those gatherings actually made the situation less personal than meeting remotely. Going forward, it will be important to cherish the peer-to-peer learning that is such an integral part of the student experience at the School. We may have taken this somewhat for granted in the past. For much of the history of education in architecture we have relied on the natural exchange of skills and knowledge from one student to another, but as the conversations around this issue demonstrate, it is just as important in planning. The loss of the physical space where that has traditionally occurred has cast a glaring spotlight on the importance of student-to-student exchange. To ensure the continuity of this exchange, and to bolster our resiliency in the face of a future health emergency, we need to not only more consciously give credit to and encourage participation in this exchange in-person, but also find better ways to continue that exchange virtually. It is our hope that by sharing this collection of stories here in Intersight — one of our more traditional platforms for sharing work — we can, as a community, reflect on how we work during a pandemic. We can consider what this strange period in history means for the educational experience in the moment, and begin to consider how these new methods and places will shape that experience further into the future.

Contents CONVERSATION: sculpting from home

neighborhood walk resilience hub fitting in the fifth ugliest college campus in America

22 26 30 34

CONVERSATION: continuing collaborative research

CONVERSATION: beginning in the distance

restoring scajaquada creek victorian dreams architectural alchemy botanical garden master plan

42 46 50 54

solitude pavilion 64 manufactured housing 68 good neighbors 72 villusion 76 CONVERSATION: navigating the return to campus

urban life: self + society 84 efflorescence 88 people in place 92 market farm stands 96 CONVERSATION: hybrid remote bonding

adaptive architecture study upstate road train architectural sketching & the built environment regional economic development & equity CONVERSATION: remote racial justice

102

106 108 112 116 122

playing against type 124 near-term strategies for the northland campus 128 off-the-grid 132 anachronistic spaces 136 CONVERSATION: the flexibility of a virtual finale

domesticity and mass-customization methods in preservation transformable shells trellis at silo city

140

144 148 152 156

CONVERSATION: sculpting from home

SPRING MATERIAL CULTURE STUDENTS Leticia Avila Connor Harrigan Hayley Davis 18

The Material Culture Graduate Research Group in the Department of Architecture is often interested in the physical properties of substances, their tactile qualities, and how they can be formed and used in different applications. Students taking studios in this GRG often spend long hours in the Fabrication Workshop, physically making prototypes and large-scale installations. A studio titled Manus et Machina, taught by Miguel Guitart, assistant professor of architecture, in the spring of 2020 set out to explore how processes involving the human hand could be combined with mechanized processes to generate a proposal for a small outdoor public platform that would be built at full scale and installed on South Campus at the end of the semester.

actual material they would be using to construct the full-scale build. Through the first half of the semester they built several prototypes and mockups in the shop, mostly focusing on the Manus part of the process, before moving on to more precision. They intended to begin exploring the Machina portion of their project after the spring break, but were disappointed that they wouldn't have that chance. As the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly became apparent, all campus facilities were closed to contain the spread of the virus, which meant they would not be able to continue working in the Fabrication Workshop in Parker Hall.

Making on Campus

Working separately from home they continued to explore their chosen material. With their bulk purchase they certainly had plenty of it! Through more hand modeling, each of the team members explored the material and their concept at different scales. Without the option of the final installation, the program of the project was expanded to be a larger, hypothetical structure, and

This team of three students, Leticia Avila, Connor Harrigan, and Hayley Davis, were working with terra cotta, exploring the material's sensuous properties, and its strength in different forms. Thinking ahead to the campus installation, the group purchased a large amount of clay upfront so that they could experiment directly with the

Staying Connected through Group Work

Hayley Davis' cat examines her site model

the team began to further define their concept as Solitude Pavilion

Much of the direct human communication, the way we express ourselves non-verbally was missing from the studio, and a general degree of pandemic anxiety weighed on students’ conscience. However, two things were critical to maintaining the communal aspects of a studio: the group had been together for the first half of the semester, and the teams were still working together in small groups, giving them more immediate interaction with each other and keeping them accountable to one another. Guitart also made a point of beginning every studio session with the whole class together to check in with the larger group.

Challenges of Making at Home There were the expected challenges of working at home with pets, family members, and roommates. The Solitude Pavilion team missed the opportunity to collaborate on a single team model and it was difficult to see what other team or class mates were working on.

Flexibility and Multitasking Connor Harrigan dries his terra cotta model in the sun on his back porch

At the same time, some students who prefer working in peace and quiet were able to focus better in their own individual workspaces. The pivot in studio direction was beneficial to the Solitude Pavilion team. Translating their earlier explorations from a platform to a pavilion helped to hone their concept. And the efficiency of video call meetings meant more flexibility, allowing Guitart to meet with students more frequently while those with dependents were able to take care of children and pets while continuing to work.

Connor Harrigan films a time lapse as he sculpts in his dining room

Subconscious Impacts of COVID-19 The course began before the pandemic hit in Buffalo, and the concept of their project wasn't directly altered to accommodate the necessities of isolation and social distancing during the shutdown. However, in a way, the conditions surrounding a project may have subconsciously sneaked in. At their final review, one critic commented that the pods they developed resembled a COVID-19 viron. And although purely coincidental, the program of the Solitude Pavilion – isolation and seclusion from the world – fits well in an era when people are seeking to stop the spread of a global pandemic.

Connor Harrigan and Hayley Davis sculpt their seat prototype in the shop before campus facilities closed

"Working with a physical, malleable material, we could have all had our hands on these models, and I don't know if that would have produced something different." - Haley Davis

neighborhood walk

graduate planning colloquium fall 2020, URP 691 22

This project invited urban planning students to plan and carry out a walk through a neighborhood of their choice. Their walking route needed to be safely navigable as a pedestrian and between .5 and 1 mile in length (around a half hour walk). Whatever neighborhood they chose, students were carefully instructed to follow all of the university’s COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. The purpose of the walk was to better understand, observe, describe, and document the existing buildings and street patterns in their everyday life. During the walk students took notes and photos to document their observations. They observed the street patterns, the building types, building condition, the building uses and age.

Students:

Emma Cook, Chris Kimmerly, Leslie Moma

Faculty:

Kelly Gregg

Program: MUP

The intention was to develop critical observation skills of the built environment, as well as advance graphic communication skills through drawing, sketching, diagraming, and composition. Students delivered two hand-drawn diagrams or maps of their chosen route. A context map shows the boundaries of the neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods, districts, and natural features. The second, more detailed map shows their walking route, the street network, and the buildings, natural features, landmarks and mobility features they observed along the way. A location key on the map and a series of hand-drawn descriptive sketches and diagrams provided further interpretation of the built environment.

Sketch by Emma Cook

Sketch by Leslie Moma

Sketch by Chris Kimmerly

resilience hub

Students:

Ben Wemesfelder

Faculty:

Brian Carter, Nick Rajkovich (Coordinator), Kenneth MacKay, Seth Amman, Laura Garofalo Khan, Elaine Chow

Program:

B.S. Arch

junior studio spring 2020, ARC 302 26

During the Junior Spring semester an integrated design studio is carried out and aimed toward incorporating various systems into a larger building tectonic. In the Spring of 2020, students designed a laufmachine, a self-propelled, two-wheeled vehicle; it is the 19th century predecessor to the bicycle. This portion of the semester prompted students to begin thinking about a multitude of systems within their designs through this construction process. The program of building for the rest of the semester was complex: a bicycle institute, community center, and resilience hub for the Black Rock Community in Buffalo on a site adjacent to the Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters. Students worked to integrate the form, structure, mechanical servicing, and circulation into one cohesive design Concept. Through these systems students developed new ways of thinking about structure and space that would allow for a functional building with integrated systems. The program of this building was targeted to be a space where the Black Rock community could congregate for a variety of reasons. Income would

be generated within the community through the bicycle institute, as classes, workshops, and stores are housed within the institute. Alternatively, the students explored creating larger community spaces that could be converted to provide emergency services for the residents of Black Rock. Students considered different types of emergencies. Common issues that arose were fire, flooding, famine, disease, power outages and more to influence their programmatic arrangements and systems they designed. The COVID-19 pandemic had a great effect on many of these projects in their response to emergency services. For many students, the pandemic lead to large amounts of research in how to combat an airborne virus through ventilation systems, as well as how to convert space to shelters and hospitals, if needed. This design studio was prompted to be conscious about the effects of the pandemic in real time as the contagion’s spread progressed. Student Benjamin Wemesfelder took the approach of using existing systems to inspire his response to the Resilience Hub. His project, entitled “Intelligent

Section perspective of Intelligent Shed showing modularity in flex space through 15 two-person ICU rooms or vending units.

Shed,” combined the flexible form of the shed with advanced systems and modular performance to provide everlasting “programmable” systems. Wemesfelder investigated materials that would have the greatest impact on an ever-changing community, including a solar array on the roof of the building, an aerogel envelope system, a water collection system, thermal mass floors with radiant heating, and programmable digital façade panels for the Resilience Hub to communicate with the residents of Black Rock. 28

Diagram of envelope, detailing digital projection screen.

The pandemic influenced the design of the “Intelligent Shed” in the HVAC system integration and flex space design. These are occupiable zones where the HVAC systems would filter out air intake and distribution in the building. The building also incorporated a crane system, to allow reception and relocation of materials as needed. This was particularly effective in adjusting space influenced by the effect of an airborne virus like COVID-19, allowing both medical material intake as well as the introduction of modularity for program adaptation. This allowed the multipurpose basketball court to transition into housing, vending units, or if needed, multiple ICU convertible units. With ideas of standardization in mind, system integration can result in a design for the future. By encouraging space to be adaptable to many situations and uses, the large community spaces are able to flexibly provide services and spaces that give back to the residents in the community.

Section perspective of multipurpose flex space with no modifications. for larger activities.

Diagram illustrating approach to HVAC and modular enhancement via crane system.

fitting in

Student:

Samuel Pruitt

Faculty:

Gregory Delaney (Coordinator), Julia Jamrozik, Sara Svisco, Jon Spielman, Randy Fernando, Mustafa Faruki

Program:

BS Arch

sophomore studio spring 2020, ARC 202 30

Students in the sophomore year in the Spring of 2020 made many explorations regarding site context. This approach was taken to help students understand how architecture achieves a sense of belonging in a given place, especially in an ever-evolving context. Students studied modernisms’ ethos and syntax. With the exploration of Le Corbusier’s diagram of the Maison Dom-Ino, students continued their reflections on architectural discourse at a global level. Methods of design including reflection, reaction, reformation, and demand were motivators in the process of evaluating contexts within the modernist approach. Students engaged with the issues posed by the placelessness of modernist design of the 1940s to influence their approaches to restoration or preservation. In tandem to this placelessness students considered ideas of critical regionalism made popular by the architectural historian and critic Kenneth Frampton. This system of thought helped students generate ideas of uniqueness of

site, culture, history, identity, memory, and tradition when developing their proposals. To approach these ideas of critical regionalism, students began to research, document, and interpret connections within a specific neighborhood both in Buffalo as well as within their site in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area. This exercise allowed students to identify a meaningful response to context that would inform their designs of a library proposal. When exploring their site, students identified and explored ideas of building typologies, heights, neighborhoods, inclusion and exclusion, and many others such as re-urbanization. Samuel Pruitt explored the ethnographic context of the Mexican War Streets historic district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for this library proposal.

Exterior rendering of library for the Mexican War Streets historic district.

Plan of library for the Mexican War Streets historic district.

Pruitt used methods of observation within this district to determine assemblage to be an appropriate approach to his conceptual design. Methods of assemblage were explored within Pruitt’s design both within the initial observations of the site and its character as well as a method for arranging the building’s position on the site and programmatic organization. By examining the existing conditions, the houses within the site context were formulated into building blocks dimensionally for the library proposal. Intersectionality was expressed in how these forms were

arranged to create space and then represented through the graphic style of the project to represent the complexities within the area.

Collage study using methods of assemblage.

the fifth ugliest college campus in America

graduate studio summer 2020, ARC 589/ARC 607 34

The campus story of the University at Buffalo is an alliterative tale of excessive optimism and investment, followed by passive indifference and resignation. The result: three campuses—each a stunted fragment of a vision left unfulfilled—the whole less than the sum of its parts. This seminar explored the trials and tribulations of university growth and campus planning at UB—acknowledging the university's checkered past as a means to project a more effective campus future. In Complex.com's list of the "Fifty Ugliest College Campuses," the University at Buffalo ranks fifth. To put that into perspective: that's the fifth ugliest campus out of the more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the entire United States. While it's easy to criticize the ranking's methods of evaluation (or lack thereof), a visit to UB’s North Campus proves it difficult to argue against earning a spot on the list. What led UB to honor such distinction in banality? What makes UB’s North Campus so bad, or "ugly”? In order to frame an answer, students explored the history of the institution and the development of the campus to better

Students:

Hua Xiu Chen, Alejandro Frank, Yaliana Hernandez, Reid Hetzel, Matthew Mancuso, Jennifer Persico, Matthew Sacha, Jeremiah Smith, Sashi Varun, Ryan Vigiolto, Charles Wingfelder

Faculty:

Gregory Delaney

Program: MArch

understand its original, present-day, and future challenges. An odyssey of ambition and abandonment, the campus story of UB has left the North Campus (the largest of its three campuses), like the others, a stunted fragment of a grand plans that were never fully realized. Like other summer programs in 2020, this project took place over the course of two sessions, beginning with a seminar that served as a primer for the studio that followed. The seminar began with an introduction to the history of higher education and the development of campus typology, and dove into a detailed account and examination of the history of campus development at the university, from its humble beginnings as a private medical institution located downtown, to the acquisition of land and the Erie County Almshouse for the construction of its historic Main Street campus, to its consolidation with The State University of New York and the storied grand development of its Amherst campus. As a follow-up to the seminar, the studio focused its efforts on the reshaping of UB’s North Campus and its future

Campus aerial rendering with simplified automobile circulation.

development to ask the central question: Could a thoughtful redesign of the campus redirect it toward a more inspired future, one that instills a greater pride of place; promotes offers a higher quality of life, education, and interaction; and embodies the collective intellect and progressive spirit of the institution? The studio also considered the possibility of building a more sustainable campus, in both practice and image – one that supports the recruitment of top students and faculty, contributes to UB’s rise in national rankings, and garners positive attention from other top universities as a built demonstration of twenty-first-century values. Towards the development of such a proposal, the studio began with research on the North Campus across a range of identified “focus areas,” in order to build a contextual understanding of the forces on its environment. This research was further contextualized through comparative analyses of case studies and current practices at peer and aspirant institutions. Finally, transformative design proposals were guided by the collective research of the studio, building directly from the goals and ideas outlined in the 2009 master plan for the North Campus, and concluding with the presentation of an alternative design vision for a more effective campus future. The final proposal was guided by several major goals. On the largest scale was an intention to develop a campus defined by its landscape, and in the process move the majority of the surface parking (the current defining feature) away from the campus proper. This would create a “park-and-ride” campus, where surface parking could slowly be phased out. To increase density and celebrate Lake LaSalle,

A new town-gown mixed-use development along Millersport Hwy. Rending: Matt Sacha & Jeremiah Smith

students proposed to remove all suburban housing scattered outside the campus core, and build a new mixed-use urban neighborhood along Lee Road. A new Town Center was proposed on the opposite shore of the lake, straddling the Millersport Highway thoroughfare, to create a new point of connection between “town and gown.” Finally, to remedy the lack of a center to the current campus complex, a new Heart of the Campus was proposed to celebrate Capen Hall and Founders Plaza. As a radical departure from UB’s recent “Building UB” campus plan, the studio’s final proposal is intended as a provocation to elevate our expectations for future campus development.

A new heart of the campus on Lake LaSalle. Rendering: Hernandez & Varun

New park-and-ride lot away from the core of the campus. Rendering: Mancuso & Shami

New residences along Lee Rd. Rendering: Hetzel, Perseco & Vigiolto

Home workspaces drawn by the Freshmen media course in spring of 2020. Faculty: Stephanie Cramer

CONVERSATION: continuing collaborative research

students missed the group dynamic. For instance, students who are more reserved tended to speak up less in the virtual environment compared to the in-person studio dynamic.

Setting Up Remote Work Still, there were benefits to the flexibility of remote learning. With greater flexibility for independent work, students were able to navigate the complications of the transition, from setting up home workspaces to moving home with family, to adjusting their academic routines. Surprising Productivity

SPRING PLANNING STUDENTS Libertad Figuereo David Kelly 40

Studios in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning often examine complex issues of equity, and social justice through the lens of real projects in the community. Community stakeholders and potential partners inform and engage with the project over the course of the studio. Students Libertad Figuereo and David Kelly were both a part of such a project for a Spring 2020 studio taught by urban planning professor Ernest Sternberg. The group explored the potential of deploying manufactured housing in a neighborhood east of downtown Buffalo that has experienced significant demolition of housing stock, leaving many vacant lots and a shortage of affordable housing.

Beginning in Groups The group spent much of the first half of the semester researching housing affordability in Buffalo and the viability of manufactured housing. Small groups of students were each responsible for a specific topic of research. During studio sessions, Sternberg would open and lead group discussion, and each team would have an opportunity to share

findings from their research. Student groups were to build on their research through consultation with prospective partners in the manufactured housing industry and site visits.

A Smooth Transition The remote working arrangements instituted after the closure of campus facilities in March 2020 did not interrupt the studio as much as students anticipated. The small-group dynamic transitioned easily to a remote learning format. Full-group meetings continued online in a discussion format led by Sternberg. The student teams coordinated follow-up research, worked independently, and then regrouped to discuss findings. Even before working remotely, the class had set up a shared UB Box folder, and was able to continue using the same organizational strategy.

Technical Difficulties The transition did present some difficulties, however. Most students struggled with software and connectivity issues in the beginning, which disrupted the flow of class sessions. Even after technical issues were smoothed

Some students felt that the studio’s full-group meetings were more productive than in-person sessions. When they shared their screens in a Zoom meeting, they could command the attention of the entire group and generate productive discussion on each group’s research findings. During a 'normal' semester, the last month before the group submits the final report always requires extra investment, and this remote semester was no different. During this time, students set up individual phone calls or Zoom meetings to discuss the organization and content of the report. Thanks to the remote format, Sternberg was often available outside class hours as well, which was greatly appreciated.

Missed Site Visits and Tours In reflecting on the semester as a whole, students shared a mix of disappointment and optimism. They were disappointed to have missed the studio’s planned site visits to view examples of manufactured housing. Such first-hand engagement would have informed a more context-sensitive, critical assessment of the units. There were

also many interesting conversations with other prospective industry partners and stakeholders that were interrupted by the shutdown. The final report has been well received by interested parties, which has been rewarding for students. All things considered, they felt the studio navigated the transition successfully and resulted in an important resource for the community.

"The global pandemic, if anything, reinforced the urgency for creative Affordable Housing options... So much so, that we brought up COVID19 a number of times in the final presentation to reinforce the possibilities of Manufactured Housing implementation."

- David Kelly People in Place students

restoring scajaquada creek

collaborative graduate seminar spring 2020, ARC 630/566, URP 566 42

Historically, urban designers are visionary: they have always asked big questions facing cities in every era: issues of declining downtowns; inadequate sanitation; shortage of decent, healthy places to live such as the shortage of affordable housing, adequate supply of walkable streets, healthy neighborhoods, and polluted nature including rivers and creeks. As an architect, planner, and landscape architect, an urban designer should act as a citizen-advocate to envision a plan and its alternatives to help solve these issues: big or small. Learning from a series of precedents, students conducted a series of case studies to connect theories relevant in urban planning and urban design with the reality of the city. Students considered a local case study to see potentials and limitations of how urban design may assist in providing a conceptual framework with a group of stakeholders in redeveloping a large swath of the Scajaquada Creek that has been neglected for decades. The course took the perspective of the creek as a natural asset; and if it were reclaimed and resurrected from the neglect, it could

Students:

Christian Demelo, Nicholas Gatos, Thaina Vieira Guizani, Soham Mehta

Faculty:

Hiro Hata

Program:

MArch, MUP

have huge potential to boost public health in the city. The seminar was interested in the spatial relationships “between buildings,” rather than the buildings themselves. Students explored questions and meanings of the “voids” or the “interstitial spaces” whether they are public or semi-public or privately-owned public spaces. Students took a theoretical orientation and a more “speculative” position – to broaden the horizon to accommodate more than one single thought or theory and speculate upon diverse urban scenarios in the United States and abroad. The proposal featured here included several suggestions. Students recommended the green space surrounding Scajaquada Creek be extended by removing the expressway and replacing it with a low-speed, two-lane road. This creates room for a natural green space open to the public which doubles as a buffer for the roadway. This natural green space is parallel to the open multi-use greenspace on the opposite side of the creek. This space adjacent to the newly zoned area is meant to

Site Analysis: socio economic conditions

be used as a multi-purpose open green space. This space will double as the location for a kayak and canoe launch with the potential addition of a children’s play area further away from the shore line.

Introduction of plant and tree species recommended by Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s Western New York Guide to Native Plants. Examples include: eastern redbud, red maple and river birch trees along the creek and through the park are all suitable for either moist soil or stream banks and all attract either birds or butterflies. Blue flag iris and cardinal flowers along the creek bank attract butterflies and hummingbirds and bring color to the area elderberry shrubs throughout the park to attract butterflies and other pollinators to the area and grow well on moist hillsides and open woodlands. Site Analysis: connections

Proposed site plan

Section: existing conditions

Section: proposed conditions

Aerial views of proposed interventions

victorian dreams

material culture technical methods spring 2020, ARC 544 46

Encompassing the period from about 1840-1900, Victorian architecture is characterized by a wide range of interpretations and re-combinations of distinctly different historical traditions. The evolution of Victorian architecture was spurred by many factors including the desire of building owners to create associations with past cultures and times, the role of builders (carpenters, masons, cabinetmakers, etc.) as designers, and the newly emergent technological capacities of industrial mass production. This combination of forces generated such unique styles as Italianate, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, Shingle Style, Stick Style, and Richardsonian Romanesque. Also integral to the design and construction of buildings at this time was the widespread publication and popularization of architectural plan books, pattern books and catalogs. These books were wide ranging in scope; however most were intended as substitutes for the role of the architect, a profession that was fairly uncommon in the U.S. until the late 19th century. Some of these books were more aspirational than instructional in nature, while others provided the information

Students:

Gwyneth Harris, Marissa Hayden, Michael Hoover

Faculty:

Dennis Maher

Program: MArch

to precisely replicate designs through well-drawn components as well as plans, façades and perspectives. The dissemination of plan books, pattern books and catalogs – and the implementation of their designs – resulted in a period of architectural production that was astoundingly diverse while remaining, at the same time, typologically consistent. The city of Buffalo is often recognized as having some of the best-preserved housing stock from this time period. Buffalo’s Victorian-era houses are a testament not only to the influences of the pattern books but also to the creation of a city-defining vernacular tradition that demonstrates the combinative possibilities of Victorian-era elements. This course examines conceptual and constructive possibilities of Victorian houses, exploring them through pattern books as well as through existing buildings in Buffalo. Students mined this information in order to propose new tectonic structures and typologies. This course was devoted to exploring historical, conceptual and technical aspects of 19th century architectural plan books, pattern books and catalogs

Collage study: Michael Hoover

Collage study: Marissa Hayden

as well as Victorian houses in Buffalo. Through presentations, work sessions, and assignments, students speculated on ways of projecting their research into new possibilities for design and construction.

This process took place in four phases: historical research, a survey and collage of house parts, synthesis of ideas through drawings, and finally five proposals that articulate a new typology. Early collages explored more fantastic combinations of parts, subtle qualities of screening and ornament, patterns of window placement, and oddities of turret and roof form. Through many iterations these studies were refined into typologies that, although still whimsical, felt quite close to being plausible, perhaps in some other culture or in some parallel history.

Prototype: Michael Hoover

Five prototypes: Marissa Hayden

Collage study: Gwyneth Harris

architectural alchemy Students:

Gavin Carroll, Diane Chen, Peter Fillion, Taib Iraqui, Fazel Kahn, Vicky Li, Jasmine Tarley

Faculty:

Stephanie Cramer, Martha Bohm, Korydon Smith

T.A.s:

Anya Batista, Benjamin Ezquerra, Jenna Herbert, Michael Hoover, Morgan Mansfield, Stanicka Mathurin, Madeleine Niepceron, Abigail Peters, Austin Wyles, and Timothy Zeng.

Program:

BS Arch

freshman studio spring 2020, ARC 102 50

The spring semester of 2020 for freshman architecture explored form in relation to the scale of the human body. This was done through examinations of scaled materials and the ways in which people interact with and sensorially respond to space. Students were encouraged to consider all construction scales as possessing the power to develop critical and influential architecture for those who interact with them. The studio focused on the process of designing for a full-scale built project. Students worked through the semester in teams to focus on elements of material, building, components, program, integration, teamwork, and representation. Students worked through a game-like design methodology that generated the parameters of the project – a single programmatic function and two materials. The student teams then worked together iteratively and collaboratively to develop a clear goal of a full scale-built work. With the global shift of the COVID-19 pandemic, students began work in a new, digital way. The studio quickly pivoted away from the original goal of the full-scale built work, and continued

to explore concepts of materiality and representation. Due to communication and technological changes, students proceeded more individually, maintaining group feedback within their critiques, but producing work on their own. From this, the course changed to allow students to advance technologically in how they approached thinking about materials, as well as methods of representation. In these methods, students produced a well-developed drawing each week for the remainder of the semester to continue thinking about the elements of material, building components, and program. These weekly assignments allowed students to use their group project as a pivot point for their individual design focus. Students began to further develop their ideas on proportion and material sizes, system terminations, assembly, connections, and reflection. While students maintained the group dynamic through critique, the mid-semester shift allowed students to experiment with their individual interests. The studio teaching team leveraged Instagram as a forum for critique and cross-studio dialogue. Students posted their drawings to the first-year

studio channel and commented on one another’s work. A curated sample of these posts was generated each week, and shared on the @ubuffaloarchplan Instagram feed to celebrate student work.

Diagram showing termination of a repeating system.

Project rendering exploring effects of weathering.

Sketch illustrating project assembly strategy.

Project renderings showing assembly, connection methods, and intended use.

botanical garden master plan

sustainable futures studio summer 2020, ARC 406/489 54

The North Tonawanda Botanical Gardens is an 11-acre site located on 1825 Sweeney Street in North Tonawanda, NY, bordering the Niagara River. The site is overseen by the North Tonawanda Botanical Gardens Organization (NTBGO), a nonprofit working towards restoring the garden to a scenic destination for community education and activity. Three members of the NTBGO, David Conti, Robbyn Drake and Laura Pecoraro, gave students the opportunity to design a proposal for the renovation and re-imagination of the North Tonawanda Botanical Gardens. The site features a north and south green space, separated by a parking lot, with docks for boat and kayak launches. The shoreline of the Niagara River runs along the entire east side of the site. A building located on the northern end of the site featuring native plans serves as an educational hub for the community. The studio’s first step was to set goals that embody the client’s vision for the future of the site. One of the most important facets of the site is its value as an educational resource. As such, students set out to design a framework

Students:

Anya Batista, Deron Charley, Bethany Greenway, Smanatha Kalinski, Joey Privitera, Edinam Segbafia, Cody Stern

Faculty:

Stephanie Cramer

Program:

BAED, BS Arch, MArch

to enhance educational opportunities through interaction with native plants, sustainable gardening and water-wise practices. This goal is furthered by the project’s proposal for an easily accessible and circulative path system to navigate the site. One of the most important project goals was to preserve the natural wildlife through shoreline and wetlands restoration and, in turn, support public awareness of the region’s natural habitats. A final goal was to draw visitation across the site through a range of experiences distinctive to the area. Ultimately, the studio’s proposal for an integrated network of paths, gardens and waterways aims to transform The North Tonawanda Botanical Gardens into an iconic regional destination that promotes education, sustainability and the values of the community. Students conceptualized the site in two different ways, organically and formally. The organic process began with a topographic study of the site. Using the natural formation of land, students designed curvilinear paths and spaces and a softened shoreline with natural wetlands that organically communicate with their surroundings. The formal process was more rigid and

Plan & section showing the naturalistic design strategy

Section through the pavilion community space

Rendering of pavilion community space with rooftop garden and kayak boat rack

Section & renderings showing the wetland, gardens, and boardwalk

grid-like, featuring orthogonal circulation through the site and an artificial wetland system. Students informed their design of the site’s wetlands with research on wetland and shoreline restoration in similar climates. The topographic study of the site shaped the final form of the proposed wetlands. The pavilion is designed to correspond with the site’s topography, keeping with the organic concept. Another uniquely shaped area is the parking lot, which is designed in a curvilinear form to give vehicles ample space to use the boat launch. Different

materials are used throughout the site, including stones, permeable paving and wood. The play area was designed using natural materials found on the site, such as timber, rocks, and sand. The main goal of the proposal was to reinforce an organic atmosphere throughout the site. Every decision was intended to highlight and emphasize the importance of natural processes and sustainability.

Teaching assistant Anna Mytcul and freshmen students working in a socially-distanced studio in Crosby Hall. Photo: Sakeena Nazir

CONVERSATION: beginning in the distance

FALL FRESHMEN STUDENTS Frank Bollerman Nick Frantzeskos Jo Ruth 60

Freshman year in any degree program is a time of excitement and new experiences in new places. For students in the Department of Architecture, that first semester is a period of rapid growth, competition, collaboration and connection, all of which center around the studio. The physical place takes on many functions and meanings: classroom, workshop, office, cafe, locker, home. This intensive, creative crush is something that most students simultaneously dread and adore, and it's critical to an education in the complex discipline of architecture. During the COVID-19 pandemic, classes that had had at least one semester of the studio experience knew what it was about, and did their best to carry that energetic process into a remote format. But for the incoming freshmen in the Fall of 2020, it was essential that they begin their journey in-person to jump-start that inventive engine.

On-Campus "Pods" To keep gatherings small and reduce in-person interactions, students were grouped into “pods,” or groups of eight to nine students who met twice a week with their pod teaching assistant. They

appreciated these opportunities to exchange ideas and comment on each other’s work while they developed their separate projects individually. The whole class also met once remotely so that everyone could meet everyone else in the larger group. They felt this combination helped to encourage a sense of community that would have been lacking without spending time working together in-person.

A More Flexible Change of Pace Transitioning from the high school classroom to the architecture studio environment is, for most students, an aggressive change of pace, and keeping up with deadlines can be difficult. These Freshmen had high expectations of what the program would entail, hearing from friends and upperclassmen that architecture school is a lot of work. However, having their studio mostly in-person, with other courses being remote and asynchronous, they felt they had more flexibility on how to approach the coursework. They were able to avoid multiple late nights, although, it could be challenging to stay disciplined when working alone at a computer for long periods of time.

Teaching Assistant Reid Hetzel works with his group of freshmen students in Hayes Hall. Photo: Sakeena Nazir

with their peers. This socialization element is essential to the Freshman transition. They understood the history of the studio as a space of creativity and a source of inspiration. Furthermore, they added a bit of joy and welcome distraction to late night work sessions by bringing in projectors to watch shows and movies while they worked after classes, making the environment feel not all that different from how it has functioned in the past.

Students working in the basement of Crosby Hall socially distanced.

They've found that even with precautions in place during the COVID19 pandemic, UB and the School of Architecture and Planning has provided them the college experience they were hoping for. With optimism, they are looking forward to following in the footsteps of upperclassmen and the many exciting studio experiences to come.

Students Observing Final models at exhibition in Hayes Hall.

Surprising Sense of Community They initially expected it to be difficult to build bonds with their new classmates but found that, in fact, they were able to build a strong sense of community with new friends and with their professors. Students felt that the hybrid format allowed them to communicate much more easily with their professors than in classes that were completely remote. They felt the professors were well prepared on how to approach this semester, making accommodations and staying flexible.

Still, there weren't many opportunities to socialize on campus and students felt disconnected from upperclassmen and students in different degree programs.

A Strong Connection to Place They felt that the environment that the studio provided outside their homes helped them to stay social during an otherwise remote semester. Students noted a strong connection to the space, and if they chose to stay after classes to work, found that they could bond

"On the academic side and social side, somehow, even with COVID, college at UB has been everything I have wanted and looked forward to in high school, which is not what I was expecting, but I am very grateful for."

- Jo Ruth

Student Observing Final models at exhibition in Hayes Hall.

solitude pavilion

material culture studio spring 2020, ARC 606 64

Solitude Pavilion is located on the University at Buffalo’s South Campus between Hayes Hall and the Hayes B Annex. The project aims to create a nesting environment by combining two contrasting systems using terracotta as the primary material. The first system was the result of layering “spikes” and soil which creates a dynamic armor protecting the interior seating space. The second system is a regular and smooth seating pod contrasting the irregular quality of the shell. The pavilion is a series of spaces dedicated to celebrating its occupants by protecting them from the outside world. It is a space for introspection and growth like a mother’s womb. The combination of both contrasting systems creates an environment where the occupant feels welcome to sit, transitioning smoothly between the outer and the inner space. The original intention of the studio was to combine hand making with machine making, hand as a tool to explore the imperfect, tactile, sensuous qualities, and machine to work with precision. It

Students:

Leticia Avila, Haley Davis, Connor Harrigan

Faculty:

Miguel Guitart

Program: MArch

was about earth and earthy materials such as clay, stone and dirt. Each group of three to four students would propose one platform, then develop the design into a full-scale build by the end of the semester. During the first half of the semester, teams explored much of the hand concepts, intending to transition to the machine portion in the second half of the semester. In the transition to remote learning in the second half of the semester, the course pivoted away from the machine and expanded the importance of another studio goal: the representation of subtle processes and phenomena such as erosion, decay, and the tactile qualities of earthy materials. The program was also expanded from a small platform to large pavilion.

Solitude Pavilion in elevation.

Solitude Pavilion inhabited plan.

Model photo of proposed Solitude Pavilion.

Interior vignettes of potential activities in Solitude Pavilion.

manufactured housing

graduate planning practicum spring 2020, URP 581/582 68

Students:

Sydney Alford, Grace Çelik, Erin Engle, Libertad Figuereo, Samuel Gallivan, Nicole Hill, David Kelly, Melanie Monroy, Rakshanda Nagaraj, Brennon Thompson, Angelina White, Joshua Wilcox

Faculty:

Ernest Sternberg

Program:

MUP, MSRED

The Affordable Housing Problem in Post-Industrial Cities

building stock that is expensive to maintain.

The affordability of housing has become a critical problem in most of the United States, especially in large, fast-growing cities where there are shortages of vacant land and housing. Post-industrial cities also face severe housing affordability problems due to population loss and deindustrialization, even though vacant land and abandoned houses are common. These “shrinking” or “legacy” cities face problems of low incomes, combined with surplus housing stock that has deteriorated to the point where it is no longer economical to rehabilitate it. The purpose of this report is to propose a unique opportunity for meeting the affordable housing needs of residents in post-industrial cities.

Buffalo, NY, a city that will be continuously referenced in this report, exemplifies this problem: the city’s housing stock has deteriorated in many areas where residents with lower incomes cannot afford to rehabilitate it. These same individuals are unable to afford homes that are of higher quality, which are often expensive and few in number. As a result of this, many residents must settle for substandard housing options that can fit within their income levels. This dichotomy results in a massive gap between the supply and demand, and the affordability and quality of homes.

In these cities, with higher poverty rates and lower average incomes, many people simply cannot afford the cost of newly constructed housing nor the rehabilitation of older buildings. Even those who receive housing subsidies must often live in substandard housing within these cities, typically in old

Limitations of Conventional Housing Policy With this shortage in affordable, higher-quality units, state and federal government agencies have attempted to enact housing policies to fill this gap. Unfortunately, these programs vary in cost-effectiveness, and in any case, have so far been insufficient for meeting housing needs. Buffalo has implemented several housing programs to create equal access to healthy homes

and homeownership opportunities. But this is still insufficient in addressing current housing needs due to the size of demand for affordable housing in the city. Traditional construction methods are an option for affordable housing in places where homes have low market value. However, these homes are too expensive to build due to the high cost of labor and construction materials. With an absence of adequate funding, Buffalo will continue to face hardships in the construction of affordable housing units. Buyers will find difficulties in purchasing higher quality housing; developers, on the other hand, will be unable to economically build housing that the city’s lower-income households can afford. These two factors contribute to the current housing crisis. Fortunately, there is a form of housing that could potentially overcome this dilemma: manufactured housing.

What is Manufactured Housing? According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Manufactured Homes (MH) are defined as dwelling units of at least 320 square feet placed on a permanent

steel chassis to ensure the portability of the home. The definition of this form of housing has changed over time. Prior to June 15, 1976, Manufactured Homes were considered by HUD to be “mobile homes” or “trailer homes”. After that date, HUD implemented Manufactured Home Certification and Safety Standards, ensuring that all units are built in climate-controlled factories suitable for home-building, as this improves both the quality and efficiency of homebuilding.

HUD-compliant homes receive a certification label, commonly referred to as the HUD tag, to indicate their conformity to the standards. These new regulations helped improve construction, installation quality, safety standards, durability, and design in comparison to the pre-1976 “mobile homes,” and ushered in a new era for the manufactured homes industry.

Sizes Single Wides: Maximum of 18 feet in width and maximum of 90 feet in length, and can be towed to their site as a single unit. Double Wides: Maximum of 20 feet wide and maximum of 90 feet in length, and can be towed to their site in two separate units, which are then joined together on site. Multi-Wides: Includes triple wides and homes with four, five or more units. Typically towed to site as multiple units and joined together on site.

Proposed site plan showing urban infill opportunities in Buffalo.

Infill development pattern

Cluster development pattern

Community block development pattern

Design Variations Many Americans have had limited exposure to manufactured homes and so they may have limited or outdated ideas about the variety that is available. Manufactured homes have evolved to provide a unique opportunity for cities to add variation in design to the urban form. Energy-efficient components, including natural lighting elements and increased ventilation, have become a more common preference for homeowners. Recognizing these trends, MH builders have adjusted their design and construction process to appeal to a wider public. Suburban America has been a receptive audience thus far, where the industry has become a significant developer of many single-family homes, providing opportunities to showcase designs that resemble conventionally constructed homes. Manufacturers also have started to experiment with innovative architectural styles.

Preconceptions

Aerial view of neighborhood showing new manufactured houses mixed with existing 20th century housing

Despite the advancements in construction and design since 1976, Manufactured Housing has not always

been received positively. As noted above, previously known as “trailer homes” or “mobile homes,” these terms have created a negative stigma that the industry has been hard-pressed to overcome. Blight and neglect have often been associated with these structures. Manufactured units also have been generally regarded to be more prone to damage inflicted upon them during instances of severe weather, such as hurricanes or tornadoes, due to structural components. The households that traditionally occupied older manufactured units were typically lower-income, rural residents, which developed another stigma surrounding the “rural poor.” Further depictions of these residents included their supposed lack of formal education. Despite any misconceptions surrounding manufactured homes, the market demand for these units has been rapidly increasing over the last several years.

A New Opportunity For Cities? While this report will focus primarily on Buffalo, NY, Manufactured Housing may be a viable alternative to conventional housing in any post-industrial city facing an affordable housing crisis. The intention of this report is in part to investigate MH as a housing option for Buffalo, and to also analyze the effectiveness of this strategy for broader application in similar cities. In 2019, more than 94,000 new manufactured homes were produced, compared to 93,000 new units in 2017. Going further, MH currently comprises 6% of all housing stock—providing housing for 17.5 million Americans; MH accounts for 15% of all rural housing and 3% of all urban housing. This adoption of Manufactured Housing across the country is in large part due to its affordability. The 2017 American

Community Survey states that “49% of Manufactured Housing is affordable for households at or below 50% of the area median income, compared to just 26% of all housing.” This form of housing has proven to be affordable for a large percentage of individuals, underlining its importance in the effort to provide adequate housing options for families with low-income. To this end, the state of New York has recently acknowledged the value of Manufactured Housing, officially recognizing it as a “critical source of affordable housing for residents” in a 2019 bill brought before the state legislature. This recognition introduces the prospect of Manufactured Housing as a viable option to supplement current affordable housing measures. With an abundance of vacant land, an asset that is often prevalent in the aforementioned shrinking cities, opportunities exist to create neighborhoods of safe, affordable housing stock, while decreasing the percentage of income households will pay for housing. The innovative design of MH units also presents an opportunity to mesh existing housing stock with newer housing that can create a new urban form.

Variation 1

Variation 3

Variation 5

good neighbors

3.5 year graduate studio fall 2020, ARC 501 72

The fifth edition of this studio, the introductory studio experience to the 3.-5-year Master of Architecture program, emphasizes critical thinking on basic architectural issues through design proposals for a group of three houses for three different families sharing a single undivided lot. The home is the ultimate private space for people. A house is likely one of the first commissions for a young architect. The house is also one of the most experimental spaces, our very first testing place for all architecture-related aspects. But the domestic space is not the only aim of the studio. Moreover, the space for creation and coexistence is what students considered in a much closer look. Students reflected on the house as the space for intimacy, creation, relation and coexistence. The house is, in this way, the very first unit of mankind's largest and most complex construction: the city. Buffalo, NY, is known as the City of Good Neighbors. Such a title coexists with others like the Queen City or the Electric City. These names highlight very particular conditions to the city of Buffalo within the American urban,

Students:

Luke Dole, Jackson Gaylord

Faculty:

Miguel Guitart

Program: MArch

architectural, and social scene. Buffalo is experiencing growth unseen in decades. New investments, energy and momentum can be seen across the city, in projects large and small, not only architectural, but also social or intellectual. Reflecting a concentrated need for investment, the studio focused on Buffalo’s East Side – just east of Main Street – as the site of student for the three houses and their three studio spaces is located east of Main Street, on the East side of Buffalo. The project required three detached housing units for three families and three types of creative activities: writing, composing, and painting. Each of the houses required a detached small construction as a workspace that serves the creative needs of its respective professional user. The actions of writing, composing, rehearsing, cooking, and painting dictated the needs for each of these spaces. Open spaces between the constructions formed a critical part of each proposal, both as private and public spaces for the occupants. Framing Relations, by Jackson Gaylord, proposes semi-transparent bands that weave throughout the site, tying the houses and studios together.

Final model created by Luke Dole.

Model of housing units of Polar Populous.

Axonometric of Polar Populous proposed by Dole.

A series of private and shared spaces are formed by the bands’ varying elevation, allowing the neighbors to live in close proximity without sacrificing the intimacy of their own residence. Polar Populous, by Luke Dole, proposes two polar grids on either end of the site. The northern grid is the organizing

Model of housing and courts in Polar Populous.

element for the families’ homes, while the southern grid is for the studios. The focal point of the northern grid is a more private meeting space for the families, while the southern focal point is more of a public space, where the artists can display their work to the surrounding community.

Sketches of controlled views in Framing Relations.

Axonometric of Framing Relations..

Elevation of Framing Relations by Gaylord.

villusion

situated technologies studio fall 2020, ARC 605 76

This short film was created using the zoom interface by two students studying on different continents. Miguel Ortiz-Teed, working in Buffalo, and Yogesh Ravichandar, working in India, wanted to examine and express the specific difficulties of personal interaction in the video-conference environment. The first issue was the audio interference that someone might experience while another person is trying to talk and another user is accidentally un-muted and making extraneous noise such as chewing. In the first scene Ortiz-Teed continuously crunches on Lays potato chips completely cutting off Ravichandar, while adding a layer of humor into the scene. Another goal of the project was to blur the hard lines of being in separate locations. After getting frustrated with Ortiz-Teed’s chewing, Ravichandar magically levitates one of Ortiz-Teed’s chips from the bag, up and out of the frame, into his own hand on his screen in India. When this fails to stop Ortiz-Teed’s chewing, Ravichandar steals the entire bag, annoying Ortiz-Teed to the point he decides to take action. By jumping through a coffee mug, Ortiz-Teed starts

Students:

Miguel Ortiz-Teed, Yogesh Ravichandar

Faculty:

Mark Shepherd

Program: MArch

to teleport to Ravichandar’s room. Seeing that his friend is on his way to seek revenge, Ravichandar jumps into his own coffee mug, teleporting to Ortiz-Teed’s room. By setting photos of each other’s room as their background image, they create an illusion that they have passed each other like ships in the night and arrived in the other person’s space. The two then teleport again into what appears to be the same space spread across two different screens. In the final scene, Ortiz-Teed passes the bag of chips from his screen across to Ravichandar’s screen. Finally, the two exchange looks before Ravichandar snaps Ortiz-Teed out of the frame completely. In all, it is a fun short that creatively interprets the everywhere and nowhere, together but apart, present yet detached qualities of interaction in the video-conference universe.

Juniors in Ken MacKay's studio gather for class outside behind Crosby Hall. Photo: Douglas Levere

CONVERSATION: navigating the return to campus FALL JUNIOR STUDENTS Caterina Gnecco James Herlihy Kira Podmayersky Shavindya Do Charlie Stevens 80

Preparing for a Hybrid Semester The junior class anticipated that they would be returning to campus after the initial shutdown in the spring of 2020 to partake in the fifth iteration of The Techtonics of Buoyancy, a pivotal studio in which students create buoyant vessels for the first phase of their projects. In a typical year, juniors spend long hours on campus and in the shop, experimenting with materials and assembly techniques, working toward making a significant object designed to keep one of their teammates afloat. It's a physically intensive process that does not translate well to a remote learning environment, so it was one of the few courses that was held predominantly in-person. As sophomores the previous semester, the initial transition was difficult for the group as everyone quickly adapted to remote learning. They had been enjoying their structures course that semester where they'd been standing on each other’s shoulders to test forces, a learning method that became impossible when the campus shut down during spring break. On a practical level they missed access to facilities once they

closed, but on a psychological level the lack of community left many feeling disconnected from each other and from their work. They missed the studio culture that helps to inspire creativity and connections between students. With tepid optimism, they hoped that returning to campus in the fall might bring some of that back.

Direct Mentoring Students were initially intimidated by the buoyant vessel project, as they had watched classes ahead of them working many late nights to construct their projects. However, the hybrid structure of the course was more flexible than a mandatory in-person studio. They took advantage of that flexibility to manage their time, meeting with their immediate team to work at facilities on campus or at each other’s homes during the normal studio time. They appreciated the professors who accommodated this arrangement by driving to these locations to meet individually with their group. They felt like their professors were able to spend more time and give more focused attention to help their group think through design questions or lend them tools. Through these more

Junior's interim review session in the Fabrication Workshop on South Campus. Photo: Douglas Levere

Students begin to assemble their boat in the fabrication workshop. Photo: Sakeena Nazir

Team applies waterproofing to final prototype.

“I appreciated the ability to work in a group that wasn’t over a zoom call. There’s nothing wrong with a zoom call, its incredibly useful in these times. But I think it’s the personal interaction that really drives this major." - James Herlihy

personalized interactions with professors, they felt it was a more direct mentorship experience with faculty. Some found that they were able to be more productive in this hybrid format and that they could better communicate design questions between themselves as well. They missed interacting on campus with students in other years, where they could find help by going up a floor or two in Crosby Hall, or they could pop into a random studio to make a new friend by having a conversation about a project with a stranger. But they learned how to connect between themselves digitally to foster some of these conversations and have continued using these strategies to help ground themselves to their peers and develop new study habits.

Outdoor Regatta Gathering At the end of the construction phase, the whole class gathered outdoors to test their buoyant vessels in a race that was as much about staying afloat as crossing the finish line first. The regatta was a fun and encouraging way to close this phase of the semester. They felt they needed that experience to reconnect with other classmates, since the last time they were all in the same space was in March of 2020. They didn't feel like they missed out on the important elements of the project that they'd seen previous classes experience. They just adapted to COVID-19 safety procedures and felt they successfully achieved the same results.

Instructor films for a Zoom call to include students not on campus. Photo: Douglas Levere

Students assemble the keel of their boat in the fabrication workshop. Photo: Sakeena Nazir

urban life: self + society

senior studio fall 2020, ARC 403 84

In the Fall of 2020, students in the Senior class designed multiple-unit housing within the Bedford Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn, New York. The semester focused on the urban dwelling as a threshold between self and society, between local and global, and between nature and culture. This project aimed to develop connections in the student’s mind about context and developing systems of housing that would relate to a greater social, technical, cultural, political, and economic understanding of urban space.

Students:

Andrew Callard, Jacob Hutton, Blayne Burnside, Allison Faux

Faculty:

Annette LeCuyer (Coordinator), Erkin Özay (Coordinator), Nicholas Bruscia, Brad Wales

Program:

BS Arch

receive mail, shower, and have access to the internet and a space to relax. The project offers diverse options for housing including long-term re-housing, rapid re-housing, affordable family housing, multi-generational family housing, and housing for social workers. There are a total of 24 affordable units in the space with 64 bedrooms. For re-housing, the building offers 12 units with 152 bedrooms. Between units are many shared spaces and balconies that create a neighborhood-like feel.

SHELTER Students Andrew Callard and Jacob Hutton propose a supportive ecosystem for housing the Bedford Stuyvesant homeless population. To approach this issue, the two students designed the first two floors to be the center of the targeted population’s support system. These interstitial zones involve both community and residential interaction with programs including a community center, food bank and pharmacy. SHELTER also offers temporary resources to the homeless population who do not want to seek housing; it instead provides them with a place to

Section showing views, natural ventilation, in SHELTER.

SHELTER exterior rendering showing views between units.

UE6

86 Interior Section Perspective showing the introduction of plants into the space in UE6.

Students Blayne Burnside and Allison Faux took an alternate approach, blending ecology and the urban landscape in their multi-family housing design named, UE6, to represent urban ecology within six residential towers. They aimed at blending natural processes with efficient technology to target the needs of the adjacent community including a direct connection to IMPACCT Brooklyn to develop the ecology center and a farmer’s market. They also hope to pair with Cornell to supply learning spaces for both teachers and students. One of primary goals of UE6 is to deploy the technology of John Todd Ecological Design to provide six water filtration tanks that supply greywater to the building’s rooftop gardens and units. The building contains apiaries, providing a large contributor to the complex, pollinating gardens and producing honey for the community. Each building corresponds to the color of the plants intended to be grown there, generating a facility wide ecosystem for the community. Within the building, supporting programs and residential units overlap within the various levels of the project. Ecological workshops and exhibition areas are scattered through the building to provide an array of social, economic, and environmental benefits for the community. There are a total of 90 units, a majority of which include outdoor balconies. These units are designed to encourage residents to participate in ecological practices of recycling, food production, water reuse and energy saving.

Apiaries on the exterior of the building to support the gardens within the towers in UE6.

Bird’s Eye View of UE6 showing rooftop gardens on towers.

efflorescence

Students:

Cameron Hausfelder, Ryan Storto

Faculty:

Rutuja Shinde, Christopher Romano (coordinator), Ken MacKay (coordinator), Seth Amman, Elaine Chow, Jon Spielman

Program:

BS Arch

junior studio fall 2020, ARC 301 88

The Fall 2020 semester for junior architecture studio focused on the Tectonics of Buoyancy and the Buffalo Niagara Region’s relationship and response to water’s edge. This design studio encourages students to re-examine the prevailing Western tendency to fortify ourselves against the elements for fear of catastrophic ecological, social, and cultural impacts. Throughout the semester, students explored the relationship between human settlement and water and how architects can offer new tectonic responses to these issues. The Tectonics of Buoyancy studio introduces students to tectonics through the construction of a 1:1 scale buoyant vessel. Students work collaboratively throughout the semester to design, fabricate, and float this wooden vessel, exploring space and geometry, structure and skin, form and function, as well as material and construction. Following construction of the buoyant vessel, students work together in pairs to propose a 5,000-square-foot water station that re-integrates people and water along Buffalo’s Outer Harbor. The water stations explore new tectonics through the structure’s performance within fluctuating environmental conditions and

multipurpose, integrated spaces for people to access via land or water. Students Cameron Hausfelder and Ryan Storto designed Efflorescence as a floating community pavilion stationed along the interior of Buffalo Outer Harbor’s break wall with steel cables. Accessed via kayak from the shore of the Outer Harbor, Efflorescence contains viewing spaces with water lift systems, a coffee shop, boutique, several multipurpose rooms, restrooms, and other amenities for the community. Hausfelder and Storto designed Efflorescence to engage occupants with the water surrounding the project, moving private programs underwater and maintaining public programs at the water level. The project proposes integrated systems of water collection via the building’s skin and incorporates ballasts in the building’s underwater sections for stabilization during rough conditions. Hausfelder and Storto were also inspired by the geometry of their buoyant vessel’s tectonics, maintaining this organic form in their site proposal and its relationship to the water. The final design offers a stark contrast to the historic architecture found along the Buffalo Outer Harbor’s edge.

Interior rendering looking out of Efflorescence

Section perspective showing the relationship between land and water.

Interior rendering of café space.

Exterior rendering of user approaching Efflorescence.

Exterior render approaching from the break wall.

Interior rendering of entry.

Plan of Efflorescence attached to the break wall of Buffalo’s Outer Harbor.

people in place

collaborative planning studio fall 2020, URP 581 92

Willert Park Courts (WPC), known today as A.D. Price Homes, is currently a vacant residential housing complex made up of ten buildings located in the Ellicott District of the east side of Buffalo, New York. It was constructed in 1939 by the U.S. Housing Authority as segregated housing exclusively for African Americans, designed by architect Frederick C. Backus along with landscape architect William E. Harris. Sculptors Robert Crombach and Herbert Ambellan completed a sculptural program integrated with the design depicting African-American life and achievements. WPC is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It meets Criterion A in the areas of ethnic heritage as one of the first federally funded housing projects for African Americans in the country and community planning and development as an early public housing project of the United States Housing Authority. It meets Criterion C in the areas of art for its Federal Art Project cast bas relief sculptures and architecture as an intact example of Modernmovement housing influenced by the European school of public housing design.

Students:

Brianna Byandagara, Grace Çelik, Libertad Figuereo, Ethan Fogg, Elnaz Zagarham Koranlou, Rakshanda Nagaraj, Vanhnida Prince, Siera Rogers, Jay Schwartzkopf Mohammad Siam

Faculty:

Kerry Traynor

Program:

MUP, MSRED, MS Arch

More than eighty years after its construction, local community members are interested in preserving the historic property and reusing it once again as public housing. This studio evaluated WPC and questioned the underpinning ideas associated with historic preservation. The studio examined the need to, or possibly how to, preserve the housing complex in order to value a neighborhood, culture, and history of a place. The complex was intended by design to disconnect the residents from the surrounding neighborhood. When considering the restoration of WPC, is it possible to preserve the history without propagating segregation? The studio aimed to understand WPC in the context of African-American history in the United States and public housing in order to propose a way that properly preserves and conveys its significance. This research aimed to understand the feasibility of preserving and using the buildings as public housing while meeting contemporary requirements such as the New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) design guidelines. In order to address those goals, site visits, guest lectures, and extensive research were conducted to

better understand the historic significance of the housing development, current community needs, and the challenges to contemporary affordable housing. This context allowed the study to explore if and how preservation and reuse as public housing was possible. To be reused as public housing, the vacant property would need to be restored, funding sources obtained, and current housing standards set forth by state and federal housing regulations would need to be met. After extensive review of these issues, the studio concluded that the existing design of WPC does not meet contemporary requirements of public housing or the current public housing need in the city of Buffalo. The required alterations to Harris’ site design and Backus’ plan are not consistent with the Preservation Act of 1966 as amended. Specifically, the alterations are not consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and would compromise the integrity of the buildings and site. These changes would potentially make the property not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places given that Backus’ plan is integral to the design and is a character-defining feature.

Existing Conditions of entry with canopy. Photo: kta preservation specialists

The dichotomy of how to preserve the history of people in place and the architecture of WPC, while providing equitable housing, was identified as the kernel of the problem. What is the purpose of preservation? Who benefits from preservation? How much original fabric needs to be preserved in order to convey meaning, to retain history, and to tell the story of people in place? The studio concluded that retaining all 10 buildings at WPC and redesigning the plan to meet HCR guidelines is not only the most expensive alternative, it

also does not provide equitable, contemporary public housing. Further, it does not meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and is therefore not a viable alternative from a preservation perspective. Demolishing the entire complex and building new housing, while economically advantageous, does not preserve the important history of this site. A design solution that retains the character-defining features of the site, the history of the architects’ designs, and the history of people and place, all while simultaneously

providing quality housing, needs to be recommended. In order to satisfy the affordable housing demand of the city of Buffalo, a proposal has been made where all but the original administrative building of WPC would be demolished and replaced with contemporary public housing. Without the original physical fabric of the buildings intact, an alternative that retains significant components of the design and architecture can be presented. This alternative can offer a didactic of the history and community that once

Interior existing conditions. Photo: kta preservation specialists

resided in WPC. To reinforce elements of the original 1939 plan, it is proposed that character-defining features with high integrity continue to be reused in the new plan, along with embracing and connecting the site to the AfricanAmerican community within the city. Several character-defining features would be retained in the proposal. The central axis of the site would continue to be present to serve as a central community-gathering space as originally intended. Engraved granite stones would be arranged in the central courtyard to trace the floor plan of an original two-bedroom apartment, at scale, as it was designed in 1939. It is recommended that the stones have the names of prominent African-American figures in Buffalo, both past and present, who contributed to great achievements within the local African-American

Existing Conditions of central green space. Photo: kta preservation specialists

community. The sculptural program can be recreated using the salvaged bricks from the original buildings to make columns that once again can be used to define the entrances within the site. Community engagement and local partnerships could coordinate the addition of murals by local artists along the original administrative building. A final recommendation includes the new plan of the former WPC becoming one of the anchor sites of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, further sharing the stories of the African-American community that once inhabited the space. These suggestions offer an alternative to preservation and storytelling that is not restricted to just the original architectural elements. During the course of this research, students learned that preservation and restoration are not

always possible either through financial or physical means in a manner that allows the property to continue to convey historic significance as defined by regulatory constructs. However, the memory of people and place can be preserved and shared into the future in numerous ways to still provide historic identity and connect individuals to the past.

95 Reusing original sculptural blocks in new development

https://streeteasy.commidfied by Grace Çelik

Collages: Siera Rogers and Grace Çelik

https://www.ju.edu modified by Çelik and Rogers

The studio proposes minor site alterations to the existing master plan that will enhance the storytelling of the site.

market farm stands

sustainable futures studio summer 2020, ARC 406 96

This service-learning design studio conducted in depth research and offered proposals for an urban farmstand for the Massachusetts Avenue Project. This will be the future ‘home’ of an established market currently relying on folding furniture used for the client’s mobile market setup. The Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) is a nonprofit urban farm located on Buffalo’s West Side between Massachusetts Avenue, Brayton Street, and Shields Avenue. In addition to the urban farm, the organization manages an on-location market, a mobile market, and cooking and seminar classes to address concerns of youth development and unemployment. Throughout the year, MAP employs youth and teaches job readiness and leadership skills through farming, marketing, kitchen and nutrition education, and food policy and civic engagement. Their property has gone through several changes and, in its current state, features a newly constructed ‘farmhouse’, multiple gardens, greenhouses, and a small orchard, with space for an apiary and chickens. Buffalo’s West Side spans from Scajaquada Creek to the city’s Central

Students:

Leticia Avila, Nicholas Bonora, Duong Diep, Marietta Koeberle, Amaris Lighty, Taylor Stewart

Faculty:

Stephanie Cramer

Program:

BS Arch, MArch, BAED

Business District. This is one of the most diverse areas in the city, with a steady flow of immigrant and refugee families that have revitalized the neighborhood. The increased presence of local businesses and amenities has resulted in rising property values, making this an up-and-coming neighborhood. The concern is that this revitalization will displace those who cannot afford the rising cost-of-living. Local organizations like MAP and PUSH are playing a significant role in reducing the disparities that often result from revitalization. To better understand the neighborhood, environmental context and the needs of residents, the studio studied local conditions such as food security, population, temperature, precipitation, solar shadow and wind.

PAVILION The pavilion is meant to function as a space for the Thursday farmstand and as a covered place for visitors to wait for walking tours and other programs hosted by the organization. A space behind the pavilion is designed to enhance both the farmstand and outdoor classroom area. The pavilion is

Rendering of final proposal of the Market Stand.

intended to be functional whether or not it is actively being used to sell produce – for instance, serving as a sheltered space for visitors and employees while also conveying informational signage.

98 Pavilion in open and closed configurations.

Each operable panel of the pavilion is designed to support the market program during its open phase. The 200-square-foot interior provides space for employees to operate during open hours, and provides storage for portable produce trays when closed. Visitors and employees can utilize the covered area over the front walkway to the right of the market stand. When the market is open, the space allows shoppers to actively engage the space as they pick out their food. A public plaza tucked behind the pavilion is available to customers during operating hours, and enhances the outdoor classroom space when closed. The goals of the proposals are to improve the market stands and displays, provide a space for public gathering, create way-finding systems, increase market visibility from the street, and furnish the workers, visitors and passers-by with a place for gatherings and sheltering from the elements. Ultimately, the introduction of a new farmstand will help to better serve the needs of both the community and the MAP organization.

Details: unfolding display, shading, and security mechanism.

99 Neighborhood resource analysis

Section showing Market Stand operation.

Transportation analysis: vehicle Availability (workers 16 and older)

100

101

Ioanna Dinoulis and her fellow 3.5 year first semester students gather on campus to test their social distancing devices for Joyce Hwang's media course. Photo: Douglas Levere

CONVERSATION: hybrid remote bonding

FALL 3.5 YEAR STUDENTS Luke Dole Regan Flemming Jackson Gaylord John Mark Silbert 102

The first semester of the 3.5 year MArch program is an intense crash course run at a rapid pace to quickly bring students from a variety of academic backgrounds up to speed on all things architecture. The comparatively small cohort is enrolled in the same classes, and becomes a tight-knit unit in which students rely on each other to share expertise and keep track of assignments. Even during a ‘normal’ year, beginning the program can be intimidating; and during the Fall 2020 semester, the level of uncertainty students faced was only raised that much higher.

Starting In-Person Most students come to the 3.5 year program from other schools or recent jobs and don’t know any other students. For this group, there was general concern about starting classes remotely, that the boat to meet other students would sail right on by during those pivotal first few weeks. The learning format for their studio began in-person, often meeting with the whole group outside on campus, before moving to a fully remote format later in the semester.

This hybrid strategy had many benefits: many students were able to focus and be more present when in the same physical space and were able to explore more through physical making. A particularly relevant and entertaining example was the social distancing devices students made in their media course, taught by Joyce Hwang, associate professor of architecture, that they were able to test out on the lawn behind Crosby Hall.

Was In-Person More Personable? However, there was a mix of perceptions about whether the in-person or the remote class format felt more personal. Some students felt that these in-person sessions really helped to build social cohesion, while others felt that they really got to meet people only once they met in a remote format where they could see each other’s faces. Along those lines, some students felt that the anxiety around staying physically distanced on campus was an added inhibition, and they were able to really relax when meeting remotely. However, overall, students felt that the mix of in-person and remote instruction

103

Drone photo of students testing their social distancing devices on campus. Photo: Scott Balzar

struck a balance that helped bring everyone together.

Foundational Model Making

104

Given students’ limited access to campus facilities, many studios completed digital work in 2020. However, the foundational skills of model making are essential to the first semester of the 3.5 year program, so students learned these techniques from home. This was one of the most challenging aspects of the semester for many students, some of whom had absolutely no experience coming into the program. Techniques for cutting, gluing, etc. are often shared between students working together in the studio, and the friendly competitive nature of these groups usually pushes everyone to try new techniques, using the laser cutter and CNC machines in the Fabrication Workshop. Without that shared experience, many students are looking forward to improving their modeling skills in the coming year.

first year there are many small questions about new programs – AutoCAD, Rhino, Photoshop, etc. – that are easy to ask a friend who’s sitting next to you but can take a long time to figure out on your own.

Exceeding Expectations When asked about how the studio lived up to their expectations, students were overwhelmingly positive. Some began the semester without distinctly partial expectations, while others were decidedly skeptical. Some students had taken online classes in undergrad in which they learned very little, and they had similarly low expectations for the remote classes taught in the fall of 2020. However, they were surprised and pleased that this was not at all the case.

Luke Dole

Regan Flemming

Studio Escape Although their media course incorporated ideas related to the pandemic, studio work was a welcome distraction from the stresses of seclusion and isolation. Their proposals were generally operating under assumed post-pandemic conditions and were an enjoyable, optimistic way to escape the current reality. For the introverts, home-bodies, and long-distance commuters, working remotely was more efficient and relaxing. Some students also found it easier to focus without the distraction of working in the same space with other students. But many students also felt a fear of missing out on the studio experience that they haven’t yet had. For this group, that was especially difficult even for digital work. Similarly to physical skills, in this

“Honestly, doing a digital studio sounds ridiculous if you are coming out of a physical world, but I thought we did a pretty damn good job, getting work shared, getting feedback, even growing our inter-personal connections."

Jackson Gaylord

- John Mark Silbert John Mark Silbert

105

Photo: Douglas Levere

adaptive architecture study

graduate studio spring 2020, ARC 502 106

This study is inspired by Lina Bo Bardi’s adaptive reuse project, SESC Pompeia Factory. The main factory building is comprised of a large open space ruled only by a rectilinear grid of columns. Within such a framework, an infinite variety of possible floor plans and circulations can be laid out. Such a framework allows for use and program to vary over time — simply through the addition or subtraction of elements laid out within it. The grid is constant. As a building ages and the program evolves and changes, the memory of what was before should persist. The accumulation of subsequent programs, uses, human activities, and memory —layered over

Student:

Keith Benes

Faculty:

Georg Rafailidis

Program:

3.5yr MArch

All negative space

decades — gives a building its character, richness, and with each subsequent phase, a stronger ability to persist into the future. The study is a preliminary exploration as part of a larger studio process in which students extrapolate design concepts from architectural precedents to design a building without an assigned program. After developing the initial form, students are randomly assigned a program by lottery, and then continue to adjust the concept to accommodate the program.

Negative space on column grid

Negative space off column grid

107

Sixteen potential use patterns layered to create one composite projection

upstate road train

environmental design workshop fall 2020, END 450 108

Students:

James Annunziata Junior, Shania Julia Anunciacion, Devin Barth, Viraja Bhosale, Ruth Bonnette, Lindsey Bruso, Yumeng Chen, Felicia Fortunado, Allison Gomez, Yunchao Han, Hannah Hanley, Marianna Holmes, Omar Ibrahim, Zachary Lee, Maya Miler, Tyson Morton, David Pulliam, Nick Sapone, Claudia Savoy, Letao Shen, Becky Szeto, David Tabak, Omar Tantawy, Devyn Walker, Huiyuan Zhang, Xing Xing Zheng.

Faculty:

Jeffrey Rehler

Program: BAED

The Upstate Road Train (URT) proposed for New York State is a state-of-the-art concept for intercity transportation. The overarching idea for this report was provided by Tim Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture. This report analyzes existing infrastructure to recommend how this URT system can be integrated into its fabric.

along the corridor, integrate with local transit, and re-energize historic downtowns. Equity, accessibility, and connectivity were key priorities in the design and planning of each station, which will serve as an easily accessible space for residents and travelers. Stations are also intentionally placed near other public transit hubs to provide connectivity to urban areas.

An optimal route for the URT would expand along the New York State Thruway, from Albany to Buffalo, stopping at many key upstate cities in between. It will be the first of its kind as it ranges the longest distance of any existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the world. It is also planned to move at faster speeds than existing bus and train systems presently serving this corridor. This system will utilize the newest vehicle technology available to provide a comfortable and fast ride for travelers while also being environmentally sustainable. This system is designed to contain a total of eight stops and stations, with two in Buffalo, and one in Batavia, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady, and Albany. The optimal URT design would improve social, economic, and environmental conditions

Station locations prioritize connections to public transportation and limit the burden of transfers. Through research on demographic trends and best practices for bus rapid transit, the studio found that connecting riders directly into the city core increases accessibility greatly for those without private transportation. Proposed locations within downtown cores would not only increase transit access to underserved populations but help with revitalization efforts taking place in downtowns across New York State. These investments would benefit from transportation hubs and increased mobility options around historical and mostly auto-centric areas. Additional research guided recommendations regarding inclusivity, topography, ecology, existing infrastructure constraints, and

109

Batavia Station aerial view. Rendering: Letao Shen

110

Buffalo Station cutaway. Rendering: Letao Shen

Batavia Station interior. Rendering: Letao Shen

Route Map - Source NYS Clearinghouse, NYSTA. Map by Shania Julia Anunciacion

safety considerations. The Upstate Road Train would be implemented through several phases over the course of the next several decades, concluding in 2050 in accordance with New York State’s goal to achieve zero emissions for all buses by that time. The first phase would be the addition of diesel buses onto the proposed median lane on the highway, with traffic signal priority for buses making local station stops. The final configuration of the Upstate Road Train will feature separated lanes for electric or hydrogen buses and designated lanes for local station connection. Each of these recommendations and findings are supported by extensive research and collaboration with experts in public transportation and planning. This research and report findings are informative for the development of the proposed Upstate Road Train, and will hopefully lead to a new era of higher quality alternatives for public transit in upstate New York. The Upstate Road Train presents an unprecedented opportunity to connect upstate cities in a sustainable and future-oriented manner. The URT rethinks interstate infrastructure to support public transportation, thereby increasing access and equity for intercity travel. The recommendations outlined in this report would connect upstate New York though eight stations through key cities and towns. The efficiency and environmentally conscious design of the fleet, route and stations aligns with New York State’s sustainability goals and the New York Department of Transportation’s sustainability mission. Beyond contributing to the sustainable transportation systems of the future, the Upstate Road Train elevates typical public transit experiences by offering smooth and

111

Walking time Isochrone from proposed Buffalo station. Diagram made using TravelTime.com by Omar Ibrahim

spacious buses, direct connections to city centers and local transportation, and universally accessible facilities and vehicles. It is anticipated that investment into stations in downtown cores would help revitalize these historic areas and encourage more transit oriented development. Downtown station investment would encourage users both within and outside the city to use the URT. The system connects these cities in a very unique way. Commuters are able to travel a long distance without interruption from heavy traffic or refueling needs. As an efficient mode of public transit that brings people from city to city across upstate New York, the Upstate Road Train is designed for the future of long distance public transit.

architectural sketching & the built environment

undergraduate elective spring 2020, ARC 122 112

The sketches featured here were drawn after this course went completely remote. Before this transition class activities were dependent upon the freedom of movement and close inter-personal contact. Until this point the mode of interaction and learning was very direct and experiential. Students traveled freely – in groups and as individuals – to different environments on UB’s campus and in the surrounding city of Buffalo in order to interact with their surroundings and to record their thoughts and observations through drawing. This was a time of uninhibited wandering and exploration. They visited places together and shared sketchbooks with each other. They made drawings in and of the places they visited. They could pass sketchbooks around the room, touching and looking closely at the pages. They often gathered in small, intimate groups as they realized drawings in a variety of different contexts. They could huddle together around the drawings in order to examine them closely and discuss them. Sometimes, they shared drawing tools. All of that changed.

Students:

Marysia Paradis

Faculty:

Dennis Maher

Program:

BS Arch

They were no longer afforded the freedom of movement that they had in the very recent past. Many students returned to their residences in different parts of the world and many – if not all – were homebound. They were encouraged to not interact with others and could not visit the places that they could ordinarily expect to visit. They could no longer flip through the pages of sketchbooks of their classmates. Their relationship to each other and to the surrounding environment had changed drastically. Dennis Maher, clinical assistant professor, encouraged students to view this as a special opportunity to reconsider the world, the immediacy of their surroundings, anxieties, and especially the act of drawing in new ways. Drawing is, after all, an intimate activity. It was a chance for them to explore a relationship to the medium in a more close and personal way and – simultaneously – to cultivate a new attitude toward the spaces and the information that we share with one another. Students very closely observed the environment within which they each were situated. They began looking at

113

Primary living space

all the constituent parts of whatever environment in which they were living – whether it is a house, apartment, dorm, or something else. They looked closely at the walls, floors, ceilings, windows, doors, furnishings and all the contained objects. As they studied the immediacy of their own surroundings – including the variety of materials, surfaces, colors, textures and the emotions they generate – they drew selective ‘vignettes’ from their current living environment. In this context, a vignette is a constellation of associated objects. For example, as you observe your bathroom sink, you may also observe other objects that could be considered integral parts of the sink’s universe: perhaps a comb, a toothbrush, floss, or a washcloth. Each vignette was to be composed of one major object and at least three other minor objects Students made one drawing of the complete vignette and one detailed drawing of each of the minor objects.

114

To facilitate discussion and drawing sharing, all students were required to maintain an Instagram account, and used the platform to view work produced in the class by sharing posts with the hashtag: #arc122drawinghome.

Door hinge detail

115

View through prismatic front door window

Bedroom still life

regional economic development & equity

graduate planning practicum spring 2020, URP 581/582 116

The I-90 Corridor This study focused on investigating economic development opportunities for four cities along the New York State I-90 corridor: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. Through the analysis of economic clusters, Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) strategies, and economic profiles for New York State (NYS), the studio proposed a series of development and policy recommendations that would leverage economic growth through strategic investments and amplify equitable outcomes.

Historical Trends in Equity and Growth The objective was to understand the historic and current economic trends in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse in order to assess their respective regional strategies. Data collected regarding location quotient (LQ), tradable sectors, and trends in the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2001 through 2018 were used to analyze the effectiveness of regional strategies. Findings built upon the current economic growth and investment

Students:

Karsten Brooks, Daniela Leon, Jilong Li, Christopher Platt, Gerardo Rivera, Tyler Scriven, Ian Stern, Erik Woyciesjes, Xieyang Xing, Sydney Zuckerman

Faculty:

Jiyoung Park

Program: MUP

strategies outlined by respective REDCs and expand on opportunities for increasing the role of equity in regional economic growth. Graphical representation of the city’s location quotient by industry and GDP was created using data extracted from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This serves as a template for a SWOTstyled analysis that assesses regional strategies as they relate to industrial concentrations or clusters around the state. The reason for this framework of analysis is that it aligns with New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s economic development strategy, providing an established platform for a detailed discussion on its various performance indicators and their relative success.

and growing social concerns. This approach was developed by Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter.

Respective Policy Using network analysis, PICS (Pioneering, Innovation, Converting, and Strengthening) analysis, and Porter’s diamond model, the study seeks to identify a series of factors: demand conditions, factor conditions,

Regional Strategies The formation of 10 regional councils in New York State has provided regional strategies that use the aforementioned cities as cornerstones for a clustered development strategy that aggregates investment into related industries and produces competitive businesses and labor markets while simultaneously addressing downtown revitalization

Strategic priorities

117

Research Process diagram

related and supporting industries and content for firm strategy and rivalry. This type of assessment structure provides an appropriate platform to investigate the current regional policy and strategy as it relates to Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse with the purpose of developing a reproducible way to assess urban growth within the context of the region but against the conditions of competitive markets. Along with developing strategies for economic development based on historical trends, this report examined factors of community equity, better guiding our recommendations. This focus is included to ensure that the strategies we develop serve the communities best.

Buffalo Case Study The city of Buffalo makes up almost a quarter of the population of its Metropolitan Statistical area (MSA). This population on average has a lower median household income, higher rates of poverty and unemployment and is more racially diverse. Half of households in Buffalo have incomes under $35,893; similarly, 43.34% of households are under $30,000, 37.51% are under $25,000, 30.51% are under $20,000, 23.74% are under $15,000 and 13.54% are under $10,000.

Post-Industrial Legacy Cities A regional approach to economic growth has become increasingly

important within the context of post-industrial legacy cities, and Buffalo is leading the momentum. Ongoing investment strategies within the city and the MSA are becoming progressively aligned with broader regional goals across WNY. This comprehensive approach stimulates coordination in investment between jurisdictions on key industry sectors including advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and higher education. The smart growth approach unfolding aims to build upon the region’s strengths in industry specialization (LQs) while addressing some of the key challenges surrounding the available workforce and their level of skill, as well as talent recruitment and overall competitive potential. Buffalo in particular has

118

Income Inequality Analysis. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

focused on leveraging existing assets such as tourism, the concentration of advanced manufacturing industries, and arts and entertainment. As shown in our PICS panel, Buffalo’s LQs in finance and management, followed by educational services, manufacturing and healthcare, are all highly concentrated in contrast to national averages indicating an opportunity for continued investment in these areas. Furthermore, economic opportunity for Buffalo and the MSA presents itself in the GDP rates of employment in the accommodation and food services, arts, entertainment, and recreation growing stronger each year.

Geographic Advantages Buffalo is uniquely positioned to catalyze regional growth for a host of other reasons including its geographic

location within 500 miles/800 km of 40 percent of the U.S. population and its sizeable area comprised of eight different counties. The city’s proximity to the Canada border also makes it a bi-national gateway for commerce, business, and entertainment hubs. Current plans also involve economic and environmental justice strategies such as the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund aimed at improving economic conditions for Buffalo’s particularly vulnerable East Side residents; designated Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) for remediation; and the Buffalo Sewer Authority’s comprehensive, citywide green infrastructure program known as Rain Check. Current efforts are tapping into the generative potential of existing strong industries, workforce preparation, and entrepreneurship, all of which strongly assert the competitive edge of the city and, in turn, WNY as a whole.

As economic development efforts continue to unfold, policy-makers and planners can make use of our PICS panel to monitor performance and tailor strategies to the needs of the region. However, we posit that policies and projects implemented must also consider the role of equity and their impacts on marginalized communities such as the poor, elderly, and racial and ethnic minorities. While economic development has the potential to bolster the region, it is vital to create an inclusive and diverse tide. Studies show that metro economies exhibit faster, stronger, and longer growth spells when prosperity isn’t limited to just a few segments of the population. A more dynamic economy with regard to labor force, innovation, and the industry generates more jobs and economic opportunities for more people.

119

Source: American Community Survey 2018

120

Remote working stations, John Mark Silbert, Leticia Avila, Hayley Davis, Nicholas Eichelberger, Nick Rajkovich.

121

They felt they didn't retain as much information as when they were physically present on campus. Putting the learning expectations aside, it was difficult staying in touch with friends made in previous semesters let alone making new connections.

CONVERSATION remote racial justice

Flexibility for Guest Speakers FALL PLANNING STUDENTS Siera Rogers Jay Schwartzkopf 122

Although it is true that the topics discussed and the products produced differ between architecture and planning, the essential, togetherness energy of studio is as important in planning as it is in architecture. Similarly, much of the research is about the spatial experience, and the physical, tactile qualities of a place. Clinical Associate Professor Kerry Traynor's Fall planning studio set out to engage with the difficult history of segregated housing in the United States. While many of the practical activities of this planning studio were well positioned to work in a fully remote format, some students still felt a deep sense of loss relative to the special collaborative experience of learning together in the same physical space. However, there were other benefits in expanding the variety of voices included in the conversation

Effective Organization Through Remote Work Difficulties Students had a variety of expectations going into the semester. Some students had already experienced a shift to remote learning during the Spring

semester; for others, this was their first experience in a remote classroom. Acclimating to the Zoom environment didn’t take long. They started class as a group and then moved into breakout rooms to work in smaller groups, with Historic Preservation students and Master of Urban Planning students collaborating and Real Estate Development students in another group. They were all contributing to the same project but looking at the issues through different lenses. They took full advantage of the UB box service and developed a specific organizational system with careful document version control processes. Still, their sessions were fraught with the usual difficulties of working remotely: not being able to naturally form conversation groups and, at times, lacking the immediate feedback and spontaneity of group work sessions. Although campus facilities such as the library and computer labs were open with limited capacity, most students never went on campus during the semester. For some, the efficiency and flexibility of remote learning was a major benefit, but for others it was difficult to focus.

There were positives of this modality. Professor Traynor was able to bring in many guest speakers to the conversation who further elaborated on the reallife complexities of the relationships between the various stakeholders of a preservation project. Many guests who would not have been able to travel to present on campus were able to easily fit an hour-long call on their schedules. This new convenience will likely become an integral part of these courses going forward, bringing as many voices and perspectives into the conversation as possible.

Staying Focused on the Issues Other than the 7 a.m. digital Daily Health Check, the awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t really impact the research and proposals of the studio. The group was immersed in other major issues. In this sense, studio time was a moment for students to turn their attention away from the immediate condition of pandemic isolation and focus on the harsh social and economic history of segregated housing, with Willert Park as the specific development of study and its implications for issues of racial justice today.

123

Group 'portrait' after final review on Zoom.

“Our final presentation to the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, Norstar Development, Dr. Price and other key stakeholders... went off without a hitch despite having presenters located as far away as India working through

power outages and a completely different time zone. In fact, Rakshanda Nagaraj’s presentation while residing in India was one of the highlights of the event.”

- Jay Schwartzkopf

playing against type

inclusive design studio spring 2020, ARC 606 124

The Spring 2020 Inclusive Design studio, Playing Against Type, was a critique on the typological thinking present in western architecture. Assistant Professor Charles Davis encouraged students to examine the reuse of European-inspired developer housing by the material customs of Black life on Buffalo’s East Side. It is understood within these investigations that the typological diagram of a building emulates the function of the cultural potentials of “primitive” peoples against the standards and norms of European civilization. Students explored the issues of stereotypical interpretations of Black vernacular culture as well as the interpretation of contemporary Black architectural culture. The influence of the rise of developer culture replaced existing craftsmanship of Haitian cultures and thus the cultural essence of Black domestic life since the 1920s has been left unrevised architecturally. The Inclusive Design studio studied spatial customs and expressive cultures of African American life that have yet to be indexed into architectural form. These studies helped provide a basis to

Students:

Jenna Herbert, Mira Shami

Faculty:

Charles Davis

Program: MArch

modify the Euro-American housing on Buffalo’s East Side. Students explored how these models would have changed if Black Americans had the freedom and capital to modify them to reflect their own cultural norms, along with what areas of the home might have changed and what new spaces might be introduced that were not essential for White Americans during this same time period. Within this studio, the corrective approach to architectural typology looks to radicalize the practice of adaptive reuse to recover the latent potential of Black life that is still hidden today. Students researched the historical development of Buffalo’s Hamlin Park neighborhood as well as studies of African American expressive culture in order to develop a working knowledge of the racial and ethnic groups living and previously living in Buffalo’s East Side. Through a series of collage and mapping exercises, students explored tectonic principles embedded in the everyday contexts of Black residents. With these precedents as a guide, students worked to develop tectonic strategies for bringing these

125

Perspective of the final adaptation to the Buffalo Double with shed proposal for the barbershop and haircare at-home practice.

cultural conditions and practices into a highly visible material architectural relief. Students looked specifically into the re-use of four housing typologies on Buffalo’s East Side that embody the cultural experiences of African Americans: The Buffalo Double, Four Square, Homestead, and Bungalow.

126

Graduate students Mira Shami and Jenna Herbert chose to investigate barbershop culture in conjunction with braiding culture and their rich history of entrepreneurship in Black culture. This is essential towards identifying methods of growing small businesses and allowing individuals the empowerment to work for themselves. Herbert and Shami proposed a new bike shelter for a mobile barber. They analyzed the existing Buffalo Double typology and allow it to adapt into a full business through phases of growing from providing housing for the owner on the first floor and tenants on the second floor to a space where the first floor is fully adapted into a business exclusively focused on hair. The adaptation is easily made through small adjustments in the living space since hair practice most often occurs at home. When the business is fully adapted to take on all hair practices, the owner then moves into the second story of the house, originally intended for tenants. This shift allows the space to become a community center for those in the neighborhood, including the conversion of the bike shed into a public play space.

Section of adapted Buffalo double with expanded business within the home.

Interior rendering of the waiting area in the adapted Buffalo Double.

127

Expanded details for the proposed shed for the community and barber shop practices.

Rendering of entrance to shed for the community and barber shop spaces.

Interior rendering the community space.

near-term strategies for the northland campus

real estate development studio fall 2020, END593/URP581/URP582 128

Northland In Its Community

Students:

Kennedy Alexis, Sydney Alford, Qais Alqaddah, Justyn Bellitto, Eric Benz, Camile Brown, Michael Burton, Elise Cloutier, Joseph Crispus Karanja, David Kelly, Daniela Leon, Alison Liang, Sean McGranaghan, Melanie Monroy, Angelo Rhodes, Jasraj Sandhu, Tanner Schmit

Faculty:

Ernest Sternberg, V. Jeffrey LiPuma,

Program:

MSRED, MUP

For decades, the area around Northland Avenue suffered from divestment and abandonment, especially as many of its former manufacturing anchors succumbed to outside economic forces. Due to the adjacent Belt Line railroad, the corridor had become a strategic industrial hub able to move both people and products en masse. Once home to manufacturers such as Houdaille Industries, Otis Elevator Company, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Northland Rubber Company, and Niagara Machine & Tool Works (later Clearing Niagara), the products that left the loading docks went on to forge modern America. A blue-collar workforce, building aircraft engines, plunger elevators, and automobile parts, established residency near their employers starting around the turn of the 20th Century. Over time, this pattern of settlement formed the Delavan Grider neighborhood we know today.

demographic changes within the surrounding neighborhood. Once a dense and walkable community, it is now less-conducive to pedestrian interaction and high in housing vacancy rates. Changes in the fortunes of Northland over the years have been borne by nearby residents, with 35.6% of the surrounding Masten District community living below the poverty line. As of August 2020, this same area had the highest unemployment rate in the city at 11.3%. Overall, the housing profile indicates only 24.6% of homes are owner-occupied while 60.3% are rented. The demographics of the neighborhood also have changed over the years, from a predominantly German and Eastern European population, to today’s 82% Black/African American makeup. Despite a popular perception of decay, the areas surrounding the Northland core (the Masten District) are still home to an aggregate of 27,671 people and an already existing vibrancy that cannot be ignored.

As Buffalo entered into its PostIndustrial epoch, the once dynamic cluster of manufacturers slowly faded into history. This narrative of decline has manifested itself in both spatial and

The surrounding neighborhood has assets and stakeholders already active in shaping the future of the Northland Campus. Well-established community organizations, institutions, and

129

Buffalo Manufacturing Works, Northland. Photo: Charles Wingfelder

places of worship serve as a network for opportunities to support social livelihood and economic sustainability. Examples of actors providing capacity-building and direct service include: Delavan Grider Community Center (Metro CDC), Mt. Olive Church/Mt. Olive Development Corporation (MODC), True Bethel Church/True Community Development Corp (TCDC), Northland Beltline Taxpayers Association, and Erie County Medical Center (ECMC).

130

The Role of the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation In 2014, bolstered by Governor Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion and Empire State Development funding, the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation (BUDC) acquired more than 35 acres of vacant land and roughly 700,000 square feet of under-utilized industrial space on Buffalo’s East Side. This Brownfield redevelopment project came with a vision to not only reactivate employment within the campus, but to also revitalize a neighborhood long suffering from neglect. As the City of Buffalo’s not-for-profit development agency, the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation’s (BUDC) role at Northland represents a case study on the positive impact of public benefit corporations in developing urban areas ignored by private investors. Since the inception of the Northland Campus, BUDC has spearheaded its economic development efforts, overcoming many obstacles during that time. Their primary roles include land acquisition, creation of shovel-ready sites, rehabilitation of formerly distressed properties, and attracting new business to the campus. The aim of BUDC is to create an urban industry cluster focused on advanced manufacturing and innovation, with an

Northland Central. Exterior of 683 Northland. Photo: Charles Wingfelder

integrated workforce training component. With investment by New York State through Empire State Development, the agency has transformed the appearance and spirit of the Northland Campus. In the Summer of 2018, the Northland Workforce Training Center opened its doors after a $44 million investment, transforming the long dormant Northland Central Building. The successes continued in 2019 after the Albright-Knox Art Gallery announced the opening of an exhibition space on Northland Avenue. Open since January 2020, it marks a new chapter in cultivating a cultural identity for Northland beyond solely manufacturing. The year 2019 also saw the completion of the first phase of streetscape and green infrastructure improvements, a step contributing to a larger strategy of placemaking within and around the campus. Fast forward to the present day and 2020 has marked the start of a new juncture for the campus. Northland Central was leased nearly to full capacity in just a few short years, bringing in outside companies to call the area their new home. These businesses represent a cluster of firms focused on advanced manufacturing, engineering, and life sciences. Finally, recently completed BUDC land swaps and the Buffalo Planning Board’s approval for the Houdaille property division equate to new, high-level hovel-ready sites to expand upon the investment opportunities within the campus. The BUDC leadership team requested this joint studios’ involvement in creating visions for the campus that complement the successes already achieved.

131 Photo: Charles Wingfelder

Moving Forward

Recommendations

While the report seeks to capitalize on the successes and strengths of the Northland Campus, it is prudent to advance a proposal forward with a recognition of historic troubles and future challenges. Due to current economic uncertainty, funding flexibility and creativity will be required to advance future phases of development. Likewise, the campus faces competition; this comes from not only cities of similar market size, but also from other industrial reactivation corridors in the region. While this report presents proposals intended to foster wider neighborhood stability and vitality, systemic issues still persist such as: food inaccessibility, crime, limited educational attainment, an aging housing stock, and lack of environmental sustainability. This report and the recommended actions therein seek to further anchor the Northland Campus as a community institution with a greater stake in the holistic social revitalization of the community.

Following a comprehensive investigation into the Northland Campus, and the confluence of the sociology, geography, history, economics, and precedent surrounding it, this report outlines the framework for the following recommendations: • A Tech Incubator and/or a Life Science building, with two site options presented. • A Flex Industrial building and/or Warehousing, with two possible phases described. • Three special initiatives, including a commercial condominium with four site options presented, a renewable energy initiative, and a manufactured housing research facility. • Improved community connections leading to the proposal of a new Houdaille Place Event Space and significant investment in greenways and bikeways.

off-the-grid

undergraduate summer studio + seminar summer 2020, ARC 489/ARC 406 132

During the Summer 2020 semester, Of the Grid, led by Professor Jon Spielman, was one of three remote programs being offered. This studio investigated new ways of exploring systems requiring energy established by the man-made grid system. Off the Grid was structured in an attempt to allow students to understand utilities such as gas, electric, water, sewer systems, telephones, and more to design structures that could be self-reliant. Students sought out remote locations where they could safely and comfortably research local materials and how to use them as technologies that could take advantage of on-site resources. In their research, students explored passive heating and cooling, energy generation and harnessing systems, daylighting, and performance assessment tools and used this knowledge along with knowledge of material characteristics to develop environmentally efficient structures. Students began this process by researching sustainable homes within different regions of the United States and considered the local climate and systems that are most effective in these areas. This was coupled with research

Student:

Denice Guillermo

Faculty:

Jon Spielman

Program:

BS Arch

on building systems implemented in Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and other inspirations, such as earth shelters, found by students. Within the seminar, students designed a habitable thermal mass structure for two to three people to inhabit for up to 24 hours. This structure was intended to harness an energy flow identified by the student in their area of choice. Further, they considered the use of materials relative to their ability to conduct, absorb, radiate, insulate, and transfer energy. The remainder of the semester was focused on using the knowledge obtained in seminar and applying it to plans. Each student designed a twoto-three bedroom house with minimal adverse effects on the environment. Again, within a safe and remote location of their choice, students used their knowledge of natural energies to choose materials, systems, and methods of design that would accomplish this goal. Student Denice Guillermo chose Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, NY. This is a coastal area that hosts a multitude of visitors who arrive year-round to enjoy the uninterrupted

views of the Atlantic Ocean. With its large territory, social distancing was easy to maintain during site visits and was a welcome excursion; it proved to be an enjoyable change of scenery from the quarantine and "work-from-home" routine that many students became accustomed to. Guillermo designed an occupiable thermal mass structure,

Plan of wind mapping.

Diagram showing heat radiation patterns

133

Winter rendering winter showing an experience within the landscape that provides shelter and warmth.

Section of inhabitable wind structure with airflow from coastline in summer.

134

Construction Documents

Elevations of house, in summer at 9am.

135

Plan with construction details and schedule.

focused on harnessing sea breezes for cooling in the Summer. The structure had a pipeline system built into the ground to harvest coastline breezes directly from the ocean, and transport those breezes to the center of the mass, where they would then spiral and radiate out of the structure. In the Winter, this mass was designed to radiate heat with a fire pit in the center, allowing the structure to gain heat within its walls, and radiate out from its core. Guillermo chose to stay in the same vicinity of the previous site for her twoto-three-bedroom house design. She believed that this project offered an opportunity to think about sustainable and renewable energy sources that

are inherent to the area and how they could support an individual’s needs during and post-pandemic. Guillermo again looked to sea and land breezes, which were naturally occurring at coasts, that would serve as the initial passive energy system for her design process. To do this, Guillermo chose to lift the house above the ground to offer stack effect ventilation through uplift; this also provided opportunity to avoid potential flooding. This action also had the perk of creating a carport and isolated entrance for the building, as well. Guillermo organized the space to include kitchen, living and dining spaces facing the south of the site, with more private areas to the north. The house included a structural

thermal mass wall, operating much like a Trombe wall in the space. The effect of the modified Trombe wall was enhanced by the decision to set the wall back in space and enclose the south façade in glazing for a double skin system and greenhouse. By incorporating a greenhouse, the house could naturally warm itself in the Winter and encourage cool air to circulate in the Summer. Guillermo also included roof gardens within her design, providing the opportunity to filter and collect rain water for greywater usage. There was also the use of geothermal wells to allow for additional temperature regulation within the house by embedding radiant tubes into the walls.

anachronistic spaces

architectural thesis project spring 2020 136

Through the design of Anachronistic Spaces, this thesis speculates on futures in the Great Lakes Region through a stance on Architecture that advocates for sensitivity towards a world often ignored or neglected in sedentary frameworks. Research into Nomadism reveals that many nomadic communities have long been cognizant of the relationships between resources, consumption, and environment. As a counterpoint to modern sedentary living, nomadic communities are a case study on resiliency and adaptation in the face of increasingly extreme climactic, political, economic, and social conditions. Nomadism can be broadly defined as a “way of life of peoples who do not live continually in the same place but move cyclically or periodically.” However, Nomadism has many definitions, some even conflicting or contradictory. In order to differentiate Nomadism from Sedentism without accepting a limiting definition, Lukas Fetzko defines the Four Forces (Resources, Environment, Identity, Entities). He uses these as a framework for a proposal to explore what resiliency and adaptation mean in a contemporary context and to study

Student:

Lukas Fetzko

Faculty:

Christopher Romano, Nicholas Bruscia

Program: MArch

Nomadic space at transformer..

firsthand how these forces interact at a variety of scales. While some architects have reexamined nomadic communities, they have focused more on the documentation of nomadic practices, stopping short of exploring the larger implications of nomadic thinking for architecture. This thesis argues that nomadic populations are not only more conscious of the Four Forces; their lifestyles actively engage with these forces, whereas sedentary populations ignore or try to prevent these forces. This thesis explores the idea of a “Nomadic Conscience" through a series of “Trajectories” intended to uncover our relationships with the Four Forces in the context of the Great Lakes Region. The documentation of these personal experiences may reveal our absolute dependence on a stable balance of the Four Forces and, by merging these data with mappings and imagined spatial anachronisms, how a nomadic consciousness forms an architectural stance on resiliency and adaptation through subversion.

Anachronistic space between buildings.

Private space behind existing building.

137

Composite collage describing the Four Forces

138

139

Screen capture of Rocco Battista and Iza Dabrowski's workspace within Miro.com

CONVERSATION: the flexibility of a virtual finale

FALL SENIOR STUDENTS Blayne Burnside Andrew Callard Allison Faux Jacob Hutton 140

Housing project This year, Seniors created proposals for multiple-unit housing within the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The semester focused on the urban dwelling as a threshold between self and society, between local and global, and between nature and culture. The project was intended to develop connections in the student’s mind about context and systems of housing that would relate to a greater social, technical, cultural, political, and economic understanding of urban space.

The remote format had a larger impact on studio culture rather than the projects themselves. Students found that they were able to be more transparent with the studio professors than before. They were able to meet more flexibly with professors, who extended their hours to connect with students when needed. They felt that faculty were extremely well prepared and provided a good framework for the semester. However, no one wanted to continue learning remotely any longer than necessary.

Establishing the remote classroom

Digital efficiency

With this being their first full semester learning remotely, students weren’t sure what to expect from studio. However, taking lessons from their experiences as courses migrated to a remote format in the Spring 2020 semester, they felt faculty were able to better prepare and navigate the remote ”classroom.’” As things got rolling, students quickly developed more confidence in their projects and the direction of the studio.

Over the course of the semester, it began to get easier to communicate digitally. Utilizing screen sharing with professors, they were able to communicate more of the value they find in 3-D modeling since there was an emphasis on both digital work and digital modeling. They were able to produce a greater volume of work thanks to the efficiencies created by working from home. Some students even took the opportunity to learn new programs like

141

Notes and markups on Andrew Griffin and Brianna Mancini's Miro board.

could sometimes feel more “serious”. The final presentation of work was a good send off. However, like so many events during the pandemic, the lack of physical presence left some students feeling as though it never happened. Fortunately for most Seniors, undergraduate studies are only the beginning of their careers in architecture. Although this chapter ended in a remote format, most of their academic career thus far had been spent learning in-person. They had already built connections with each other and produced a body of strong physical work. Ending remotely might not have felt as significant as a semester in-person, but many are optimistic for a return to in-person architecture in graduate programs and jobs as they continue their careers.

142

Rocco Battista and Iza Dabrowski's Miro board notes.

Revit to build up their skill set and prepare for the professional world. In past Senior competition studios, students typically would present their work on two competition boards and focus more on creating a highly detailed physical model. This year, however, they produced a two-to-three minute video to give an experiential view of their projects. They were excited about this new approach, seeing it as another tool in their kit. Here, too, they were excited about the quantity of digital work they could produce without having to invest the hours of work spent on one physical model.

Cross pollination Throughout the studio, through sharing with other peers via Zoom, Seniors developed a good understanding of the

projects within their own studio groups. Screen sharing allowed students to see the details in their peers’ work — during their individual desk critiques with professors — that they hadn't been able to see in previous semesters. In some studio groups, they would form smaller breakout rooms where they could really get into the granular details of another team's project. Spending their final studio learning fully remotely had a lasting affect. The piece of studio culture found when traveling from one studio to the next was missing. There was no opportunity to walk between different class years for inspiration. Although the technical platforms may provide access to all projects, the informal conversations around the work were missing. Since everything felt as though it was being formally presented on the screen, students said studio

"I think if we were in person we would have focused on quality more, where professors have you dive in one direction. But digitally we were allow to produce much more with no cost limitation.” - Andrew Callard

143

Miro diagram for Andrew Gunther and Alexandra Kane's concept.

Miro board collaborative markup - Andrew Gunther and Alexandra Kane

Matthew McLean and Hunter Perez’s Miro board as a digital archive.

domesticity and masscustomization

situated technologies studio spring 2020, ARC 603 144

The Situated Technologies studio of the Spring 2020 semester focused heavily on ideas of domesticity and “mass-customization” in their design investigations. Mass-customization is a term used to describe a change in business perception from a mass market to a mass-customized market. Products developed within a mass-customized market are often altered to fit an individual customer’s needs, leading to more effort placed into manufacturing and retail methods. Students within this graduate research group worked both in groups and individually to develop research topics that interested them within the category of mass-customization. They explored different aspects and phases of the housing industry to understand the impacts of the potential future of mass-customization on concepts of domesticity in the architectural realm. Students explored ideas of life-cycle costs, construction processes, occupancy, and demolition to evaluate the impacts mass-customization has on waste production, affordability, and new definitions of architectural technologies. They worked to examine

Students:

Xuwen Zhang, Rossella GiangrecoMarotta, Anna Mytcul, Jenifer Persico, Leah Carptenter

Faculty:

Omar Kahn

Program: MArch

ideas of rental spaces becoming more inclusive to residents through the modularity that this design method has to offer, making these spaces feel more permanent. Students investigated the effects of mass-customization on trends of urbanization and suburbanization. These investigations showed that urbanization lacks affordable housing and could benefit from the use of prefabricated materials, and suburbanization offers affordability but at the price of customization and individuality. Investigations of affordability were conducted within the studio as well, evaluating the differences between mass-customized homes. Students identified the advantages of pre-fabricated housing to be: speed, sustainability, safety, incorporating technology (both within the home and building process), cleanliness, quality and value. Students also examined methods of construction, including panelized wood framing, sandwich paneling, steel framing, timber framing, concrete systems, and modular systems. Groups looked into subcategories of mass-customization involving waste

management, affordability, modularity, resilience and organization strategies for climate change, biotechnics, housing types, behavior, material exchange, home energy outputs, building and occupant lifestyle changes, community outreach and impact, food securities, livelihood, and enclosure. Students developed their work by following an outline of precedent studies and research, and created graphics that could be designed into pamphlets. This initial research was then organized to aid groups in their own investigations and interests. Within their research Anna Mytcul examined another form of domesticity with a project titled “System of Affective Co-Presence (SACoP).” Mytcul explored existing research that used artificial technology to their advantage. Within their investigations Mytcul proposed that artificial intelligence could be used to amplify leisure activities for the user and allow for these technologies to support creativity and relationships between participants. Within their design proposal artificial intelligence is used much like a memory foam mattress within the surfaces of the building to instill interaction with

145

Rendering of user and holograms within (SACoP).

Adaptability diagrams of (SACoP).

146

Diagram of Loading Live

the human body and replace the need for furniture. Mytcul wishes to use these parameters in space to further connect people within different time zones through holograms and physical sensor inputs as well as to provide self-regulating parameters for individual use and comfort. Leah Carpenter and Jennifer Persico proposed “The Third Skin,” a temporary shelter that the user can shape to their particular needs. An individual receives a 10x10 foot folded sheet of mycelium leather (at 4 oz per sq ft or

Section Perspective of Loading Live mapping program changes.

roughly 35 lbs). The triangular pockets are hollow until brought to site where elements such as heat, oxygen and water would activate the mycelium within those pockets. Within the next four to five days the individual could shape the sheet to their preferences before the mycelium fully inhabits the pocket and becomes rigid. The inner sheet attached to the diagrid structure encases slow-growing mycelium that upon growth starts to mold the interior space.

When an individual abandons the shelter or the materials have reached their expectancy of a year, the shelter undergoes decay. The mylea leather begins to break down exposing the mycelium within to accelerate decomposition. Within a month the fully decomposable sheet has returned to the ground, feeding the other living matter.

147

The Third Skin growth and structure process.

methods in preservation

graduate methods in preservation fall 2020, URP 529/END529/ARC 529 148

This course introduces students to the basic guidelines, standards, research methods, and documentation techniques used in historic preservation to identify and record historic structures and sites. These kinds of research techniques explored by students included the development of site descriptions, creating historical narratives, reviewing existing scholarly and/or professional literature, collecting primary and secondary data, developing skills in architectural photography, and understanding the basics of documenting and analyzing historic material fabric. The course makes use of lectures, discussions, and fieldwork to introduce the various ways in which preservationists document historic sites and resources. Students in Advanced Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation and MS Arch (Historic Preservation & Urban Design track) had the opportunity to develop skills necessary to document historic resources – buildings, sites, materials, and historic contexts. Students documented and analyzed the existing conditions of a property, identifying styles and character-defining features. Students learned to document and analyze the various

Students:

Grace Çelik, Erin Lakomski, Libertad Figuereo, Courtney Vona

Faculty:

Kerry Traynor

Program:

URP, MS Arch

types of materials and construction techniques found in historic properties and their condition. These materials include: masonry; wood; metals; roofs; windows; doors; entrances/porches; storefronts; spaces/features/finishes; as well as site and setting. Students developed historic contexts and narratives using primary source documents such as historic maps, archival documents, census data, photos, and city directories among others. They learned about the various methods to physically document historic properties including narratives, photography, photogrammetry, measured drawings, and new technologies. Students explored how documentation is used in practice through historic structures reports; Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record documentation; National Register nominations; cultural landscape reports; and historic tax credits. Exploring methods of physical documentation, each student chose a building to fully document on the exterior. Students documented each elevation, noting character-defining features such as windows, ornament, doors, materials, form, etc. Students applied their

Photo: Grace Çelik

1893 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map

149

Phillip Becker Mansion, 534 Delaware Ave. Photo: Grace Çelik

research about materials and style in this documentation and analysis. Students also analyzed the integrity of the building and materials, applying the National Register seven aspects of integrity. This method of documentation includes photographs, sketches, and narrative. Through this process, students developed a case for why this building does or does not retain sufficient integrity to be National Register eligible. In a later assignment focusing on historic research documentation, each student chose a building and conducted historic research to document the history of the building, including people, function, and changes. This research included both primary and secondary resources. It also included assessing the existing condition of the building to determine if the building retains sufficient integrity to convey historic meaning. A report discussing the history and historic context of the building was produced, including photo documentation. Based on the historic research and documentation of existing conditions, student determined if the property meets National Register eligibility requirements and retains sufficient integrity to be eligible for listing on the National Register.

150

Orin Foster House, Buffalo, NY. Photo: Libertad Figuereo

Map courtesy of The New York Public Library

Orin E. Foster Passport Application,” Ancestry, 1/8/1924

151

Detail of dormers and cornice at western elevation Photo: Erin Lakomski

Eastern elevation at 40 Clark Street, Lancaster, NY. Photo: Erin Lakomski

Front-facing elevation. Photo: Erin Lakomski

transformable shells

competition and independent study completed fall 2020 152

In 2018, the School of Architecture and Planning hosted a competition to address a design problem: students sitting on the HVAC units in the newly renovated Hayes Hall. The competition embraced the issue by inviting students to offer a design solution that would allow students to use the systems in a safe manner. A first-place and runner-up proposal were selected to move into an independent study program to consider details of construction. Ultimately “Transformable Shells” – originally designed by Joanne Tseng, Shen Gao, and Ying Ting Chen under the direction of architecture adjunct faculty member Sara Hayashi – was selected for development. UB associate professor of architecture Jin Young Song, and adjunct faculty member Jon Spielman, led an independent study seminar to develop the construction documents and drawings for submission to the university. The next

Students:

Nick Bonora, Leah Carpenter, Ying Ting Chen, Eryn Conlon, Camilo Copete, Lukas Fetzko, Rene Franqui Jr., Shen Gao, Yaliana Hernandez, Lydia Ho, Cris Hopkin, Nathan Roukous, Christopher Sweeney, Joanne Tseng

Faculty:

Sara Hayashi, Jin Young Song, John Spielman

Program: MArch

phase of this project, Critical Millwork, designated students into teams to build the final project in the Fabrication Workshop. Students worked on their fabrication skills by milling the rough sawn lumber and developing hidden connections between elements of the assembly. The final benches were constructed of hard maple with black walnut spacers, connected via hidden mortise and tenon joints. The project was separated into two parts, a straight connection of the wooden pieces, as well as multiple curved transformable sections of bench that offer a more interactive approach towards the architecture of the Hayes Hall corridors. These benches are installed around the HVAC units with a custom fabricated set of steel brackets, allowing for the benches to be removed easily for maintenance or customization.

153

Final installation of Transformable Shells on the second floor of Hayes Hall.

154

Construction team purchasing Rough Sawn Lumber for the project.

Student clamping the bench form together during the adhesive process.

Potential adaptation of Transformable Shells through curvilinear forms.

155

Detail photograph of domino connection for curvilinear section.

Students:

Sneha Arikapudi, Leticia Avila, Mark Bajorek, Vincent Bianco, Garth Burke, Leah Carpenter, Huaxiu Chen, Sonali Debas, Ben Ezquerra, Hope Forgus, Alejandro Frank, Bhalendu Gautam, Wade Georgi, Lizzy Gilman, Natalie Harack, Gwyn Harris, Lydia Ho, Lovepreet Kaur, Katie Lass, Heather Leslie, Mitchel Mesi, Christian Perrone, Forrest Rall, Brenna Reilly, Nathan Roukous, Yukta Satpute, Tom Schunk, Robert Sullivan, Christa Trautman, Debbie Urban, Chris Welch, Adara Zullo

Faculty:

Laura Garofalo Khan, Joyce Hwang, Nicholas Rajkovich

trellis at silo city

environmental practices studios completed spring 2020 156

Willow Way aims to create a space for observing time and growth, of both the site and structure, by using architecture as the infrastructure for habitat and landscape. The organic structure is constantly growing and evolving, putting the growth of the willows on display. Over time, the willows will intertwine and graft together to become one organism. Nature will overcome the architecture, creating a habitat for both animals and people. This project began in Fall 2019, with a studio co-taught by former associate professor of architecture Laura Garofalo, in which students made proposals for a structure that would help eradicate invasive species at Silo City, and add to the natural and cultural regeneration happening in the industrial landscape. As the soil at Silo City became polluted with slag from the site’s industrial activity, native plants had trouble surviving, and invasive species, such as Japanese Knotweed, began to take over. While these plants are beneficial in that they have begun to improve soil health through biomass and plant matter decay, they are aggressive and severely

Program: MArch

limit biodiversity. The specific location for the trellis was chosen because there is a large expanse of Knotweed in that area. The project aims to establish a system of remediation for the areas of monoculture on site by creating an infrastructure for habitat and growth. The willow training process itself is quite simple. When planting the willows, they must be an adequate distance apart, about 8-10” in this case. Pruning any extra vertical branches maintains one central leader, and pruning the bottom third of the branches promotes vertical growth. The form was derived from an initial desire to create a large open gathering space. As the willows wouldn’t grow long enough to reach the top of the dome, the center is grounded to allow them to grow from both the inside and outside. The structure is then pulled down to touch the ground in three places, keeping the center open. As such, the metal skeletal frame becomes the infrastructure through and on which the willows are woven. The interior becomes a gathering space and an educational opportunity for

157

Rendering of conceptual installation with full grown plantings.

learning about ecology and the current regenerative efforts. Community members can help train the willows and learn about composting systems.

158

The following semester, in the Spring of 2020, began with many iterations of testing in the workshop to experiment with fabrication and construction methods. This studio, taught by associate professor and associate chair of architecture Joyce Hwang, began with an offer from Rigidized Metals to donate excess Viper Tube pieces for a design-build installation. The tubing is not typically used for structure, leaving room for exploration on the best way to bend and connect the donated pieces. One bending method was a manually operated Conduit Bender, which makes it difficult to achieve the accuracy of a digitally operated machine. When campus facilities were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the studio took what they had learned from their experimentation and applied those lessons to a new project of producing construction documents and detailed shop drawings that could be handed down to another studio once it was safe for students to gather outdoors to work on-site at Silo City.

Site plan of proposed installation.

In the Fall of 2020, a third studio, taught by assistant professor of architecture Nicholas Rajkovich, students began fabricating and assembling pieces on-site. To ensure everyone’s safety, students followed all UB health and safety guidelines, and worked in separate teams, alternating days at Silo City. Now that the foundation and structure are in place, the next step is planting and training the willows. The construction story has been actively documented on the newnatures_buffalo Instagram

Mockup testing Viper Tube connections for installation.

159

Foundation plan for installation.

Interior rendering of installation with fully integrated plantings.

Dimensioned isometric drawing describing openings and column spacing.

160

Students installing project at Silo City.

feed, and has already been excitedly received by the public. As the trees begin to fill in the Viper Tube lattice, the structure will come to life. The team extends a special thank you to all the volunteers who made the project possible: Randy Fernando, Paul Fuhrmann, Ross Holmes, Josh Kneer, Laura Lubniewski, Mike Paraszcak, Will Quintana, Tim Ray, Lindsay Romano, Nicole Sarmiento, Josh Smith, Rick Smith, and Shashi Varun.

161

Students working on Final Installation at Silo City.

Students bending metal parts for final installation.

School of Architecture and Planning ROBERT SHIBLEY, Professor and Dean - School of Architecture and Planning KORYDON SMITH, Professor and Chair - Department of Architecture DANIEL HESS, Professor and Chair - Department of Urban and Regional Planning JOYCE HWANG, Associate Professor and Associate Chair - Department of Architecture 162

Staff Teresa Bosch De Celis, Marion Brush, Barbara Carlson, Brian Conley, Holly Cook, Christopher Day, Kevin Donovan, Erin Edson, Sharon Entress, Norma Everett, Christina Farrell, Wade Georgi, Thomas Goergen, Joelle Haseley, Jason Hatfield, Matthew Hervan, Bradshaw Hovey, Hope Isom, Heike Jacob, Stacey Komendat, Christy Krawczyk, Jeffrey Kujawa, Jason Kulaszewski, Danise Levine, Krista Macy, Bruce Majkowski, Subbiah Mantharam, Douglas McCallum, RJ Multari, Jessica Naish, Chiwuike (ChiChi) Owunwanne, Brittany Perez, Lindsay Romano, Maryanne Schultz, Brendan Seney, Rachel Skrzypek, Samantha Stricklin, Brenda Stynes, Heamchand Subryan, Monique Sullivan-James, Rachel Teaman, Heather Warner, Jonathan White

Faculty John Amershadian, Seth Amman, Paul Battaglia, Benjamin Bidell, Alex Bitterman, Martha Bohm, Nicholas Bruscia, Brian Carter, Albert Chao, Elaine Chow, Stephanie Cramer, Charles Davis, Gregory Delaney, Surabhi Santosh Dhopeshwarkar, Brett Doster, Mustafa Faruki, Randy Fernando, Stephen Fitzmaurice, Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah, Laura Garofalo Khan, James Gottstine, Kelly Gregg, Miguel Guitart, Zoe Hamstead, Hiroaki Hata, Nate Heckman, Melinda Hoffman, Christopher Hogan, Michael Hoover, Julia Jamrozik, Lisa Kenney, Omar Khan, Bonghwan Kim, Ashima Krishna, Joy Kuebler, Emily Kutil (Banham Fellow 2019-2020), Annette Lecuyer, V. Jeff Lipuma, Laura Lubiniewski, Maura Lucking, Elizabeth Machnica, Kenneth MacKay, Dennis Maher, Jordana Maisel, Rachel Maloney, Marguerite McAfee, Mark McGovern, Jennifer McQuilkin, William Murray, Derek Nichols, Chris Osterhoudt, Erkin Ozay, Jiyoung Park, Ellen Parker, Abigail Peters, Eric Poniatowski, Gabrielle Printz, Laura Quebral, Georgios Rafailidis, Samina Raja, Nicholas Rajkovich, Jeffrey Rehler, Bartholomew Roberts, Matthew Roland, Christopher Romano, Andrew Schaefer, Annie Schentag, Mark Shepard, Rutuja Shinde, Robert Silverman, JinYoung Song, Jon Spielman, Hadas Steiner, Edward Steinfeld, Ernest Sternberg, Stephen Still, Despina Stratigakos, Sara Svisco, M.Beth Tauke, Henry Taylor, Adam Thibodeaux, Kerry Traynor, Michael Tunkey, Daniel Vrana, Bradley Wales, Zherui Wang (Banham Fellow 2020-2021), Elisabeth Weidemann, Margaret Winship Hamilton, Li Yin

163

164