LETTER FROM THE DEAN

Robert Shibley, FAIA, FAICP, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning

In focusing our view of student work through the lens of “care,” Intersight 25 reveals the essence of the School of Architecture and Planning - the core of who we are, what we do, and why we are here.

Care is the wellspring for our aspirations in world-making and the creation of equitable, sustainable and resilient places for all. It is the sense of purpose and dedication to craft we bring to our work. It is the generosity of our support for each other that nurtures and sustains our community. And it is the vector of impact that draws our students ever outward in their pursuits, to new contexts, cultures and places, to new intellectual frontiers, and to new challenges requiring radical acts of care.

According to Charles Stevens, 2022-23 Brunkow Fellow and Intersight 25 editor, care is an uplifting force acting continuously upon our work – from the origins of an idea to the depth of its impact, and the “messy struggle” in between.

“This year’s book celebrates the inceptive processes and potential impacts of student work just as much as the finished product,” says Stevens. “Positioning care as a framework for our design and planning process creates links to larger-scale social and cultural effects."

An active member of the student body since joining UB in 2018 as a BS Arch student, Stevens says he has always admired the time and effort his peers put into their work. “Documenting this, using the lens of care, made sense to me. Intersight 25 is a reflection of how I have seen this School grow.”

The ripple effects of the pandemic on our community dynamic brought new urgency to his curiosity. “We were compelled to adopt a new culture of care; a culture prioritizing our social environment,” adds Stevens, now a student in the Master of Architecture program.

Bringing a great deal of care to his curatorial endeavor, Stevens weaves this theme through 36 student works and five conversations with the School community, giving shape to the motivations, innovations and possibilities of our investigations in architecture, urban planning, real estate development and environmental design.

Indeed, the book joins a rich tradition at the School that dates back more than 30 years. Supported by the generous endowment of Kathryn Brunkow Sample and former UB President Steven Sample, Intersight chronicles the creative and scholarly outputs of our students and reflects on the pedagogy of our programs.

In the following pages, care for our work can be seen in the imagination and magnanimity of our ideas, from a thesis project exploring fungus-based architecture to a voluntary student effort that helped a business owner on

Buffalo’s East Side win a storefront revitalization grant, to prison cell design proposals that humanize spaces of mass incarceration.

Care for each other is cultivated in first-year architecture studio, where students make the journey into new ways of seeing by learning from and relying upon their peers. It is exchanged between architecture and real estate development students co-designing a 16-acre development on Buffalo’s East Side. And it is rooted in the community input urban planning students incorporated into their smart growth plan for Lackawanna, a city still reeling from its postindustrial decline.

Care for our world is realized through the potential of our work as it comes to life in our communities and evolves into the next question, with new possibilities for design and planning to make life better for all.

Consider some of the results: A series of tiny home prototypes now being constructed for people experiencing homelessness in Syracuse, NY. A training program in passive house design to support Buffalo’s climate resiliency and green workforce development. And a new wayfinding system that will help students at Buffalo’s St. Mary’s School for the Deaf navigate the building and connect as a community.

As we look ahead to the complex challenges facing cities today, care is our source for hope. As such, we must be its custodians. Nurturing its origin source – our hearts and minds - through inspiration and curiosity. Tending it in our community through humility and respect. And carrying it into our world through our lifelong ambitions as architects, planners and developers.

I invite you now to explore Intersight 25, immerse yourself in our culture of care and rediscover your spaces of purpose, connection and impact.