CONNECTING BUFFALO

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Conrad Kickert, Matthew Roland

Fall 2022

ARC607/END593, Urban Design Graduate Research Group

MArch, MSRED

How much can one project catalyze an entire community? Historic preservation, reuse, and development of historic monuments could generate momentum to address the challenges many disadvantaged urban neighborhoods face. The Buffalo Central Terminal on Buffalo’s East Side presents such an opportunity: spearheaded by the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, the revitalization project for the iconic landmark is one of the largest redevelopment projects in the city.

The complex and surrounding Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood served as the focus area for a group of architecture and real estate students to employ the processes of preservationled urban recovery through a joint studio/capstone course. The studied site comprises 16 acres of land adjacent to the terminal, currently owned by the City of Buffalo.

The Central Terminal was once a major transportation hub. As economic and social investment slowly left the area, the complex deteriorated along with the neighborhoods around it. Through a careful analysis and design intervention, this studio explored how pointed urban investments can facilitate recovery, and how spatial professionals could predicate their work on care for the community in which they live and work.

Prior to design development and iteration, students toured the Central Terminal and the larger site. The existing railway post office and express agency buildings—desperately in need of rehabilitation—were identified as key structures to house new social, economic, or industrial programs. It was also established that a great deal of new building development would be needed to chart a forward-looking trajectory for the neighborhood.

For many students, this course marked the first time working on an interdisciplinary project with architecture or real estate students. In groups of five, students developed forward-thinking proposals rooted in economic, social, and cultural justifications.

Kira Podmayersky, a first-year Master of Architecture student, shares what it was like working with real estate students for the first time. “They bring a financial lens and practical approach to the work that is not always there when only working among other architects.”

The interdisciplinary and collaborative framework extended beyond the walls of the studio. Students gained valuable insights by interviewing various stakeholders, such as community leaders and local professionals. Reaching out to local professionals and interviewing key community members provided insights into real community needs and wants.

“The RED students bring a financial lens and practical approach to the work that is not always there when only working among other architects.”

- Kira Podmayersky

Building on the principles of public health, financial opportunity, and community networking, Life Cycle features programs that address the needs of Broadway-Fillmore residents. Architecture students

Life Cycle

Podmayersky’s team developed Life Cycle, a project offering a curated blend of housing options, community amenities, and job opportunities. The proposal's objective was to foster intergenerational connectivity and enable the elderly population to agein-place. The proposal asks, can we organize and build neighborhoods that encourage community members to stay rooted in place by embedding intergenerational amenities supporting different needs.

Kira Podmayersky, Hali Sheriff, and Chenhui Yang merged an existing neighborhood context with an improved land use pattern to form a thriving neighborhood.

Life Cycle supports programs such as affordable and market-rate housing, a commissary kitchen, workforce training, and maker spaces, among others. In contrast to many other design or research studios, all programs put forward were outlined in a pro-forma. Real estate students

Enrico D’Abate and Brendan Flowers were responsible for identifying the necessary funding and resources for the proposal. Analyzing how overall costs offset future revenue streams required them to break down the redevelopment proposal into discrete construction phases.

Designed as a competition, the final review was judged by a jury of UB faculty, neighborhood stakeholders, small business owners, and the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation Executive Director, Monica PellegrinoFaix.