Intersight 24 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 www.ap.buffalo.edu www.ap.buffalo.edu/publications 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 2021. All photographs and drawings are courtesy of the School of Architecture and Planning, 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: Katelyn Broat Assistant Editor: Charlie Stevens Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Cramer Editorial Committee: Nicholas Bruscia, Wes Grooms Editorial Assistance: Joelle Haseley, Rachel Teaman Printed by Beyond Print Solutions Typeset in Gotham, Karla © 2022 School of Architecture and Planning University at Buffalo, The State University of New York All rights reserved 24 | First Edition Cataloging-in-Publication Data Intersight Volume 24 ISBN: 978-0-9973650-7-8

01 ELECTRIFYING THE URBAN FABRIC 46

PIECEMEAL URBANISM

FITTING IN INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL 42

(UN)COMMON GROUND 38

GOOD 110 NEIGHBORS

110

104

HOUSING AS PROCESS

STRUCTUROSITY 122

NEW MIDDLES

INVISIBLE CITIES 102

CRE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & PRACTICE

130

FIGURE TO FIBER

ON THE EDGE

ACSEND 114

108

116

MUZIGO MEZA

134

TANDEM CLOUDGAZING

CITY BUILDING BUILDING CITY

CONNECTING BROADWAY 54 - FILLMORE

BUFFALO: A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO AFRICAN 92 CANOPY FOR UTICA STATION

GAMIFICATION OF DESIGN EXPERIENCE

STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN THE RUST BELT SIGNS OF LIFE 70 138

GOWANUS: OUR SPACE

82 74

CAUTION SAILS

FIRING DISCOVERING THE FUNDAMENTAL 126 FORCES OF REAL ESTATE 128

RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE

REFLECTION: REFLECTION: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

LETTER FROM THE DEAN CONVERGENT HISTORIES ON BROADWAY 150

148

ABERRANT ECOLOGIES DESIGNING INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

144

136

MICROHOME, MODULAR HOME

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND 156 POLICY REFLECTION: INTERNATIONAL / 3.5 YR STUDENTS REFLECTION: STUDENT ASSISTANTS

QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR PLANNING 152

REFLECTION: STUDENT / STUDENT MENTORSHIP REFLECTION: FACULTY / STUDENT MENTORSHIP

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: DANIEL HESS

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: KORYDON SMITH

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

PREFACE The inspiration for Intersight 24 grew from a personal desire to document hidden relationships within the School of Architecture and Planning. I have always been interested in the interpersonal growth that occurs within the School at multiple levels and felt it is an integral part of a student’s experience. Through the relationships I had formed with my freshman year studio teaching assistants, I was motivated to pursue connection and leadership. To do this, I became an Academic Assistant in the dorms, an in-house tutor and mentor for incoming freshmen. The relationships I formed with these students inspired me to better understand the different relationships between each class of students, and their own relationships with each other.

me navigate the Department of Urban and Regional Planning’s archive to bring many of these projects to light.

I began my exploration of the interconnectedness of the School through different mapping strategies. Based on information found on the School's website, I worked on documenting things unseen such as alumni returning to the School to teach and foster mentorships with students; as well, to create new working relationships with faculty who supported their intellectual growth throughout the years. I had multiple conversations with faculty about hiring and mentorship, and reviewed other documentation about our alumni faculty. These conversations, documents, and exercises with and about faculty inspired me to research the ways student work became interconnected.

I felt it was important to talk with students who were involved in the themes I saw coming out of the work. I considered it crucial to understand their perspective on topics like mentorship, their connection to our local and global communities, and their interpersonal experiences within their cohorts. These conversations provided insight into how our school has been operating according to its foundations of learning, and how students have been adjusting to the numerous societal changes we have experienced within the past two years given a global pandemic. The conversations were particularly inspiring to both myself and my assistant, Charlie Stevens, as we unearthed the perspectives of students operating at these critical moments in the history of the school.

In doing this research, I found both submitted work from students and the school’s archive to be incredibly helpful. I owe many thanks to Wes Grooms, adjunct instructor, for helping

In reviewing the gathered projects, I realized they shared themes and showed points of intersection which I used to categorize the work. I felt that these overlapping themes communicated the culture of the school within the current year and showed the overlapping interests of the faculty, staff, and student body. While the projects often lean into a particular theme, they share commonalities in their process and execution across disciplines. I conducted mapping exercises that revealed these interdisciplinary intersections, and in doing so, created unique visualizations of this interconnectedness.

HOW TO: NAVIGATING THE THEMATIC LANDSCAPE

AL M

I invite you to explore the thematic landscape created for this volume of Intersight. It documents the relationships within and between the people, perspectives and products of the BUILDING 56 CITY School of Architecture and Planning during 2021, and how BUILDING CITYdivisions of these relate to the work according to the chapter common themes.

The landscape diagram can be followed using the arrow system which begins with the Letter from the Dean, located within chapter 06. If reading the publication in this fashion, I CITY BUILDING 56you encourage to look at the individual map section on each BUILDING CITY project’s beginning page as it may reveal overlapping and related projects located elsewhere in the volume. The reader may also look to the larger map to find spheres of influence or projects with similar themes that may be located within different chapters.

The map also works as the table of contents for the volume. Projects are located on the map based upon their proximity in theme. Each project was placed within the chapter to which it most relates. The work canCONNECTING be navigated several ways, and the CONNECTING 50 reader is encouraged to spend time evaluating this landscapeA GREEN BROADWAY 72 BUFFALO: 72 BUFFALO: A GREEN BROADWAY 50 50 as they read. ARCHIPELAGO ARCHIPELAGO - FILLMORE 60 - FILLMORE TIATIVES60FOR 30 PRINGVILLE CRE CRE AFRICAN 88 AFRICAN 88 GAMIFICATION DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT CANOPY FOR CANOPY FOR OF DESIGN STRATEGIES & STRATEGIES & UTICA STATION UTICA STATION UTILIZING THE UTILIZING EXPERIENCE PRACTICE PRACTICE ARROW SYSTEM CIRCLES OF SIMILARITY IN 86 Navigate projects THEMES by following the COVID-19 AND arrows in order of Find projects COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN the book's natural within the circlesEVICTIONS IN THE RUST BELT 62 sequence. on the map to THE RUST BEL NG AS HOUSING AS 78 78 identify projects CESS PROCESS SIGNS OF SIGNS OF (UN)COMMON with similar LIFE 70 LIFE 70 GROUND 34 74 74 underlying CAUTION SAILS CAUTION SAILS themes. GOOD 106 138 FIRING 138 FIRING NEIGHBORS STRUCTURES STRUCTURES 118

NEW MIDDLES

118

10 122

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

ELECTRIFYING THE URBAN FABRIC 46

PIECEMEAL URBANISM

FITTING IN INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL 42

CRE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & PRACTICE

(UN)COMMON GROUND 38 GOOD 110 NEIGHBORS

110

HOUSING AS PROCESS

STRUCTUROSITY 122

104

NEW MIDDLES

INVISIBLE CITIES 102

130

FIGURE TO FIBER

ON THE EDGE

ACSEND 114

108

116

MUZIGO MEZA

134

TANDEM CLOUDGAZING

LETTER FROM THE DEAN CONVERGENT HISTORIES ON BROADWAY

148

DESIGNING INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

144

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

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND LETTER POLICY FROM THE DEAN

Intersight 24, as the journal of student work for the 2021 calendar year, chronicles the creative output of the School of Architecture and Planning over yet another pivotal year, as the School and university shifted from largely remote instruction to a total return to campus by Fall 2021. After nearly two years of separation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition back was full of excitement, energy and a sense of possibility. To join together again, safely and in place, as one community. To connect anew to the fabric of our community and the people, places and values that define us. Katelyn Broat, our 2021-22 Brunkow Fellow and editor of Intersight 24, seizes the opportunity presented by this context, approaching the book’s curation as an ethnographic exploration of the culture of the School of Architecture and Planning. With impassioned vision, Broat speaks to a "personal desire to document the hidden relationships" across our School. Through meticulous research and thoughtful analysis, Broat delivers this vision with exquisite execution. Her methods are almost scientific, including a comprehensive review of student work generated across our programs in 2021, interviews with faculty and students, and empirical observations of the physical, social and intellectual spaces that bring us together. This mapping of relationships is illustrated in the following pages as a web of vectors, data points and diagrams within and between people, work, place and program. The result is a layered presentation of the "thematic landscape" of the School

of Architecture and Planning across 37 student works, from studios and seminars to competition entries and independent research. It is fluid, organic and ever-evolving. Broat’s enthusiastic embrace of the sense of community that carried us through 2021 is also a foreshadowing. As I write this reflection in April 2022, I still feel the energy of our recent "50+ Anniversary Celebration." The events were a historic coming together for our School that saw more than 200 alumni, friends, and community partners join our faculty and students in Hayes Hall. We celebrated all we have accomplished together over more than 50 years. Indeed, Intersight 24 joins a rich School tradition that dates back more than 30 years. Supported by the generous endowment of Kathryn Brunkow Sample and former UB President Steven Sample, Intersight invites our students to reflect on the pedagogy of our program at their point in time. In its rigor of documentation and analysis, Intersight 24 celebrates the shared experiences that root our teaching and research, inspire our work and support our students at this critical moment in their lives. Consider the opening chapter on "Outreach: Buffalo & Beyond," which views the School’s relationship to place – and our surrounding urban context – through new lenses. The reflection includes a graduate architecture studio on remote sensing of landscape and an urban planning studio exploring electric scooters as a force for mobility justice in the City of Buffalo.

In Chapter 4, "Intra-personal Growth," Broat chronicles our curriculum as a catalyst for student growth – from our pivotal introduction to the collaborative studio culture of the 3.5year Master of Architecture program, to a spirited entry into a national competition led by students across our real estate development, architecture and urban planning programs. In Chapter 5, "Materials and Methods," Broat examines our students’ intensive and often tactile engagement with their work and the creative process. These relational currents flow through full-scale explorations of buoyant architecture in the junior studio and give context to our development of microhome prototypes for families displaced by wildfires in the Western U.S. The book concludes with "Analysis: Reflection," an assembly of projects that provoke and challenge standard approaches to practice and research. For instance, "Design for Inclusive Environments" invites students to develop architectural solutions for populations that have been underrepresented or excluded from traditional approaches to design. "Convergent Histories on Broadway" documents an award-winning preservation planning studio and its examination of the historical context of Buffalo’s East Side, asking: "How do we preserve and interpret spaces where the material fabric has been destroyed, often by policies and programs that target marginalized communities?" In Broat’s final project entry – "Unsettled" – we experience the personal reflections of Megan Bailey, PhD of Social Work Traditional / Social Welfare student, who considers the

productiveness of her "discomfort" with environmental injustices around us: "And in my unsettling, I am learning how to expand, refine, reconceptualize my world to see where power and privilege and dispossession and creativity and compassion and culture and humility intersect and intertwine. It is a transformative discomfort." In bold print on the book's final pages, Broat writes, "What is yet to come?" leaving us with one final, hopeful provocation. In this spirit of possibility, we come together every day to push at the limits of knowledge across our fields, nurture our relationships, and aspire together to build a better world. I invite you to explore Intersight 24 – spend time with this book, get caught in its web of relationships and interconnections, and experience some of the essence of who we are as the School of Architecture and Planning.

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: DANIEL HESS

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: KORYDON SMITH

DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING Daniel B. Hess, PhD, Professor and Chair

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ENERGY. RE-CONNECTION. EXCITEMENT. DISCUSSION. COLLABORATION.

After nearly four semesters of hybrid or virtual/distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are energized by our full, in-person reoccupation of Hayes Hall and UB learning spaces.

in professional practice as well as professional expectations. This, too, underscores the strength of the American spirit in recognizing the value of equity and inclusion.

Though the default approach is to return to "business as usual," the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic during the previous two years will certainly bring about change. First, we consider how higher education will change coming out of the pandemic, and how we can apply lessons learned from our pivot to distance/virtual education. We do not yet know what those changes look like when applied. Further, it is unclear how they can improve the educational experience in our programs, but we will learn together as we move forward. Too, UB will guide us through and give us support in our educational mission. Second, we consider how practice has changed within our disciplines of environmental design, historic preservation, real estate development, and urban planning. We rely on traditional methods of community building, environmental stewardship, economic development, affordable housing provision, urban design, preservation and conservation while opening the door for new strategies: community engagement and transformation of places. All of these pieces are informed by our experiences during the pandemic.

Within this volume of Intersight you will find compelling examples of student work from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The work reflects well our approaches to employing quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, visualization, and preservation methods. The project engages comprehensive planning, neighborhood redevelopment, and urban design, overlaid with a commitment to equity and justice and with a view toward implementation. Situated in urban neighborhoods, rural places, commercial corridors, and other places, the projects engage experiences around us during the pandemic while reflecting long-standing core beliefs in the built environment disciplines.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult, it has also given an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to recenter on elements of life that connect us to our constituents and collaborators. Inevitably, this renewed commitment to our professional responsibilities will usher in an era of great change

As we pass the threshold of the 50th anniversary of the School of Architecture and Planning, we celebrate the energetic studios, seminars, exhibits, lectures, and special events that form the foundation of our school. Now, at the advent of new opportunities borne from necessity during the pandemic, technology extends that rigor, energy, and excitement in a new direction. The potential returns from these exciting shifts are boundless.

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

Korydon Smith, EdD, Professor and Chair

REFLECTIONS ON DISPLACEMENT AND EMPLACEMENT As I reflect on 2021, a second year of pandemic interruptions and transitions (and innovations), I am reminded of the concept of emplacement, a unique approach to refugee resettlement. At risk of a tenuous or callous analogy, I have wondered how the forced displacement, and the antidote of facilitated emplacement, that I have seen in conflict regions might provide a lens and lessons for the daily challenges of architectural education amidst turmoil. I have thought about how, when students enter architecture school, they confront a range of hurdles specific to design education and more broadly in the transition to college. This includes the loss of contact with family and social networks, a departure from established daily routines, a separation from familiar places, and a split from prior educational norms. During 2020 – with social distancing, face coverings, quarantine, and other factors – the critical transition of making new friends (in architecture school), creating new routines (in architecture school), finding new places of meaning (in architecture school), and integrating a new language and system of learning (in architecture school), presumably, became harder. I have also reflected on how students already acculturated to architectural education experienced a displacement of many of the norms they had only recently established. Then I realized, during the latter half of 2021, as the pandemic evolved, the culture of architectural education evolved yet again. This time, we experienced feelings of both displacement and emplacement, as some recently acquired cultural

elements disappeared (e.g., physical distancing for reviews), some abandoned elements reappeared (e.g., site visits), and some new elements arose (e.g., learning in mixed-media, virtual-and-analog, real-time-and-asynchronous modes). While the pandemic of 2020 gave us a fresh view of and transformed the culture of architectural education, 2021 placed us back in familiar spaces with familiar people, but with a strangely new set of norms, expectations, and tools. Just as 2020 was a radical departure from 2019, 2021 was not to be seen simply as extension of 2020; and we might say the same in comparing the work and underlying culture represented in Intersight 24 with that of the prior issue. Curiously, returning home is often the principal goal for both the architecture student arriving to Buffalo from New York City and the UNHCR representatives working with South Sudanese refugees. But the concept of emplacement takes a different view. It’s not a nostalgic view. It’s a view that confronts the hard reality that refugees seldom return home. It’s a view that doesn’t dismiss the need for immediate action in helping people re-establish their identities and remake their lives. And, importantly, it’s a view that doesn’t assume that the new place, new people, or new norms are lesser than the prior patterns of life. Intersight 24 offers artifacts that represent this evolving culture of architectural education.

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: KORYDON SMITH

INTRODUCTION

REFLECTION: STUDENT / STUDENT MENTORSHIP

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

CTION: STUDENT RSHIP

Katelyn Broat, MArch '22, Fred Wallace Brunkow Fellow (2021 - 2022), Editor

INTERSIGHT 24 As the School of Architecture and Planning’s annual publication of student work, Intersight 24 focuses on the interconnectedness of the School through its response to displacement and resilience. This volume of Intersight seeks to highlight the opportunities, interests, and relationships that have grounded the school throughout the past year by bringing to light that which is always present but not always seen: our academic foundations and societal culture. In 2021, we continued to experience the effects of the COVID19 pandemic. Classes this year operated at a limited capacity with masking mandates, and in some cases, continued to operate remotely. On campus, there also has been physical distancing of students along with the renovation of one of our academic buildings, Crosby Hall, which previously held a majority of the undergraduate classes. These factors have led to responses that influenced the approach to academics, health, and social relationships within our school. THEMATIC MODALITY A reflection on the work and life of the school throughout the 2021 academic year has revealed multiple themes, including outreach, local connection, social justice, intrapersonal growth or interpersonal growth, materials, and analyses and reflections. The unique challenges of this year have inspired attempts to create meaningful connections between the students, faculty, and staff. Collectively, we have increased awareness of

mental health, a healthier work / life balance, as well as social, cultural, and racial injustices. This has resulted in adopting new approaches to our work and school culture through this opportunity to reflect. The School has reached out to new community partners for inspiration, as well as continued to use remote learning tools as a platform to have conversations with people from all over the world. Faculty and students across all programs have explored novel approaches to connect with the City of Buffalo as well as with other places and cultures, attempting to add a global and contextual depth to the work being produced this year. This has supplied students with new tools to communicate effectively and to explore new contexts despite the inability to travel. Students have also worked with faculty to create platforms for communication and growth regarding topics such as social and racial justice. These panels, organizations, and studios have worked to foster open communication between students and faculty as we try to make the school, our disciplines, and our approach to work more inclusive. CULTURAL EFFECTS As part of the research for Intersight 24, panel reflections were conducted and organized between current students from various programs that explore the interconnectedness of the School. Within the previous issue, Intersight 23, there were several conversations that represented a genuine response

to a new global change. Intersight 24 seeks to understand what the aftermath of remote learning and resilient teaching looks like within our School. What methods of learning and connecting stuck with us, and what adapted? What aspects of our interpersonal culture have changed? Most importantly, what is unique about the school that we did not notice until it was temporarily displaced? Within these conversations, Intersight 24 looks to represent the school through the lens of interpersonal connections. I hope to bring to light the School of Architecture and Planning’s mentorships, assistantships, and friendships that have gotten us through the year. It has been the fondness we have for one another and a collective journey of loss and re-discovery which has made us stronger. APPROACH The projects selected for Intersight 24 are organized according to the common themes of outreach, local connection, social justice, intrapersonal growth or interpersonal growth, materials, analyses and reflection. Projects were gathered through a combination of student submissions, the School database and archive, and individual efforts to reach out to students and professors. The themes within each project were documented, and are represented by the book’s chapter organization, as well as how these topics overlap within the thematic landscape.

CONCLUSION Intersight 24 celebrates our reconnection. The volume seeks to show opportunities, interests, and relationships that have been crucial to the rebuilding of our community. Through expanded student interests and engagement, there has been an increase in conversations about our needs. These efforts help to show that despite our loss, we have emerged as leaders who will continue to engage globally to fight for that which we believe to be important.

QUALITATIVE QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR FOR METHODS PLANNING PLANNING 152

REFLECTION: REFLECTION: STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT / /STUDENT MENTORSHIP MENTORSHIP REFLECTION: REFLECTION: FACULTY FACULTY // STUDENT STUDENT MENTORSHIP MENTORSHIP 20

Students:

Rocco Battista, Jacob Kotler, Benjamin Wemesfelder, Ainish Shailesh Sheth

REFLECTION: FACULTY/STUDENT MENTORSHIP

There are a range of mentorship opportunities that arise for students as they move through their programs within the School of Architecture and Planning. These range from direct faculty support to thesis projects, independent studies, as well as teaching / research assistantships. Students in these roles often have a strong sense of independence and curiosity in their pursuit of learning. Conversations with these students revealed a multitude of ways these relationships impact the way students navigate their time within the university, as well as how they see themselves as people and emerging professionals. They see the transitions into graduate level work as an opportunity to work with professors as peers. These independent relationships have helped to accelerate student growth and inspire them to approach their work with new perspectives. From the last year, students have learned that faculty are personable and require compassion just as much as students do. It is important for those who are pursuing their schooling further to respect their teachers and show them that they are putting in the effort to be here. As a result, faculty recognize them, and are willing to help students further their educational experience in new ways.

Working directly with faculty has inspired students to have unique and new perspectives on their own work. With thesis and directed research, students find the conversations they have with their mentors making their way into the work. It is important to them that the work is individually theirs, but their shared perspectives and interactions help make collaborative projects more personable. For teaching assistants, it gives the students new appreciation for what it takes to be an educator. When given the opportunity to learn how to teach, students understand that you need to be attentive and prepared for anything at any time. Teaching assistantships allow them to understand how every student has different needs and being a friend to students when approaching academics can help assess their individual needs and growth. From this discussion, students bonded over their appreciation of their own growth. They have all shared inspirations of wanting to give back to others based on their experiences. Students grow to share an appreciation of academic efforts and do not want to lose their own curiosities. Overall, they say that the quality of their work is a reflection of the quality of these relationships.

Students:

Joshua Barzideh, Adrian Cruz, Denice Guillermo, Christopher Hopkins, Kaylen Rausa

REFLECTION: STUDENT/STUDENT MENTORSHIP

The University at Buffalo has a specific structure within its freshman studio course where Graduate Teaching Assistants have a direct one-on-one experience with their students. For this first year of school, the dynamic provides incoming freshmen with an established contact that can help them navigate not only their transition into college, but their transition into an architectural culture. The teaching assistants from 2021 reflect on the past year with fondness of the growth of students and themselves at the forefront. Many of the teaching assistants decide to pursue this position because they have had a meaningful experience with their own freshman TA’s. These memories and interactions with their TA’s inspire the desire to help others going through a time that is arguably the most difficult of a student’s entire college experience. Teaching assistants help students understand the language and challenges of architecture school and even help them manage stress about other courses or other college-related issues based on their own experiences. In a return to in-person teaching, the freshman studio was among the first to return to campus last spring. This decision showed the importance of the foundational course to the 4-year B.S. Architecture degree. This had a direct impact on the students and TA’s where the course was sometimes the only

instance of face-to-face interaction that students experienced. Many of the teaching assistants look back to this opportunity with appreciation for commitment to personal connection and have seen a direct reflection within the work produced. The current group of teaching assistants looks to their students for inspiration. Often, they find themselves reflecting on the usefulness that forms of communication like sketching, diagrams, and model making provides for architects. The tools that they teach students inspires them to think of their own work in new and effective ways. Their students are also the driver for their desire to teach, and they find themselves wanting to inspire students to grow with new materials and methods each day to see their projects excel. They find that they are often the mediator between student and professor and may be seen as an older sibling to the students, as their experience is more directly relatable to the current freshman than their professors may be. The TA’s also find reward in the support they receive from their students, knowing they’ve inspired them to work harder in school, or pursue their interests in new ways

REFLECTION: REFLECTION: UNDERGRADUATE REFLECTION: STUDENT PLANNING STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONS

Students:

Bethany Greenaway (American Institute of Architecture Students) , Brian Kwong (Alpha Rho Chi), Zachary Korosh (African American Students of Architecture and Planning), Enrico D’Abate (University at Buffalo Real Estate Club), Jackson Pavlakis (Graduate Planning Student Association)

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR: DANIEL HESS

REFLECTION: STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

With a return to in-person instruction comes the desire to have more interpersonal student connections. Student organizations have been at the forefront of this issue since our departure from campus in 2020 and face the struggles of maintaining these connections throughout the years. New growth has happened within our student organizations to help fit the needs of the student populations. The School of Architecture and Planning has welcomed the formation of the UBREC (University at Buffalo Real Estate Club) and the expansion of several organizations to include interdisciplinary growth. Student leaders of these clubs share similar sentiments of the struggles of maintaining relationships during this transitional period. Many of them are approaching the student organizations as ways to maintain existing relationships between students, however, they struggle to grow. These struggles are not a fault of the organizations, however a challenge of student comfort and fatigue from being within a remote setting for nearly two years. The people who are interested in engagement are the ones who help motivate these groups to keep doing what they have been setting out to do, even if the volume is not there, because everyone has a hunger for this connectivity.

As a result, the student organizations have been focusing on their foundations in growing their commitment to their existing student populations. They have seen increased participation from the select students who care the most about the organizations. This commitment helps the student groups to grow towards the passions they are interested in pursuing. For many of the organizations, this has meant growth through networking, interdisciplinary growth, or community outreach. Their goals are to try to help the university create relationships with the community that it serves, alumni, and students. They have been reaching into issues of advocacy when looking at partnerships and discussions. The organizations have also been working to expand their relationships with each other, by discussing the possibilities of collaboration in the future, fostering connections between the multiple disciplines within the school.

Students:

Ehler Htoo, Maegen O’Hara, Yessica Vazquez

REFLECTION: UNDERGRADUATE PLANNING

The Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design program (BAED) engages students in coursework to teach multimodal approaches of liberal arts and active community engagement. Through classroom instruction, fieldwork, workshops, and internships, students work within the urban and built landscape to design environments that impact and are impacted by human behavior. Reflecting on the past two years, students understand the need to design resilient environments and neighborhood plans where residents can adapt to a variety of external factors. BAED students have learned to work with shifting circumstances with the School of Architecture and Planning. As the students and faculty made the return to campus in the Fall of 2021 and full in-person instruction in the Spring of 2022, students have had two responses. Some students transition easily into the social culture they left behind in 2020, and others suffer from a learning curve due to the challenges of remote learning. Navigating the return to in-person instruction was a shared experience by all students, faculty, and staff within the school of Architecture and Planning. This transition was a struggle for both students and professors. Teachers had adapted to the style of teaching remote learning promotes, which required both students and faculty to adapt. Students found themselves changing their approaches to how they produce work

and communicate with each other. With the return to campus, BAED students found themselves leaning on each other during this period of adjustment. They found themselves forming connections over their shared desires to learn and educate each other. As the most recent group of students to navigate a return to campus, many Undergraduate BAED students found themselves wanting to be more embedded within the School of Architecture and Planning. Students have a desire for additional opportunities to integrate classes with architecture students. They also crave networking events that are tailored to the environmental design field, or the ability to weave coursework into other departments outside the School of Architecture and Planning to take advantage of their experience at UB.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING PLANNING AND AND POLICY 156 REFLECTION: 156 POLICY REFLECTION: INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL / 3.5 / 3.5YR YR STUDENTS STUDENTS REFLECTION: REFLECTION: STUDENT STUDENT ASSISTANTS ASSISTANTS

Students:

Tareq Nusair, Hali Sheriff, Ainish Shailesh Sheth, Phuong Cam Vu

REFLECTION: INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, 3.5-YEAR STUDENTS Students enrolled in the 3.5-year MArch program often come from other schools and disciplines, typically without prior architectural education or training. Similarly, International students come from across the world with a diverse range of academic backgrounds and knowledge. The 3.5-year track and 2 year MArch programs provide these students with a platform to experience UB for the first time together, creating unique relationships along the way. Given the relatively small number of students in the 3.5-year class, tight-knit bonds form and grow as these students further their education in Buffalo. Most students starting the 3.5-year MArch program have an undergraduate experience that does not relate to architecture specifically, but all share a common interest to explore the built environment. This mentality generates a student population knowing a tremendous amount about other fields, but little initially of architecture. This makes for a unique group dynamic in comparison to student cohorts within the fouryear undergraduate architecture program. Coming to UB from around the world is an adjustment many students may not be ready for. The climate and weather patterns can be extremely unforgiving at times. While this group of students adapted to the weather, they also had to recalibrate their mindset to architecture course work in America.

This adjustment is applicable through their exposure to new codes, new regulations, and new kinds of daily interactions with students, faculty, and even clients they may work with from time to time. Students from diverse backgrounds often found themselves grounded in their transitions by the relationships formed with faculty members within the School of Architecture and Planning. The diverse range of instructors and professors at UB is a critical reason many students choose to come to the school to begin with. An environment that welcomes new students to the school with open arms and subsequent courses aimed to foster innovative ways of thinking is a primary reason UB is chosen over other architecture schools worldwide. The school takes pride in supporting their international populations and continues to grow by finding new ways to support these students throughout their academics and careers.

Students:

Caterina Gnecco, Jack Heiser, Ryan Storto Nicole Stout, Benjamin Wemesfelder

REFLECTION: STUDENT ASSISTANTS

The School of Architecture and Planning offers students across departments an opportunity to work in assistantship roles on campus. The Print Lab in Hayes Hall and the Fabrication Workshop in Parker Hall are two positions students can take advantage of to further their education as well as their communication or technical skills at UB. The Fabrication Workshop is a fully equipped facility of high-bay space utilized for woodworking, metalworking, and assembly. Students who work here spend their time maintaining the facility, teaching other students about the tools available, and assisting the shop staff with running additional technical services. In Hayes Hall, students who work at the Print Lab aid students with their plots, scans, and other printing needs. All students in assistantship positions play a vital role in the work and production of students across the undergraduate and graduate programs. Without them, many studios and the hands-on approach to courses would not be possible. Working these roles has given students the opportunity to connect with other students in class years above and below their own. This is a connection key to building relationships within the school. When the pandemic sent students home to work remotely, the chain from year to year was broken. The ability to pass knowledge to the class below your own has always been a crucial part of the architecture culture and

infrastructure. Students often coach others on how to build a full-scale mockup in the shop or how to print on heavy bond, which was knowledge lost during the time the school operated remotely. With the return to campus, undergraduate students were once again able to cross paths with older students ready to share what they’ve learned over the years. By working daily with people in different phases of their education, it allows them to interact with one another, uncovering new interests or influences. An environment of experimentation is created amongst the students. Whether or not students know how to use all the technology available to them creates a new learning environment outside of the classroom. An atmosphere of growth, learning, and teaching is encouraged and implemented by the faculty. Students find themselves learning new techniques and trades they can use to continue their education at UB or in a professional setting elsewhere. Not only will they take these skills on to further their own interests, but they often share these skills with their classmates. Working in the fabrication shop has taught these students what it's like to be a "point of contact" for a class of students. Most undergraduate and graduate classes look to those students for guidance or advice on a project in times of need. Students in these positions assume a leadership role that is essential to the fabric of the school.

BUFFALO & BEYOND FITTING IN 30 INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE 34 (UN)COMMON GROUND 38 HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL 42 ELECTRIFYING THE URBAN FABRIC 46 PIECEMEAL URBANISM 50

FITTING IN

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL 42 30

Student:

Nicole Stout

Faculty:

Jon Spielman, Gregory Delaney (coordinator), Surabhi Santosh Dhopeshwarkar, Erkin Ozäy, Rutuja Santosh Shinde, Adam Thibodeaux

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 202

Program:

BS Arch

FITTING IN In this course, sophomores engaged the concept of critical regionalism as a discourse on modernism and the modernist style. Kenneth Frampton’s "Critical Regionalism" served as the foundational text informing the process of their design work for the semester. Students explored historic neighborhoods built in the 20th century to consider the importance of context and regionalism in comparison to or in conversation with a more universal style like Modernism. Topics such as typology, height, proportion, public and private, inclusion and exclusion, street, sidewalk, landscape and more were explored by students and evident in their work. Students began exploring these themes through the creation of a "building portrait;" a digital collage used to document conceptual ideas. Each student produced these elevational views of a single building within a neighborhood in Buffalo to analyze the importance of its contextual scale of neighborhood, street, and building as well as contemplating the meaning of regionalism.

BY IDENTIFYING KEY FEATURES OF A BUILDING AND ITS CONTEXTS, STUDENTS DEVELOP A CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF REGIONALISM. The major Buffalo neighborhoods explored were Black Rock, the Fruit Belt, and the Lower West Side. The studios focused on six major topics to help uncover ideas of regionalism in the context of these neighborhoods. These topics included: building fabric and associated typologies, present social conditions and makeup, environment and ecology, neighborhood identity and history, nodes and landmarks, and development regulations and zoning. After researching these neighborhoods, students proposed a residential infill building for a vacant site within their studied neighborhood. Site transformation was explored to investigate

the ways that new additions create a response to the existing historic fabric of the studied areas. These proposed residential infill projects were required to be single, double, or triple bedroom units and to explore the students’ perception of what "fitting into the neighborhood" meant. Students considered the idea of an architectural "sense of belonging" within the ever-changing complexity of context when creating their proposals. Final infill proposals considered the existing makeup of neighborhoods, both formally and aesthetically, to create a building which would not match the existing buildings but would nonetheless add to the architectural character of the site. To close the studio, students utilized the concepts and lessons, learned from their infill residence project, in their final proposals for a public library branch in their studied neighborhood. These final proposals extended the students’ conceptual ideologies on fitting into the neighborhood, whilst expanding on their ideas on the importance of scale when transitioning from residential to civic building projects.

Analysis and abstractions completed of selected building within a neighborhood context

Rendering of facade and street activation.

Students worked to integrate their library proposals into the communities in ways that communicated the difference between its functions and the residential buildings’ functions while simultaneously maintaining the neighborhood context. Students were encouraged to return to the original research they had completed for their neighborhoods to consider creating a resource space for people of all ages, races, and needs, as a form of social infrastructure.

Exploded oblique of proposed library structure

Worm's eye view of library structure

INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE

Students:

Nathaniel Bonafede, Alexis Duwe, Ruth Fatolitis, Eric C. Johnson, Amaris Lighty, Leslie Moma, Christian Oliveira Demelo, Elizabeth Payne, Mark Saba, Valerie Weisbeck, Yixuan Zhao, Briana Zuchowski

Faculty:

Ernest Sternberg

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

URP 581, URP 582

Program:

MUP

INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE Urban and Regional Planning students working with Professor Ernest Sternberg collaborated on a report called "Initiatives for Springville: Options for Comprehensive Planning." The report consisted of analyses and recommendations for the Village of Springville, New York. The students’ major recommendations fell within the categories of housing and affordability, downtown and West end streetscape improvements, the Springway, the greater Zoar Valley regional network, water infrastructure, and economic development.

Major areas of interest from this research included the improvement of the traditional downtown area, affordability and maintenance of homes, regional connections to natural amenities, economic development, management of the water system, and preservation of invaluable village history through culture and architecture. The proposals the students devised have the potential to help the village have a higher level of livability and growth.

Students researched the demographics and existing conditions of the area to develop their understanding of the Village’s needs. This research utilized census data, maps, prior studies, and reports to calculate their findings. They paired this research with qualitative data gleaned from discussions conducted with residents, stakeholders, business owners, and government officials. From this analysis, the students found that Springville is a historic community that has many assets and then identified opportunities for intervention.

Research concluded that the area of Springville has a stable population and shows signs of potential growth in the future. This stability in population could be due to environmental assets within the area, as well as the Village’s ideal geographic location between the tourist-attracting destinations of Ellicottville and Buffalo. Another potential reason for the area’s stability is due to its relative strength in certain economic sectors. The Bertrand Chaffee Hospital and other healthcare service organizations, school district, and large

STABILITY

national retailers help to support the village of Springville and its surroundings. Students found that there is a low number of people who live and work within the village. This could be due to the area’s limited housing availability and affordability issues. HOUSING AND AFFORDABILITY With the conclusion of their initial research, students found that there is a need in two specific areas relative to Springville’s housing and affordability. There is a direct need for more affordable housing within the area and a need to maintain the quality of existing homes. Many of the houses within Springville are older and are more difficult and expensive to maintain. Nearly half of the residents of Springville are renters, and 35% of these residents are rent burdened. The village of Springville has four existing affordable housing complexes, however, at least two of these units have restrictions on the kinds of applicants accepted. All the complexes have little or no vacancy. This demand for rental units keeps the cost of rent higher; it

Existing Conditions

Proposed Conditions

New development proposal at shuttleworth (top), proposed change to existing Franklin Street (bottom)

Hypothetical mixed-use structure within Springville's downtown

is anticipated that this will not change unless there are affordable housing units introduced into the marketplace. Due to these factors, students recommended that the Village of Springville increase the number of subsidized affordable housing units to meet the needs of all renting households. The students identified four sites that they believed would be suitable for potential development. These sites included multiple locations near the Villiage’s main street to increase accessibility to goods and services as well as to increase walkability. Students recommended that some existing houses, which are larger, be subdivided into multiple dwellings. Such a change would provide new income, helping owners pay for repairs, and also aid in providing more residences at affordable and market rates. It was further recommended that other

older homes be placed on the National Register of Historic Places to help fund routine maintenance and preserve cultural assets. DOWNTOWN AND WEST END STREETSCAPE The students within this course believed that further development of Springville’s downtown area would enable the village center to become denser relative to housing, office, and retail. The students identified that Springville has a strong existing sense of community and wanted to build on this to help support potential new retail or office space downtown. Several interventions were proposed to improve the Villiage’s streetscapes, identify potential development opportunities, and introduce new cultural

assets to create a future vision of how Springville could operate at a higher density. They proposed the implementation of ‘parklets’ along East Main Street, a streetscape redesign of Mechanic Street, and a new formal connection East to West. Parklets function as extensions of the sidewalk that utilize curbside parking spots to create new pedestrian spaces. This intervention could continue to liven the community’s downtown area with an increase in foot and bicycle traffic or serve as temporary installations such as "pop-up" restaurant dining. To redesign Mechanic Street, students proposed narrowing the existing lanes of the street to increase the amount of green infrastructure for stormwater mitigation. This narrowing also would help to promote lower speeds of traffic, thereby increasing vehicular and pedestrian safety. Finally, the students proposed a new roadway surface material designed

New Tree Commercial & Office Mixed Building Multi-Family Housing Sidewalk Parking Lot Greenspace Hardened Pavement Site layout for proposed new office and retail development

to improve permeability throughout the downtown area and reduce the risks of accidents. Students wanted to acknowledge the potential opportunity for new development at the south end of this redesign. This development would increase the number of residences and businesses bringing people to Springville and help to support the community’s economy. Students worked to explore potential sites for new development and performed a market analysis for a residential building, office, or retail space. Acknowledging that building one of these exclusively could be financially risky, they recommend a building of mixed-use. While performing their internal rate of return (IRR) analysis, students found that these projects were not financially feasible without the aid of community-owned or non-profit development.

INFRASTRUCTURE, ECOLOGY AND CONNECTIVITY In addition to analyzing the economic and housing conditions, the existing ecological conditions of Springville were considered. They recommended that the area’s creek access and trail network should be expanded and potentially connected with that of other municipalities. By expanding trails, students expect an increase in tourism to local attractions in and near Buffalo, Ellicottville, and the greater Zoar Valley in multiple seasons, bringing potential economic gains to Springville. The team also recommended infrastructure redevelopment within the Village’s wastewater management plant. It is currently overwhelmed during times of flooding, and its equipment needs to be updated. To help aid in this process,

students recommend that Springville increase the number of green infrastructure interventions for storm and rainwater retention during times of need.

(UN)COMMON GROUND 38 GOOD 110 NEIGHBORS

104

Students:

Nicole Sarmiento, Sindhu Sriram, Sangeetha Othayoth (group 1), Ryan Phillips, Petreen Thomas, Vaidehi Patel (group 2)

Faculty:

Mark Shepard

NEW MIDDLES

INVISIBLE CITIES

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 605, Situated Technologies

Program:

MArch

(UN)COMMON GROUND

Within the Situated Technologies Graduate Research Group for the Fall of 2021, students explored the topic of spatial epistemology within remote sensing practices. By definition, "spatial epistemologies describe ways of knowing space, and are embedded within the assumptions, values and belief systems of the societies within which they emerge." For the purposes of this research, the process of acquiring spatial epistemologies is done through the work of remote sensing. This refers to the process of capturing information on the physical characteristics of a given site or region without directly observing it or physically going there. Much of the process of remote sensing is done through the work of data gathering, which in turn produces a working model of geographic conditions. Within this studio, students worked to explore the instances where the data mapping produced errors, and how these errors might affect the spatial epistemologies they were building. Students were prompted to ask how they might re-imagine the inevitable misclassifications and other errors

that emerge as byproducts of these processes when looking at the data they encountered. At the start of the semester, students developed remote sensing techniques and analyzed their potential within proposed site-specific interventions. Their methods were refined through a series of in-class workshops on software applications. The designed interventions for observing, measuring, recording and experiencing site conditions in new ways were situated in Buffalo's Outer Harbor.

"THIS DEVICE IS PART OF A CAMPAIGN THAT AIMS TO GIVE OPEN DECENTRALIZED DATA USING MULTIPLE APPARATUSES. THIS PURE DATA CAN BE THE STARTING POINT OF THE CHANGE." -N.S.

Lake Erie algal bloom group research: group 1

VR capturing device and experience: group 2

Map of implementation for apparatus: group 1

After experimenting with different forms of data analyses, the students looked to identify algorithmic failures and break points within each approach that they explored. Through diagrams and models, students represented these malfunctions or errors, and then designed a remote sensing apparatus that would highlight these failures. This apparatus was then applied back on to the site for the final weeks of the semester to document its performance. Summarizing the performance of the apparatus allowed students to reflect upon both their original analysis as well as their interpretations of their design failures.

Final apparatus mockup: group 1

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL 42 42

Students:

Denice Guillermo, Marietta Koeberle, Samuel Pruitt, Safayath Rafat

Faculty:

Dennis Maher (Seminar), Gregory Delaney (Studio)

Term:

Summer 2021

Course:

ARC 489, ARC 589 (Seminar), ARC 406607 (Studio)

Program:

BAED, BS Arch, MArch

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL In the Summer of 2021, students examined elements from historic Downtown Buffalo to form their basis of study. Within a fluid seminar-tostudio structure, students began their semester by meeting at Assembly House 150, an experimental architecture, art and construction space with Professor and Founder Dennis Maher, to discuss their findings and explore architectural elements through drawing and model making. The seminar introduced many students to the iterative process of design through two-dimensional and three-dimensional thought processes. As the seminar transitioned into the studio with Professor Gregory Delaney, students took their chosen architectural element and explored transforming the element to incorporate new spatial qualities. In aggregate, these projects created a proposal for a network of preservation and revival along Delaware Avenue’s Millionaire’s Row. Students from multiple backgrounds entered this studio and seminar pairing. The studio incorporated environmental design students, as well as architecture

students from both graduate and undergraduate levels. This diversity led to multiple, new connections between students in various programs and degree levels. Students not only learned new techniques from the course structure itself, but also through discussion with the other students in the courses. Within the seminar, the architectural features of many Victorian-era buildings and homes located in Buffalo's downtown neighborhoods were examined. Each student selected an architectural element to document through drawing. The drawings were then transformed through iterative paper models to further articulate how the element is translated through multiple mediums. As the seminar transitioned into the studio, students maintained their architectural elements and expanded their knowledge through additional studies in technical hand drawings and model making. For many of the students, these courses served as Drawing of composition by Safayath Rafat

Final spatial model for artist in residence by Safayath Rafat

capitals of corinthian order

Corinthian capital study and composition by Safayath Rafat corinthian capital cross section comparison

large brick, unfluted pilasters

doric, fluted pilasters

ionic, brick pilaster

Sections of gallery by Marietta Koeberle

Photographs of lintel museum model by Marietta Koeberle

Floor plans of column library by Samuel Pruitt

their first explorations into technical drawing and rigorous model fabrication. However, the student mentorship occurring between the students with varying experience helped students with little to no experience quickly learn how to develop these skills.

STUDENT DYNAMICS BETWEEN THE THREE PROGRAMS ENCOURAGED A NATURAL MENTORSHIP AND DIALOGUE. Depending on their program of study, students worked together to develop their own building to serve the historic preservation and revival site along Delaware Avenue’s Millionaire's Row.

This site would serve as a museum and gallery with artists-in-residence spaces along with other educational spaces that serve the proposed interventions. Students within the Master of Architecture program developed three large galleries which connected along the front of the campus, with setbacks in conversation with the existing mansions adjacent to the site. Students in the Bachelor of Science in Architecture program worked on the three auxiliary buildings that would serve the public as well as the artists-in-residence on the campus. Students in the Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design program developed individual residences for the visiting artists, and an additional team of students worked to develop the landscaping and exterior elements of the campus.

Together, the students expanded their skills and produced a cumulative work that was in dialogue with the many historic elements found within the city and sites adjacent to the proposed area to be redesigned. Their proposals and narratives allowed them to communicate ideas to others and push the limits of what these architectural elements were intended to achieve.

ELECTRIFYING THE URBAN FABRIC 46 30

Students:

Anthony Bruma, Joseph Capellupo, Emma Cook, Ethan Fogg, Jacob Kotler, Sadie Kratt, Sean McGranaghan, Rey Medina, Annalyse Paulsen, Jeremy Sanford, Allison Smith, Cynthia Wood

Faculty:

Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah

FITTING IN

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

URP 581, URP 582

Program:

MUP

ELECTRIFYING THE URBAN FABRIC Students in a graduate planning studio participated in research and on a proposal for improvements utilizing electric micromobility (EMM). Students focused on existing technology of electric micromobility devices to create a report and explore concepts of integration within Buffalo’s urban fabric to promote this newly legalized system of transportation. The report produced was intended to support organized implementation of these three classes of electric micromobility to promote issues of safety, equitable and efficient transportation, healthier lifestyles, and mobility justice. ELECTRIC MICROMOBILITY (EMM) Electric micromobility devices are small, lightweight, electric-powered units ideal for trips up to six miles which are divided into three classes: Class 1 identifies e-bikes as devices that receive assistance from an electric motor when users are pedaling, assisting riders to reach speeds up to 20 MPH; Class 2 details throttle-assisted electric vehicles whose motors cease when riders reach 20 MPH; Class 3 includes the same as

Class 2, but vehicles can reach speeds up to 28 MPH. Students found that EMM devices have the potential to confront the challenges of an increasingly dense urban fabric, reduce carbon emissions, encourage more active lifestyles, and provide sustainable and affordable transportation to communities, if implemented in an organized manner. MOBILITY JUSTICE The topic of mobility justice is threaded throughout the report created by students of this semester. It is important to understand that mobility justice attends to the structural and systemic processes limiting the movement and safety of people of color, women, disabled persons, and children. Issues pertaining to mobility justice include uneven access to services, housing displacement, and the policing of an individual’s movements. Students remained conscious of these issues when conducting their studies and implementing design interventions, with an awareness of how these issues of transportation access are often coupled with socio-economic

Potential E-Bike Charging Station

Sheltered Bicycle Rack

Bicycle Workshop Renderings of site implementations

Photograph by Anthony Bruma

Public Transit Walking/Biking/other Transportation conditions (left), equity analysis (right)

inequalities and identity within marginalized communities. The students used this ethos to create transparent, sincere, and consistent efforts to encourage the public to initiate dialogue, self-reflect, and co-produce actionable planning efforts around the implementation of EMM and future transportation innovations within Buffalo. For their approach, students looked to acknowledge the history of structural racism within communities, recognize that mobility and safety are gendered and racialized, center their plans on people over profit, and prioritize and leverage community voices. RESEARCH When gathering research, students took two approaches. First, they observed case studies involving locations where EMM implementation was successful or not successful. Two cities the

students researched in their integration of EMM devices were San Francisco, California, and Baltimore, Maryland. San Francisco's approach to implement EMM through e-scooters led to an exponential growth in capital in the technology industry and was examined as a profit system. This led to the over-saturation of EMM devices on the streets. In Baltimore, however, EMM devices were used to help increase access for underserved residents. This approach resulted in positive feedback and more community initiatives which increased dialogue in the communities. Then, when looking at Buffalo, students acknowledged the history of the city, both in how its neighborhoods were structured and how transportation influenced changes in specific areas of the city at times like the Great Migration paired with increased suburbanization. Students acknowledged that

transportation systems could not be implemented naturally and require careful planning to ensure that technologies do not reproduce privilege and further disadvantage marginalized communities. Once identifying areas of interest, students were able to use EMM devices to conduct a site-visit to see how users of EMM either would be supported or need support to be successful. Students considered existing demographic analyses of the City of Buffalo, using it to identify target areas for analysis and development. These observations relative to demographics also included items like average commute time, how many residents use public transportation, how many cars per household, and how residents commute to their workplace.

Community Strengthening

EMM Maintenance & Data Management

Fair Policing and Public Safety

Infrastructure Quality & Neighborhood Form

Gentrification & Environmental Impatcts Mitigation

Potential Implementation Actors

Private Sector

Government

City of Buffalo

NYSERDA

Department of Transportation

Board of Education

Community

Local Businesses

Shared Mobility

Non-Profits

Public Safety

EMM Taskforce

Neighborhood Block Groups

Public Health Department

Policy recommendations. Infographic: Cynthia Wood

OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION Students ranked variables to perform three suitability studies. These rankings included physical and equity-based understanding of communities, as well as utilizing census tract data to identify strengths and weaknesses for EMM implementation. Some of the variables considered were minority population, vehicle access, crash data, bicycle facilities, jobs per census tract, NFTA bus stops, and poverty level. From this information, students suggested that the more suitable areas for EMM devices were located within Buffalo’s East Side. Street audits were then used to gather information about existing conditions which would need improvement.

community strengthening, infrastructure quality and neighborhood form, fair policing, and public safety, EMM maintenance and data management, and gentrification and environmental impact mitigation. These themes need to be carefully considered for the proper integration of EMM devices. Students proposed design recommendations within five intersections in Buffalo which were existing central commute points that have suffered from severe disinvestment. Student proposals included the introduction of new bike lanes to improve infrastructure, areas for bike storage, maintenance and charging, rest stops and water areas for commuters, and integration of EMM transportation into the existing landscape to improve safety conditions.

Five major themes emerged from the studies. These themes included Neighborhood analysis. Infographic: Sadie Kratt

PIECEMEAL URBANISM

INITIATIVES FOR SPRINGVILLE

Student:

Morgan Mansfield

Faculty:

Georg Rafailidis (Chair), Gregory Delaney

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

Thesis

Program:

MArch

PIECEMEAL URBANISM Piecemeal Urbanism looks to capture the dynamic and unpredictable life of buildings that traditional photos, drawings, and models cannot fully capture. Morgan Mansfield explored methods of visualizing transformation of architecture through the continual change of these buildings to ask how a representational toolkit can respond to architecture’s temporal nature. Mansfield studied catalog and tract houses within Buffalo and the nearby Town of Tonawanda. These established and initially homogeneous neighborhood architectures allow for a direct comparison of the modified homes to their original state. By exploring the existing conditions of these building typologies through photographs of each site, catalog resources, and drawings, Mansfield was able to observe the way suburban neighborhoods, like Tonawanda’s Green Acres, have transitioned from serially produced copies into a unique urban condition. Homeowners lead the adaptations through their accumulation of needs and desires that result in the piecemeal urbanism that was never intended.

Speculative drawings were created by Mansfield to leverage and project upon the large number of individual changes to a neighborhood, depicting a new collective future. Through photographic layering, collage, and drawing, architecture can be seen to represent the collective decisions of several years through multiple owners. This type of architectural representation challenges the designer’s assumption that buildings are static, instead celebrating evolution and individualized response. Mansfield proposes that these changes can inspire code and zoning changes over time, which would allow the single-family units to transform into buildings that could better serve the public in response to the customization and do-it-yourself mentality of these homeowners.

Drawing of 'the villager' model, combined

Timeline of piecemeal urbanism running through a neighborhood

Drawing representing the process of customization of piecemeal urbanism

COMMUNITY PARTNERS CONNECTING BROADWAY-FILLMORE CITY BUILDING/BUILDING CITY CRE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & PRACTICE HOUSING AS PROCESS STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE SIGNS OF LIFE CAUTION SAILS BUFFALO: A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO?

54 58 62 64 68 70 74 76

CONNECTING BROADWAY - FILLMORE

Students:

Kwabena Adonu, Kaety Ashkar, Nathaniel Bonafede, Isha Bubna, Emma Cook, Evan Dash, Ruth Fatolitis, Marissa Hayden, Zachary Korosh, Amaris Lightly, Liya Rachal Chandy, Rey, Medina, Alex Perrino, Forrest Rall, Mark Saba, Jeremy Sanford, Michaela Senay

Faculty:

Conrad Kickert

STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE 54

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 607, URP 581, URP 582, Urban Design

Program:

MArch, MUP, MSRED

CONNECTING BROADWAYFILLMORE This Urban Design Graduate Studio used interdisciplinary connections between architecture and planning students to explore rejuvenating the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, with inspiration found in revitalization projects like the Broadway Market and Buffalo Central Terminal. Since these transformative projects have started, new forms of business and investment have begun to appear in Buffalo’s East Side such as breweries, restaurants, and creative centers. Students in this studio investigated these new developments and created a thorough and practical neighborhood analysis, a proposed infill development, and a detailed proposal for a new streetscape. These facets were compiled into a presentation and report given to neighborhood stakeholders, supplying tools to those seeking positive change and development in their neighborhoods moving forward. Students worked in teams, crossing fields of architecture and urban planning to collaborate with clients and neighborhood groups. Within this process, they were able to gain a greater

breadth of knowledge on the area at the block, street, and parcel levels. Researching planning and environmental issues or initiatives of the past and present provided background information to students, allowing them to reassess their plans for what the neighborhoods’ current needs are. In the first phase of the semester, students conducted an in-depth survey of the Broadway-Fillmore area by mapping, reading, and listening to the neighborhood residents’ needs. Filtering through archived records of buildings, streets, and public spaces informed the students of the existing built and social infrastructure. It helped to supply the students with ideas of how current conditions can be improved. The teams formed a neighborhood-wide vision, encompassing the triangle between the Broadway Market and Buffalo Central Terminal. The product materialized as diagrammatic plans and visualizations that seek to connect the neighborhood to the city in a wider context. Within the final phase of the course, the students designed two interrelated schemes for

buildings and public spaces. Their interests included affordable housing, multifamily housing, commercial development, environmental development, and more.

MEETING WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS ALLOWED STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW THEIR IDEAS WITH STAKEHOLDERS FOR DIRECT FEEDBACK. To conclude the semester, students presented to stakeholders and community members. Reviews of the work were collaborative, integrating members of the UB community, Broadway Market, and Central Terminal throughout the semester. These interactions stressed the importance of working with multiple disciplines to effectively create proposals for the community.

6' Sidewalk

4' Plant Buffer

22' Driving Lane

18' Parking

4' Plant Buffer

6' Sidewalk

Peckham Street redesign and planning interventions: Zachary Korosh

MIXED USE: RESIDENTIAL + RETAIL PADEREWSKI: COMPLETE STREET

PECKHAM: SHARED STREET

LOMBARD: COMPLETE STREET

COMMUNITY PARK

Phase 1 site plan connecting Broadway-Fillmore: Marissa Hayden

High Trust, No fencing and Personalization

Medium Trust, Low-height fencing

Medium Trust, Transparent fencing

Low Trust, opaque fencing

Low Trust, Dilapidated fencing

Neighborhood trust representation

Proposed nature trail

Lombard street redesign

The work produced throughout the studio demonstrates the need to address public streets and how they can activate the neighborhood. Students investigated a number of different ways to create on-street parking, potentially altering traffic patterns to better suit pedestrian walkability. One of the student proposals was to create shared streets. Shared streets give way to more generous sidewalks and in turn deliver a greater sense of safety to pedestrians knowing that vehicles have to drive at reduced speeds. The students also experimented with how streets are treated at the block and parcel level. They explored this by drawing different levels of community trust in relation to barriers and visibility. By comparing the levels of fencing and personalization from each lot, students noticed how these factors can foster positive relationships or create hostile environments. Finding a balance

between trust and privacy was a challenge the studio took on in an effort to unify neighbors directly. Students also worked together to design public spaces that benefit the community at large. Public parks and nature trails were a few of the ideas explored by the groups. By breaking up the built environment, it offers residents a chance to enjoy each other's company in a place they can claim ownership of. Working between and with multiple disciplines allowed the students to develop neighborhood-wide plans to suit the needs of the residents. Using history, their own analysis, community partners and stakeholders, as well as the residents themselves, students produced work that offered options of connection within the Broadway-Fillmore area of East Buffalo.

CITY BUILDING BUILDING CITY

CONNECTING BROADWAY - FILLMORE

Students:

Reed Brodsky, Shreya Jaiswal, Joshua Kneer, Raymond Jacobson, Joselyne Morocho, Tareq Nusair, Devarsh Patel, Hali Sheriff, Ainish Sheth, John Mark Silbert, Kunal Trivedi, Ray Vergese

Faculty:

Brian Carter, Maia Peck

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 503, ARC 603

Program:

3.5-Year MArch, MArch

CITY BUILDING/BUILDING CITY Students within this course designed three proposals each for the Buffalo Food School downtown. The students worked to consider civic architecture that would help them understand how to better serve the Emerson School of Hospitality on West Huron Street between Delaware and Franklin Avenues. Their main design interventions for the project occurred within the parking lot across from the existing school. Students in the course were either first semester international students in the 2-year Master of Architecture program, or second year 3.5-year Master of Architecture students. This pairing of student groups is exceptional due to the nature of where they stand in the program. Both groups of students are in a period of transition between cultures or professional fields, making this studio critical for them to get to know each other, and to understand the Department of Architecture’s studio culture. The students were encouraged to work together within the first portion of the course, allowing them to share previous

knowledge and experiences. They began working in small groups doing precedent research of parks and public projects that give back to their local communities. Additionally, they investigated schools with large green and/ or public space as precedents for their individual proposals for the Emerson School of Hospitality. Their final proposals were approximately 90,000 square feet and served both the high school and culinary school, with the diversity of Buffalo serving as inspiration to many of the projects.

and civic architecture that could work to serve Buffalo at a larger scale. The class also worked with local partners to expand their knowledge of existing programs in Buffalo. These civic programs helped to inspire the architectural interventions that the students would pursue in their work.

The hybrid course structure allowed for multiple positive learning outcomes. To help broaden the students’ understanding, Professors Brian Carter and Maia Peck invited multiple speakers to visit the class virtually, including consultants from Studio Gang in Chicago, Andrew Berman in New York City, Susan Fitzgerald in Canada, O’Donnell & Tuomey in Dublin, Ireland, as well as teachers and farmers from Five Loaves Farm, to name a few. These speakers shared valuable information about designing for this specific food school and best practices for designing public Students visiting Emerson School of Hospitality

Student pinup within Hayes Hall studio space

Students visiting community garden within Buffalo

Ainish Sheth

Joshua Kneer

Raymond Jacobson

Shreya Jaiswal

Hali Sheriff

Reed Brodsky

Kunal Trivedi

Ray Vergese

Tareq Nusair

John Mark Silbert

Joselyne Morocho

Devarsh Patel

CRE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & PRACTICE

Students:

Marc Ayala, Evan Scales (Micro Fulfillment), Sean Cook, Pamela Jackson (Changing the Narrative)

Faculty:

Jeffery LiPuma

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

END 593

Program:

MSRED

CRE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES & PRACTICE The School of Architecture and Planning’s Master of Real Estate Development program (MSRED) is one of only a few programs in the U.S. offering interdisciplinary studies of real estate development with architecture and urban planning. UB's MSRED program offers a course in commercial real estate (CRE) development strategies and practices as a capstone to the program. In the Fall 2021 capstone course, students pulled together knowledge that they learned throughout the three-semester program. The course enabled students to pursue their personal career interests by acting as an industry developer building their own CRE project. Students researched the current dynamics impacting CRE development and acting in teams and drafted business plans that focused their personal interests with current CRE market conditions. Following the goals laid out in their team’s building plan, each team then identified a real-world CRE development project that met their goals. The feasibility of the development project was then assessed through a

market and financial analysis. During the analysis phase, students presented their findings to the class for input, and were given the opportunity to reach out to industry professionals and program alumni working in CRE development, financing and marketing. This experience included in-person guest lectures as well as the use of remote learning tools, allowing students to engage with professionals from different parts of the country and broaden the scope of input. The teams of students focused on both traditional and innovative forms of real estate development with their own personal CRE development strategies. Student motives included interests in providing affordable housing, community focus, trending financial dynamics, and more traditional topics of redevelopment for financial return. At the conclusion of the semester, students presented their development to a panel of professional and alumni "investors." They were granted a limited amount of money to invest in the projects that they felt met their personal

goals for development. As some of the teams had a focus on an investor’s return, other teams focused on projects that had a higher social return. The result of the panelists' allocation of their limited dollars showed students that today’s investors are financially focused on feasible projects, but also on perhaps accepting a slightly less financial return if a community benefit could also be achieved. This at times resulted in a project that had a large social driver and less financial return as the most desirable investment. This helped break the stigma that investors only have concerns about financial gains.

10 minute radius

5 minute radius

Image of abandoned food market within Buffalo (left) Image of delivery service (right), by "Micro Fulfillment"

UNITS PER STRUCTURE

YEAR STRUCTURE BUILT BEFORE 1940 1940-1969 1970-1999 SINCE 2000

HOUSING PROFILE FRUIT BELT SHARE OWNERS 41% 346 OWNER OCCUPIED 30% COST BURDENED SHARE RENTERS RENTER OCCUPIED RENT BURDENED

59% 505 37%

AVAILABLE VEHICLES 8% 7%

1 2 3-19 20 OR MORE

0 1 2 3

Graphs of data gathered on Fruit Belt neighborhood for "Changing the Narrative"

HOUSING AS PROCESS

STRUCTUROSITY

Students:

Lauren Herran, Abdul Mohammad (Patchwork), Thomas Stankowski, Alex Marchioli (8 Corners)

Faculty:

Erkin Ozäy (coordinator), Nicholas Bruscia, Annette LeCuyer, Laura Lubniewski, Bradley Wales

122

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 402

Program:

BS Arch

HOUSING AS PROCESS The senior architecture competition repositioned its focus to explore new forms of housing in the Fall of 2021. For the past few years, this studio proposed new high-density housing in New York City. This year, students shifted their view to Buffalo’s East Side and the PrattWillert neighborhood. Students investigated how different methods of housing can create a response to city conditions. Topics of conversation included issues of affordability, funding and a lack of urban assets. Students worked on an adaptive re-use of 230 Pratt St. which was formerly a portion of Iroquois Brewing Company. This studio challenges students to engage with existing infrastructure and work with a community partner, C & R Housing, to develop a proposal that blends housing and commerce. C & R Housing is a local contracting firm that has deep roots within Buffalo’s East Side. This partner was looking to transform 230 Pratt Street as a catalyst for change in the neighborhood. They studied the historical conditions that created the neighborhood and how these conditions have continued to mature within

the community. Design projects within the studio took diverse approaches to reuse and redevelopment, as well as proposals for an integrated and phased new development on an adjacent site along Hickory Street that could foster growth in the area. PATCHWORK Patchwork, a design proposal by Lauren Herran and Abdul Mohammad, was inspired by the students’ personal experiences. Herran and Mohammad identified with the immigrant and refugee populations within the neighborhood and used this connection in their scheme. The students used their different skills through sketching and modeling to work through their ideas in person. An excerpt from their presentation: "Buffalo, commonly known as ‘The City of Good Neighbors,’ has been known to welcome and provide a safe environment for refugees and immigrants. In the past 10 years, Buffalo’s population grew 6.5 percent due to an influx of incoming refugees and immigrants. Interior rendering: Patchwork

Ground floor plan: Patchwork

Exterior rendering: Patchwork

Rendering of exterior: 8 corners

Ground floor plan: 8 corners

Patchwork seeks to provide affordable housing for the residents currently located in East Buffalo while welcoming incoming refugees and immigrants that are seeking housing, employment, and a safe environment in which they could celebrate their cultures." The students’ primary design goal was to prioritize adaptable spaces to meet users’ specific needs. They dedicated space on the ground floor for larger, multi-use spaces that could be utilized as a market vendor space during the day, or a venue for celebrations at night. Patchwork’s residential units host a track system which allows them to be flexible so residents can change the layout based on their preference or circumstance. The project acknowledges and seeks to accommodate different familial structures in refugee and immigrant populations and provides

resources and support services for its residents to become successful, active, and contributing members of the PrattWillert community. 8 CORNERS 8 Corners, by Alex Marchioli and Thomas Stankowski, proposes a reorganization of the site into eight new corner stores. These stores include on-street parking in front of each storefront, with the intention that a small commercial district could evolve over time. The students' proposal seeks to generate revenue through ground-level commercial spaces on the site in response to C & R Housing's mission to integrate commerce in a residential area. Marchioli and Stankowski planned to change Iroquois Alley and introduce a new street that cuts through the site. This urban move would increase the amount of

street corners, resulting in the increased availability of new storefronts and walkability within the neighborhood. The natural orientation of the site infrastructure implies a North-South building orientation. 8 Corners breaks the current massing of 230 Pratt Street to an East-West orientation, thereby increasing the number of South-facing surfaces. The increase in southern orientation would also provide the opportunity to implement passive heating strategies for heat in the winter within the residential units.

Personal Services

CONNECTING BROADWAY 54 - FILLMORE

Fillmore Students:

STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE

Shania Julia Anunciacion, Ruth Bonnette, Jean Bravo, Isaac Bravo, Sean Brunstein, Cameron Carver, Jeremy Charles, Cortlandt Chin, Leslie General, Allison Gomez, Lisha Chouhan, Patrick Delgobbo, Xiyan Ding, Ruiyan Guo, Yunchao Han, Andrea Harder, Zachary Lee, Katie Lewis, Samantha Mambrino, Yoshifumi Oka, Anthony Pineda, David Pulliam, Brandon Rosas, Nicholas Sapone, Katie Scott, Letao Shen, Becky Szeto, Omar Tantawy, Staci Tubiolo, Peter Uruchima, Devyn Walker, Mark Yaxis, Bixuan Zhang

Faculty:

Conrad Kickert

TA:

Micaela Lipman

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

END 460

Program:

BAED

40% 40% Other

Open Daily

Other

35%

STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE Buffalo’s East Side has provided students with examples of successful revitalization projects for inspiration, such as the Broadway Market and the Buffalo Central Terminal. However, there are many other instances where storefront revitalization has not seen the same favorable outcome. Students within this environmental design studio investigated how the designers’ typical visions of "Main Street'' are not always applicable, at times morphing into something that has required radical change. Following site investigations, students found that vibrant storefronts no longer fill every lot along pedestrian walkways. Typologies like residential, office spaces, and small manufacturing corporations have begun to occupy abandoned storefronts. This course challenged students to examine Buffalo’s Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood in detail and to assess the local conditions. By exploring what may have caused the disinvestment or the current state of the commercial and economic environment, students developed proposals where design could be

20%

Broadway

implemented to change the narrative of the neighborhood. Within the report, students studied the past, present and future outlook of storefronts within the Broadway-Fillmore district through the people, economy, and landscape of the neighborhood. In the second phase of the course, students proposed new post-retail uses for storefronts, which were chosen through a neighborhood survey. Some of these proposals included dwellings, makerspaces, business incubators, libraries, and educational centers. The storefront structure and typology can be an important method to invest in the revitalization of Buffalo’s East Side communities. By understanding where building improvements can be made, and prioritizing investment, the students suggested how the BroadwayFillmore neighborhood can spark positive change. The students' report uncovered just how much space is available for the community to become a center for not only residential, but also employment, commerce, and entertainment.

48%

17%

Broadway

Fillmore Bar / Restaurant Fillmore

16%

Other

47% 37% Broadway

Vacant Fillmore

18% 48% 34% Broadway

Other

Detailing of playing process, game board, and 3D model

Buildings in maintenance needed condition. Photographs: Nicholas Sapone. Map: Nicholas Sapone, Mark Yaxis, Bixuan Zhang

STOREFRONT AFTERLIFE

SIGNS OF LIFE 70 138

FIRING

Students:

Nicholas Blackwell, Dylan Fiscus, John Henning, Lydia Ho, Samantha Kalinski, Lisa Liang, Gartin Lin, Catie Shadic, Nathan Spangler, Nick Sturner, Benjamin Wemesfelder, Austin Wyles

Faculty:

Jon Spielman

Term:

Summer 2021

Course:

ARC 406, ARC 606

Program:

BS Arch, MArch

SIGNS OF LIFE The Signs of Life Summer 2021 studio rekindled a relationship with Griffis Sculpture Park, a 425-acre park dedicated to experimentation and expression. The park was first established by Larry Griffis Jr., an artist set on creating a haven for art, imagination and play within the Allegheny Mountains. In addition to its continued role as a public sculpture park, it has served as a testing ground for a series of architecture design studios and a place for permanent installations by members of the University at Buffalo. The Signs of Life studio worked directly with Griffis Sculpture Park by providing a plan for park-wide improvements with a focus on wayfinding and signage. This master planning exercise required students to look at the park at several different scales. Students analyzed how visitors are greeted at the front gates, observed the state issued highway and street signs for the park, and the scale of the small direction markers on the trails themselves. The studio began with the students taking a tour of the park with one of Larry Griffis Jr.’s children, spending the day

at the park and sketching ideas for the creation of a relief sculpture. Students worked in one material to create a relief mold out of a secondary material, prior to exploring other cast materials. Students used the sculptural process to think about concepts of light/shadow or infill/void.

MATERIALITY CAN CONVEY EMOTION AND MEANING THROUGH A PIECE OF ART IS THE GOAL LARRY GRIFFIS STRIVED TO ACHIEVE THROUGH HIS OWN WORK AND THE SCULPTURE PARK AS A WHOLE. As the summer progressed, the studio collaborated on an extensive mapping and analysis of existing and past conditions of the park. They researched

previous installations and versions of the park to try to identify methods of signage and wayfinding that have been effective. This informed their understanding of wayfinding challenges and current opportunities in the park and ultimately guided their collaborations to formulate a design strategy as a solution. Students were challenged by the typologies of signage and wayfinding. They had a limited number of resources when trying to find successful wayfinding solutions within an environment like Griffis Park. These topics are not often taught within schools of architecture, and inspired students to reach into fields of communications, typography, art and design, and planning. Students decided to look internally within the park itself to develop their own system of wayfinding. From their explorations of the park, students observed areas of interest that they felt could be used as identifiers in a wayfinding process. For example, a life size steel giraffe sculpture is placed at the onset of a field marking both the edge of the field and the start of the tree line facing the woods. It works to signify the entrance to a trail that leads visitors to a

Final signage map for Griffis Sculpture Park

Shop drawings of signage installation

Casting tests done by students

series of animal sculptures amidst the trees. Students found this giraffe to be an example of a wayfinding identifier. They revealed that seeing a piece of art that sparks interest would allow visitors to discover for themselves the rest of the work concealed in the woods. The giraffe and other identifiers were used as landmarks within the mapping of the park. To develop a deeper understanding of the work at the sculpture park, students put themselves into the minds of artists. They experimented with all types

of materials, from sculpting with clay, construction drawings for new signage creating rubber molds, melting metals, installations within the park. and pouring plaster and sand casting. The studio was pushed to understand and appreciate the materials of a working artist. These ideas were embedded throughout the studio to carry on the original goals of Griffis Park. Students cultivated and supported the human abilities of imagination and empathy through their design process. The culmination of work included the design of a new entrance sign for the park, mapping of the projects and their existing conditions within the park, a site plan for Rohr Hill, and detailed

Students:

70 138

Fabrication Team: Rocco Battista, Denice Guillermo, John Lauder, Katerina Nelson, Revathi Nithipalan, Nicole Stout, Cole Wishman

CAUTION SAILS

FIRING Faculty:

Design Team: John Lauder, Brian Nicpon, Austin Wyles

Gregory Delaney, Brett Doster

Term:

Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020

Course:

Independent Study, ARC 605, Urban Design

Program:

MArch, BS Arch

CAUTION SAILS Caution sails culminated from a Fall 2020 urban design studio, Building Brydges, where students were tasked with looking at the Niagara Falls Public Library, and asked to take an in-depth look at the library’s history, architecture and its architect, Paul Rudolph. The research phase of the project sought to assess the current challenges of the Niagara Falls Public Library. One maintenance issue that stood out was the caution tape adorning half the stacks in the main reading room. With the library’s heaving floor being an issue, the temporary solution caused a secondary problem - the image and perception of the building. The studio took this maintenance problem as an opportunity to introduce solutions to the building. The students investigated how a design intervention could affect positive change in the long term. Their solution was a type of barrier that could also generate a fun and warm visual for the community. Thirteen perforated Dacron (an elastic polyester fabric) screens complement the angular forms and accents of the library’s architecture. These orange

sails provide a temporary solution that clearly cordons off the stacks, while maintaining a visual porosity and elegance in line with the library’s image. The chosen color draws inspiration from Paul Rudolph's use of paprika orange, seen in many of his other architectural designs including the library’s auditorium and stairway. In addition to closing off physical access, their shape, apertures, and materiality allow for visual porosity and provide a path for light to pass through. The screens are independently mounted and portable, giving the library the choice to rearrange and form a new pattern or rhythm within the building’s reading room. The sails work to strengthen the community by reengaging with the library as a community landmark. The School of Architecture and Planning extends a special thank you to the Niagara Falls Public Library, Sarah Potwin, Courtney Geerhart, and the Niagara Falls Public Library Board of Trustees for this opportunity.

Final installation at Niagara Falls Public Library, courtesy of Gregory Delaney

Students:

Richa Lukra, Mira Shami, Liya Rachal Chandy, Sneha Arikapudi (Pocket Park), Thaina Guinzani, Isha Bubna (West Side Market), Leah Carpenter, Rene Franqui, Joseph Galasso, Gwyneth Harris, Zoe Nye, Forrest Rall, Jaidon Ramirez Zeno, Debbie Urban, Aishwarya Vyawahare, Christopher Welch, Adara Zullo

Faculty:

Nicholas Rajkovich

BUFFALO: A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO

TOREFRONT AFTERLIFE

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 606, URP 581, URP 582, Urban Design

Program:

MArch, MUP

BUFFALO: A GREEN ARCHIPELAGO? In Spring 2021, students within the Master of Architecture program’s Urban Design studio worked with Master of Urban Planning (MUP) and dual-degree students in direct correspondence with People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), a Buffalo nonprofit organization. The students within this studio worked closely with PUSH to develop a neighborhood development plan as a response to their Green Development Zone (GDZ). This neighborhood plan would be used by PUSH to receive grant funding for further investment in the communities of Buffalo’s West Side. The students worked directly with PUSH representatives, including monthly meetings with community members, to track and gauge their progress. Students worked in groups throughout each phase of the studio. Within the first phase, students formed small charrettes to develop ideas for the PUSH neighborhood development plans. Teams worked to document existing conditions of PUSH’s GDZ and gathered information to create maps, digital

underlays, property conditions, and commercial corridor assessments. The studio’s MUP students organized a zine about PUSH and the GDZ, as well as a self-guided tour of the GDZ. The second phase of the studio allowed teams to work on topics specific to either the neighborhood plan or problem-solving for existing conditions discovered in phase one. Planning students gathered information on residents’ lived experiences in the area and used technologies to understand the data of the existing neighborhood. The students also discussed ideas with stakeholders and potential partnering organizations, and consistently revisited the aspirations and values of both PUSH and community members. Architecture students within the second phase of work continued brainstorming ideas to pursue within the GDZ. Students refined initial proposals by using testing methods and running them by PUSH and community members to better fit their needs. Throughout the semester, students frequently met with and collaborated in Maps of PUSH green development zone

Isographic bird's eye view showing proposal for exterior parking lot and street activation

Street activation renders of West Side Market

Renderings of park proposal (left) and flowchart showing lot development steps (right)

Pocket Park final proposal bird's eye view

different teams. Since the students were all working towards similar goals, the seven teams were eager to share ideas with one another. If one group could not fit a concept into their proposal, they worked with another team to find a solution to incorporate the idea elsewhere. MUP students also helped to organize the studio. Since these students were organizing the greater neighborhood development plan, they oversaw the coordination of the teams and asked for specific representational work. The work will continue to be used by PUSH Buffalo to spur investment in the communities of Buffalo’s West side.

"THIS STUDIO WAS AN INSPIRATION AS TO WHAT UB CAN DO FOR ITS STUDENTS, SCHOOL, AND FOR COMMUNITIES IN THE AREA." -A.Z.

JUSTICE COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN THE REST BELT GOWANUS: OUR SPACE GAMIFICATION OF DESIGN EXPERIENCE AFRICAN CANOPY FOR UTICA STATION

82 86 90 92

AFRICAN 92 CANOPY FOR UTICA STATION

COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN THE RUST BELT

Students:

Alison Liang, Ashley Hudson, Ausra Mussett, Evan Dash, Jackson Pavlakis, Joshua Rogers, Justyn Bellitto, Nathaniel Mich, Sarah Martin, Ted Griswold, Zachary Korosh

Faculty:

JiYoung Park

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

END 582

Program:

MUP

COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN THE RUST BELT This student report analyzed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the eviction rates of the Rust Belt Cities of Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Detroit. These cities were chosen by the studio specifically due to their existing conditions. Within these Rust Belt cities, there is heightened housing instability due to factors created by systemic racism. The report offers recommendations for programs and policies to prevent evictions and improve housing stability within these cities and others like them. METHODS The students compared methods of economic analysis, spatial analysis, interviews and news media analysis, as well as document analysis to develop Pioneering, Investing, Converting, and Strengthening (PICS) development strategies and compare the relationships between industry Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and location quotients. PICS development strategies were created by analyzing two factors: SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) and SWGD (Strength, Weakness,

Growth, and Decline). This analysis supported predictions of industry performance after the pandemic to identify areas requiring more support. The team also worked to calculate the location quotient index of the industries within each city to contribute to the PICS data.

Students also used stakeholder interviews and news media analysis to provide local context to policy discourse at a national level. These stakeholders included researchers, housing advocates and experts, as well as a former long-term Detroit resident.

Mapping observations and statistics for several categories informed a visual comparison of each city using industry map data from the North American Industries Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS data were found through the U.S Longitudinal EmployerHousehold Dynamics (LEHD) program, where the most recent data available was from 2015. Sociodemographic variables were used to map poverty rate, public housing developments, age of rental housing stock, and minority populations. These variables helped students identify census tracts that are particularly vulnerable to disasters, economic shifts, and eviction. Eviction data was analyzed by ZIP code because census tract-level data were not available for these cities.

To close the study, students performed an overview of peer-reviewed research, policy reports and briefs, and government documents to inform their proposed policies and best practices. These recommendations supported two main categories: direct eviction prevention and housing stabilization. The recommendations could be implemented at a local level but would have a greater impact with federal funding and policy support. Direct eviction prevention strategies included extending eviction moratoria, smart rental assistance programs, housing court reform, and landlord-tenant education. Housing stabilization tactics were categorized into three main strategies of improving data collection and accessibility, targeted economic development, and increasing and improving affordable housing stock.

Mapping of impacted areas in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Detroit

Students looked to the Rust Belt areas to understand the cultural effect that industry holds on housing and evictions. Students were able to determine that housing within the Rust Belt is among the oldest housing stock within the country. When many urban renewal projects occurred in these areas, attempts to redevelop older housing stock resulted in the relocation of long-term residents. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 84

Buffalo PICS data collected from 2019

THIS STUDIO REPORT ACKNOWLEDGES THE PROMINENCE OF STRUCTURAL/ SYSTEMIC RACISM AND HAS USED EQUITY AS A GUIDING PRINCIPLE IN THE PROCESS OF CREATING OUR POLICY PROPOSALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. CITY OVERVIEWS The cities, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Detroit were chosen for this study because of their historical industrial reference as a Rust Belt city, as well as

their comparisons with race and class segregation. Each of the selected cities is known for its own industrial legacy Buffalo for grain, Detroit for automobile manufacturing, and Pittsburgh for steel production. These cities today account for 12 percent of the gross domestic product in the country, maintaining their importance within the global economy. Students were intentional when observing the industry impacts on these cities since they all had specific socio-demographic differences. Buffalo has been racially segmented down the middle, Detroit is a majority-minority city, and Pittsburgh is majority white. These racial demographics were taken into consideration when understanding that each city is different and requires its own attempt to diversify the economic activity within the report to read their influence on housing evictions.

In their assessment of data, students found relevant topics through peer-reviewed sources and experts on the issues of housing, evictions, and industry. The information revealed that this particular period during the COVID-19 pandemic has only aggravated the need for affordable housing. The displacement many residents experience is also affected by inadequate transportation services, which segregate the distance between a resident’s home and work. Within the students’ research, they explored the connections of declining industry to an increase in eviction hotspots and areas with higher risk of eviction. Students worked together to develop a series of long-term and short-term policy recommendations for the areas that are predicted to need support. To prevent direct eviction, students identified policies that would assist families in immediate need of short-term rental assistance, moratoria (the temporary postponement of an activity) for evictions as residents adjust to a post-COVID lifestyle, and providing reform to housing court processes to assist tenants in a system which favors landlords. For long-term policy recommendations, students suggested the improvement of data collection and accessibility to build awareness of consistent statistics revolving around eviction data, calling for a standardization of eviction

Statistical data mapping of populations within Buffalo, Detroit and Pittsburgh

data collection. This issue was a major hurdle for students, as they struggled to find consistent and reliable data about the current state of evictions. There was also a need for economic development strategies such as local hiring ordinances and community benefit agreements that would help areas with declining industry prevent evictions in higher risk ZIP codes. Finally, students suggested that cities like Buffalo, Detroit and Pittsburgh work with community land trusts (CLTs) which help to diversify accessible, affordable and equitable housing and development solutions and attempt to prevent displacement through development or active upkeep.

"THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING THESE ISSUES TO LIGHT WITHOUT FINDING A BETTER WAY TO MAKE THE DATA MORE ACCESSIBLE." - S.M.

American Warehouse and Elevator: Justyn Bellitto

GAMIFICATION OF DESIGN EXPERIENCE 90

GOWANUS: OUR SPACE

REFLECTION: UNDERGRADUATE PLANNING

Students:

Rene Franqui, Jaidon Ramirez, Richa Shukla

Faculty:

Samendy Brice, Marcus Hooks (Dark Matter University)

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 607, Option Studio

Program:

MArch

GOWANUS: OUR SPACE The Fall 2021 graduate option studio was a collaborative studio ran by members of Dark Matter University (DMU), a democratic network guided by the principle that people cannot survive or thrive without immediate change toward an anti-racist model of design education and practice. Within the studio, students met frequently with members of DMU to discuss topics and foundations of anti-racist policies in design. Students were encouraged early on to create both visual and written reflections of what design justice means to them, to be added to and worked through as the semester progressed. Students learned about the concepts of affect and effect through collage and then created a storefront design that would act upon their original ideas of design justice. Moving forward, students began to collaborate with the Van Allen Institute based in Brooklyn, New York. The Van Allen Institute had been working with the community members of the Gowanus Houses, a New York City Housing Authority housing complex

whose community center was being renovated without any consultation with residents to assess their needs or preferences. Students worked with the Van Allen Institute as well as members of the community living in the Gowanus Houses. They developed design proposals that fit the ideas of programs those in the community would like to have within their buildings. Many of the residents in the building had a desire to make larger, flexible spaces to allow them to serve the changing interests of those living in the Gowanus Houses. Some of these interests included cooking, dance, youth activities, multigenerational activities, movie nights and performance spaces, among others. With this information, the students looked further into the history of the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn to see how their design proposals for a community center could better serve those living there. Students Rene Franqui, Jaidon Ramirez and Richa Shukla investigated a topic called third

Community Garden: Seeks to connect non-profits, neighborhoods, schools and other organizations with the skills to harness the nutrition of plants.

Larger-scale proposal by group 'Third Space"

Front and rear elevations of the larger scale proposal by group 'Third Space"

Collage by Jaidon Ramirez Zeno

spaces and their distance from the community center. Third spaces are known as the spaces where people spend their time between home and work. Common third spaces are coffee shops, shopping centers, barber shops, parks, museums, gyms, libraries and other environments where people feel safe and have a desire to visit. Many of the third spaces in the area were blocks away, stressing the importance of giving more third spaces back to those living in the Gowanus Houses. The team worked towards creating a landscape with one proposal at different

Section perspective of large scale proposal by group "Third Space"

stages of development to help those living at the Gowanus Houses generate ideas for supportive spaces, countering their current lack of involvement in the community center’s renovation. Their proposal featured a library with computers, spaces of recluse and lounging, a kitchen for resident use, community gardens and sports fields, and areas for performance and arts. With the proposals created by this team, and others developed in the studio, those living in the Gowanus Houses can now work with the Van Allen Institute

to fight for design justice. They are able to utilize the proposals created in this as tools to communicate to the city features they need, want and deserve to better support their community. This helps to prevent the growth of the community which has been outpricing them within their own neighborhoods.

GAMIFICATION OF DESIGN EXPERIENCE 90

Student:

Anna Mytcul

Faculty:

Nicholas Bruscia (Chair), Mark Shepard, Cody Mejeur

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

Thesis

Program:

MArch

GAMIFICATION OF DESIGN EXPERIENCE Anna Mytcul investigated gaming as a framework for design democratization in architecture, where the end user is the key decision maker in the design process. ARchitect is a multisensory game that promotes and explores the educational aspects of learning through games and their influence on end-user engagement with house co-design. The combinatorial framework relies on an augmented reality (AR) application accessible through a smartphone, a low-threshold tool for converting architectural drawings into 3D models in real time and using AR technology for design evaluation. ARchitect is designed to provide alternative ways of gaining knowledge about design and architecture and intends to empower non-experts to take active and informed positions on shaping their future environments at a micro-scale. This allows players to rethink conventional market relations and explore emerging personal and public values.

To play the game, one downloads and prints out the tabletop portion of the game and installs the ARchitect application. The game provides a mixed-reality experience consisting of three levels: tutorial, challenges and the sandbox. Each level utilizes "room" playing cards and a series of playing boards. Every playing card has a name, budget value and additional features coupled with a 2D representation of the conventional architectural plan. These cards are transformed into 3D models by the ARchitect application. At the end of the game, players can 3D print their results and use it for further exploration. Within Mytcul’s design, the proposed game system allows non-architect players to autonomously produce and access design solutions through embedded computational simulation by an AR application. The game intends to inspire the general public to engage in conversation about home design through a playful user experience by which design principles can be learned, eventually spreading architectural literacy to less-privileged communities. Detailing of playing process, game board and 3D model

Playing process of ARchitect

AR representation of 2D room cards through Fologram

AFRICAN 92 CANOPY FOR UTICA STATION

COVID-19 AND EVICTIONS IN THE RUST BELT 82

TION SAILS

Students:

Aleiya Als, Rocco Battista, Katelyn Broat, Deron Charlery, Haley Davis, Nicholas Gatsos, Denice Guillermo, Danielle Kwong, John Lauder, Joseph Privitera, Edinam Segbefia, Taylor Stewart, Christa Trautman, Courtney Vona

Faculty:

Charles Davis II

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 606, Inclusive Design

Program:

MArch

AFRICAN CANOPY FOR UTICA STATION The 2021 Inclusive Design graduate studio worked to create a proposal for a new installation at Utica Street Station in Buffalo. This project came about through efforts between the City of Buffalo, the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority (NFTA) and the School of Architecture and Planning to honor the late Robert Traynham Coles, a Black architect who designed the station along with many other buildings in Buffalo. Students spent time researching the work and writing done by Coles during his career and found two prominent influences in his work. These influences were the Modernist style and traditional African motifs. Coles traveled to Africa several times in search of inspiration for his work, as reflected by the minimalist character of his designs at the Utica Street Station, as well as in the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Branch Library on Buffalo’s East Side. Cole’s approach to blending Modernism and traditional African motifs became the dialogue for students when approaching their design proposals. Teams

of two students worked together in crafting a proposal for a permanent canopy installation at the station that would honor Coles and his work. Students were encouraged to consider the architect’s heritage, which aligns with many of the local residents who use the space. Students used many precedents that would help to accentuate the hybridization of Coles’ work by introducing concepts from African American quilts, African mud cloths, cultural symbols and other motifs. For the studio’s midterm reviews, student teams presented their proposals to the NFTA, who selected the project Loom Lane to be further developed by team leaders Nicholas Gatsos and Christa Trautman. Loom Lane drew its inspirations from two specific objects, the Zulu Isicholo and the peacock chair. The Zulu Isicholo not only has a direct relationship to Africa, but also has reappeared several times in African American culture. The peacock chair, although manufactured in Asia, is a strong symbol of Black pride and resistance to injustice in African American culture. Textile

Exploded axon of "crown" and "jacket" proposals

Evolution of work influencing the design of the "jacket" and "crown" proposals

Rendering of the canopy installation above the station's escalators

Rendering of the canopy installation within the station's foyer

Night render for the proposed installation of Utica Station from East Utica Street

Elevation of proposed signage for Utica Station honoring Coles' work

patterns chosen by the team were an attempt to reference the Kuba traditions, the denim quilts of Gee’s Bend Alabama and the many blue-collar workers of Buffalo. The team split in directing quarter scale mockups of their designs, to help understand the effort and cost of fabricating the full installation. One of the teams worked to investigate different weaving patterns for the installation piece at the foyer. The other team collaborated on a mockup of different fabric patterns and metal mockups that could be tension-fitted to the existing waffle grid ceiling and serviced when needed. Both teams worked together to face challenges of constant vibrations within the station and connections that were minimally invasive to the existing structure. Together they produced the mockups for the NFTA that will help to honor the life of Robert Traynham Coles. Modifications have been made to begin the commemorative process with the addition of new signage to the building in January 2022.

Reflected ceiling plan for proposed installation

GROWTH ON THE EDGE INVISIBLE CITIES NEW MIDDLES XS GOOD NEIGHBORS ASCEND MUŽIGO MEŽA | FOREST OF THE ETERNALS

98 102 104 108 110 114 116

ON THE EDGE Students:

Students of ARC 101

Faculty:

Stephanie Cramer (Coordinator), Albert Chao, Abigail Peters

TA's:

Joshua Barzideh, Liya Chandy, Eryn Conlon, Adrian Cruz, Denice Gulliermo, Andrew Gunther, Cris Hopkins, Nicole Sarmiento, Zakaria Siddiqui, Christopher Sweeney, Kaylen Rasua, and Benjamin Wemesfelder

ACSEND 114

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 101

Program:

BS Arch

ON THE EDGE The first semester of freshman year for architecture students is arguably the most critical. This introductory semester introduces students to hands-on, project-based learning, moving forward from the traditional lecture-based learning styles used in high schools. Students learn the importance of the iterative process of making, become critical of their own work, engage in discussion with peers, and learn the art of effectively presenting their ideas. Students learn how to express their ideas through rigorous hand drawings and model-making. Much of a student’s perception of architecture changes during this first semester. They learn vocabulary and concepts that help them to adjust to and adopt the language and typical thought processes of designers in their core studio as well as many of their supplemental courses. During this semester, students also learn the importance of decision making, which for some is a first-time occurrence in their life as they adjust to college away from home.

THE STUDIO CULTURE IS MEANT TO HELP STUDENTS ADJUST TO THEIR NEW ENVIRONMENT AND NEW WAYS OF THINKING WHILE SUPPORTING THEIR GROWTH THROUGH CONTACT WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS AND OTHER FACULTY THROUGHOUT THEIR INTRODUCTORY SEMESTER.

studio session, who provide consistent support to help them grow and serve as a buffer between the students and the direct teaching team. These teaching assistants ensure that every student receives individual attention to help integrate them into the school and its culture.

Faculty regularly join in on critiques, which helps familiarize students with their own processes and style. Additionally, freshmen interact with teams of teaching assistants (TA’s) who, as graduate students, aid in the teaching of their fundamental courses. Freshmen meet with their TA’s each

The second project introduced threshold as a methodology for influencing the use of space. This prescriptive assignment gave each student four identical spaces created by planar surfaces. Students were asked to perform one cut-and-fold action to enable access to all spaces, one entry,

THE EDGE Students were introduced to several design thinking modalities through four distinct projects. These were designed to help them learn about the different ways to explore edges, planes and volumes. The primary methods of exploration were through model-making supplemented by hand-drawing. Students began by investigating the different ways that cutting and folding paper could be used to create a three-dimensional system through repetition of a single module.

Students gathered for final presentations

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Plaster explorations and final models crafted by students

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Final on the edge drawings: Daniel Schiavo

and different lighting conditions. The class then explored more closely the experience of transition by scaling these cuts up and down. When the initial goals were completed, students thickened these planar surfaces and made larger-scale models out of chipboard, reinforcing critical decisions and concepts of circulation, lighting conditions and spatial hierarchy. For the third project, students explored concepts of depth and section utilizing subtractive design thinking. The students shifted material to plaster, where they introduced light and views and gave physical access to existing subterranean spaces within the edge of a cliff. To close the sequence of projects, students were introduced to site and programming. To begin, each student produced a unique site model in plaster

representing the top of a vertical cliff face. Examining these casts, students were encouraged to imagine what landscape they had created and select a research topic that could be supported on their newly created cliffside. Students selected research topics that were of interest to them and that also fit their environments. Within this final project, students explored new methods of representation, including acetone transfer landscapes of their cliffside. Students also investigated methods of attachment for placing their cliffside research center designs, which contained three individual research spaces and one larger group space for their research team to inhabit. With these constraints, students were able to choose their methods of attachments, how the architecture served the researchers, and the ways this architecture spoke to the landscape through arrangement of program,

degree of enclosure and type of vertical circulation. Students discovered many interesting architectural solutions to these problems and created unique research conditions within their site. With this fundamental knowledge, they are prepared to move into the next semester of their education.

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104

NEW MIDDLES

INVISIBLE CITIES 102

102

Student:

Samantha Fox

Faculty:

Dennis Maher

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 122

Program:

BS Arch, BAED

INVISIBLE CITIES The Architectural Sketching and Environments course presents students with a unique experience. Throughout the semester, the class examines modern perspectives on the physical environment, uncovering the relationship between natural and constructed. Using sketching as a medium to see, feel and think, students draw their surroundings, ranging in content and scale from human movement, to built structures, to natural spaces. Students focus on enhancing their ability to draw from imagination and establishing a conceptual perspective from the mind.

Invisible Cities, a series of illustrations by Samantha Fox, draws inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities – a book that describes Venice as a series of fantastical places. Calvino depicts cities of various terrains, scales and inhabitants. By reading excerpts from Invisible Cities, Fox created her own city, Arborea: a city perched in the trees, and a tight-knit community interconnected by bridges and zip lines. The city is lit by hanging lanterns, sparking it alive day and night. Building these cities through a mixed media of micron pen and copic marker allowed the city to come to life, and viewers to imagine themselves there.

Through drawing, students can find themselves participating in an act of discovery. It is important for designers to be able to perceive a written visual and translate it to paper. However, this process is different for everyone. Students worked on creating visuals in the form of a physical object set within a landscape at an unattainable distance, or through a visual dreamt up within their mind. Architectural sketching is a skillset aspiring architects and designers develop through time and practice. Illustration of Invisible Cities

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Arborea (top left), and illustrations of Invisible Cities

(UN)COMMON GROUND 38 GOOD 110 NEIGHBORS

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104

NEW MIDDLES

104

Students:

Bethany Greenaway, Yogesh Ravichandar, Nicole Sarmiento, Shavindya Seneviratne, Hali Sherrif, Benjamin Wemesfelder,

Faculty:

Joyce Hwang (Studio), Gregory Delaney (Technical Methods)

Term:

Spring 2021, Summer 2021

Course:

ARC 606, ARC 546, Ecological Practices

Program:

MArch

NEW MIDDLES The Spring of 2021 fostered a foundation of support for the research and ecology of work done by Associate Professor Joyce Hwang. Hwang’s research and architecture to support middle species (mice, bats, raccoons, birds, etc.) includes several installations across the country and in Buffalo, like the "Bat Cloud" in Buffalo’s Tifft Nature Preserve. In the summer of 2021, Hwang was invited to participate in Exhibit Columbus’s design symposium, presentations, and exhibition, New Middles. For this opportunity, Hwang and Gregory Delaney, clinical assistant professor of architecture, worked to formulate their courses to further immerse students in faculty research through the lens of the Ecological Practices graduate studio and technical methods seminar. TECHNICAL METHODS Through the technical methods seminar, Professor Delaney invited students to focus on researching architects who produced work in Columbus, Indiana, where the installation for New Middles was held. Students explored these sites and landscapes as methods of research,

documentation and interpretation. Students were encouraged to explore ideas found in text and examples through new means of graphic representations, further developing their own graphic style. The work of the students included methods of collage and drawing to help communicate reflections on their research and studies of the precedents. NEW MIDDLES Within the Ecological Practices studio, Hwang invited students to explore the city of Columbus, Indiana, and propose architectural interventions that reflect the design history of the area. Students examined new ways of responding to contemporary social and ecological conditions in "Middle America." Areas in this region include the culturally rural and suburban areas of the United States, typically the Lower Midwestern region consisting of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and downstate Illinois. Students investigated ways their design proposals could impact local ecologies and the broader Mississippi Watershed, through

biodiversity and new considerations of public and civic space in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To begin, students looked to the environment of Columbus through the lenses of surroundings and public appeal. They investigated the ways that inhabitants, human and non-human, interacted with the city. Students then explored research by analyzing the ways a specific species may use and interact with a habitat or ecosystem within Columbus. Many of these species are recognized as "Middle Species," those who play active roles in our ecosystems. However, these species remain overlooked for their work in stabilizing environments. As students learned more about these species and their behaviors, they constructed diagrams to represent the contributions and personalities of these species. Students developed individual theories based on representational maps that they created while researching Columbus and their selected middle species. The students then developed architectural interventions which enhanced the local ecologies of their areas of study. These interventions also worked to amplify the presence of the built environment

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Soil processes mapped by Benjamin Wemesfelder

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Graphic studies completed by Hali Sherrif within ARC 546

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Species study produced by Bethany Greenaway within Ecological Practices Studio

in specific communities. To close the semester, students finalized their theses and worked to create compelling visual and textual narratives that support their architectural interventions and their selected middle species. Their timeline for these projects included not only interventions in Columbus, but the future of the Mississippi Watershed and "Middle America" to make an argument for the importance of design for ecological advancement and global challenges. These investigations and arguments were then to be presented within Exhibit Columbus, alongside the work of Professor Hwang. TO MIDDLE SPECIES, WITH LOVE The summer focused on the fabrication of an installation at Exhibit Columbus, an exploration of architecture, art, design, and community that activates

the design legacy of Columbus, Indiana. Students, faculty and staff from multiple organizations joined Hwang in the fabrication of the installation. The collaborative process fostered valuable mentoring relationships amongst these students, faculty and staff.

XS 108

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MUZIGO MEZA

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Student:

Jacob Hutton

Faculty:

Michael Hoover

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 404

Program:

BS Arch

XS The Spring 2021 senior architecture studio explored instances of isolated spaces. Students designed small spaces that utilized the objects they prioritize in their life, making them hyper-efficient to their lifestyle. Students considered social and physical themes of reduction in their consideration of how they think, live and connect with their surroundings. Students created their project within an isolated location of their choice, which would determine the function of the structure, its form, as well as services the structure would need to perform to support the occupant’s desired lifestyle. Students explored methods of off-grid, self-reliant systems, which were necessary for life in some locations. These systems included ideas of economic use of materials, modular construction, and energy efficiency through water or solar collection. With these systems in mind, students were able to craft spaces that clearly articulated ideas about reduction and isolation within their chosen site, creating personal experiences.

Map of Adirondak Park

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Renderings and model of final project

(UN)COMMON GROUND 38 GOOD 110 NEIGHBORS

110

104

Students:

Sean Brunstein and Staci Tubiolo (Carving), Tina Tan and Melissa Kelley (Clusters), Omar Ibrahim and Hashem Badr (Pourous Boundaries), Christal Smith and Brian Moore (In Between)

Faculty:

Miguel Guitart (coordinator), Michael Hoover

NEW MIDDLES

110

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 501

Program:

3.5-Year MArch

GOOD NEIGHBORS The Good Neighbors studio, co-taught by Miguel Guitart, assistant professor of architecture, and Michael Hoover, adjunct professor of architecture, was conducted for the sixth time in 2021. The studio serves as an introduction to architecture for students who are new to the discipline, making it an essential part of the School of Architecture and Planning’s 3.5-year Master of Architecture program.

WE CHALLENGE THE NOTION THAT ENTERING THE FIELD AT THE GRADUATE LEVEL IS A DISADVANTAGE AND WORK TO ENSURE EACH STUDENT SUCCEEDS IN THE PROGRAM. The studio is specifically designed to introduce graduate-level students to the field of architecture. Students coming into this program come from

backgrounds as diverse as music, math, nursing, business, environmental design, and many others. As the first of four studios in the 3.5-year program, Good Neighbors introduces students to many architectural concepts. The 3.5-year program has seen tremendous enrollment growth over the last year, increasing from eight students in Fall 2020 to 27 students in Fall 2021. These students brought a new critical mass and energy to the program at a time when students and professors alike were yearning for more personal connections. To better accommodate the large group, the teaching team opened the semester with a set of small projects that served as warm-up exercises to help students learn new architectural concepts and get to know one another. The exercises were arranged as a series of rotating group projects, creating opportunities for students to meet, talk and develop relationships. This strategy of meeting several new and different students is extremely important because it mimics the frequent studio changes that

undergraduate students experience within their program. It is not until after the first two years of strategic educational development that students choose their path of research. The opportunities created within these foundational studios set the stage for successful student relationships over the course of the entire program. After this series of warm-up exercises, students self-selected into pairs for the remainder of the semester to work on designing three domestic spaces and three corresponding, separate work studios for three hypothetical families. The families share ownership of a single large parcel on Buffalo’s East side, near the Summer-Best metro station, on a strip of land between Edna Place, Michigan Avenue and Best Street. The designed working studios, which are three of the six planned constructions on the site, will be semi-public to provide a potential for connection between the families and the greater community. The students explored concepts such as space, place, material and function in their designs, drawing from discussions

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Exploded axonometric and ground floor plan: carving

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Model photos (left), ground floor plan (right): clusters

Model: pourous boundaries

about scale, geometry, movement, matter, light, structure, form, perception and emotion. The three hypothetical clients were presented with very detailed descriptions to help students craft unique spaces suited to each family’s needs within the equally allotted 2,500 square feet. These needs centered around one family’s musicality, another family’s artistry, and the third family’s interest in writing. Along with the planned community interaction through the work studios, students also explored landscaping strategies to create a welcoming outdoor space for neighbors to gather. The exterior design could not use fencing to delineate private from public space. The studio produced 14 unique design proposals for the families that would contribute to a greater sense of community and space-making on the site.

Privacy diagram (left), site plan (right): pourous boundaries

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ON THE EDGE

ACSEND 114

114

Students:

Rocco Battista, Morgan Christopher, Brendan Flowers, Bethany Greenaway, Chenhui Yang

Faculty:

Conrad Kickert, Matthew Roland

Term:

Winter 2021

Course:

Independent Study

Program:

MArch, MUP, MSRED

ASCEND The Urban Land Institute’s Hines Competition encourages the interdisciplinary coordination of graduate professionals in architecture, planning and real estate. The competition allows students to engage in a challenging exercise in urban design and development within a new environment each year, which the team develops in just under three weeks. Five students from the School’s architecture, planning, and real estate development programs worked together to propose a walkable, sustainable and inclusive site plan and development program, equipped with financial pro forma for the large-scale site. This year, the Urban Land Institute’s site was within Oakland, California. Students worked to create an environment that would support a link between Oakland’s Central Business District and Jack London Square. The proposal included affordable housing, new transportation initiatives and integration within the existing landscape. Ascend employs a mixed-use proposal to promote regional connectivity throughout the Bay area, near Oakland’s new BART station.

Students investigated the ability of their proposal to support community needs both within housing and local partnerships. Ascend offers essential services such as health, safety, recreational space and entrepreneurship to support Oakland’s high-risk populations. The project’s housing initiative targets various incomes, providing affordable housing for families, market-rate housing, and assistance to RV parking sites that would support the local unhoused population. Financially, Ascend supports the local growth of businesses within the area. Ascend plans to integrate a variety of entry-level and professional-class employment with the development of industrial employment in production, distribution and repair (PDR) in Oakland’s port. Students also proposed a zoning change to the site, which will help accommodate an increased density with the new BART stop and encourage consistent mixed-use activity within the area.

Circulation and community partnership diagrams

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Site plan for Ascend with full plan of services

Renderings of exterior market and services for the unhoused population

INVISIBLE CITIES 102

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MUZIGO MEZA

116

Students:

Sangeetha Othayoth, Sindhu Sriram

Faculty:

Annette LeCuyer

Term:

Independent timeline, 2021

Course:

ARC 599, Independent Study

Program:

MArch

MUZIGO MEZA | FOREST OF THE ETERNALS MUZIGO MEZA / Forest of the Eternals was a design competition entry for a columbarium in collaboration with Riga City Council in Latvia. As architects and human beings, people may see the world as a connection of living parts moving through the day. Students Sangeetha Othayoth and Sindhu Sriram noted that the final resting place of loved ones and those who have passed have long been marked by incredible structures. Placed in one of the world’s first garden cities, Meza Kapi, a forest cemetery, provides a path to connection between the historic city and a sacred space. As a partnership, the students were driven by the idea of death and what it means in today's societal environment. Surrounded by the effects of COVID-19 on our daily existence, the concept provides a deeper and sometimes eerie connection to the concept of death, loss and bereavement. Designing in a site such as a forest cemetery, where death is an accepted reality, the configuration of landscape could have an immediate impact on visiting loved ones. In their Forest of Eternals project, Othayoth and

Sriram use architecture as a source of solace for grieving loved ones. The North-South axial plan of the cemetery is paved with cobblestones inspired by the Lielvarde belts of Latavia folk costumes, where woven patterns reputedly symbolize the origin of the universe and human DNA.

"THIS WAS BY FAR THE MOST TRAILBLAZING TEAM I HAVE EVER BEEN A PART OF. LECUYER HAS BEEN A PATIENT, ORGANIZED AND MOTIVATING SUPPORTER. SINDHU AND I GAINED A LOT OF SKILLS, VENTURED INTO NEW PERSPECTIVES, AND EVOLVED AS ASPIRING ARCHITECTS." - S.O.

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Final render of Forest of the Eternals

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Forest of the Eternals in use by visitors

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Seasonal representation of Forest of the Eternals

Their proposal for an axial path is marked by four junctions called Nojumes, meaning canopies, providing seating and lighting, accompanied by the columnar structures of the Muzigo Meza. Monolithic benches made of precast concrete blocks are etched with a pattern inspired by shadows cast by the surrounding tree canopies. They serve to remind the living of those who no longer bodily exist among us but will remain forever engraved in our memories. Nature along the path transforms with the life, death and rebirth cycle of the seasons. The vibrant green leaves of spring mature into a full shade canopy in

summer. Bright autumn leaves are shed, revealing bare branches that signal winter. The path is flanked by swathes of wildflowers that include the Siberian squill, which forms a vibrant blue carpet in spring, white oxeye daisies in summer, and wild heather in autumn. In contrast to a traditional columbarium, Muzigo Meza seeks to create a more personal experience. Clusters of columns scattered across the forest cemetery become the resting place for loved ones' ashes. The precast concrete trunks house four niches and places

for candles and flowers, or other items of remembrance. The organization of the clusters generates a gentile path guiding visitors through the cemetery, with an experience changing as the day progresses. The passing sun shimmers the green glass and shadows that move across the ground. By night, the forest cemetery is illuminated by the lighted tree canopies, while the clusters of columns glow as if candles in the forest.

06 METHODS & SYSTEMS STRUCTUROSITY DISCOVERING THE FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF REAL ESTATE RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE FIGURE TO FIBER TANDEM CLOUDGAZING MICROHOME, MODULAR HOME FIRING

122 126 128 130 134 136 138

HOUSING AS PROCESS

STRUCTUROSITY

Students:

Students of ARC 352/552, ARC 453/553, ARC 455/555

Faculty:

Christopher Romano (Structures I, III, coordinator), Randy Fernando (Structures I,III), Michael Hoover (Structures I, III), Bonghwan Kim (Structures II), Jin Young Song (Structures II, coordinator)

122

Term:

Fall 2021, Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 352/552, ARC 453/553, ARC 455/555

Program:

BS Arch, MArch

STRUCTUROSITY The School of Architecture and Planning offers a myriad of courses under the label of "Structures." Structures is a set of applied physics courses that have transitioned from the traditional lecture heavy, math-based learning to labbased learning within the Fabrication Workshop, a 5,000-square-foot workspace equipped with tools and technology to help students broaden their fabrication skills These courses are taken at the sophomore and junior level, with the final course taught at the graduate level. The courses are interdisciplinary, with 30-40 percent of the class composed of students from external majors, such as Environmental Design. Structures I and III focus more heavily on critical thinking skills and design workshops, while Structures II dives deeper into system mechanics, using tools like Karamba3D, a parametric structural engineering tool which provides accurate analysis of spatial trusses, frames and shells, for analysis work. Topics of discussion are often reinforced by the class being co-taught by an architect and engineer. Structures III works to blend hands-on critical thinking skills with analysis tools like Karamba3D.

During the 2020-21 academic year, Structures began to look more intensely into the materials it teaches, and those who are experts in their use. Structures I focused on wooden elements, load paths, and other fundamental components of design. Structures II centered on steel as a material and introduces technological analysis techniques, and Structures III centered on composite structures, where students make materials from other raw materials with an emphasis on concrete. As students became more comfortable with the ideology of structures, they learned to push the boundaries of each of these materials, both at the smaller scale of the material composition and hands-on modeling, and in how they choose to incorporate these materials into their studio work outside the course.

COMPRESSION (PUSH)

BENDING (FLEX)

As the academic year progressed, the Structures teaching teams worked to explore and integrate an interdisciplinary approach into the classes. Students this year have learned to develop a more intrinsic appreciation of those working in the fields of construction, masonry, Tensile and compressive forces found in models

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Students working with force loads with hands-on learning methods

Portion of Grasshopper script for Karamba3D analysis of structure

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Students testing through full scale prototypes, detailed mockups, and conversations with faculty and community professionals

Computational analysis of student work done within Karamba3D

manufacturing and engineering by nature of their hands-on coursework. The courses often offer multiple site visits to foundries, mills and factories encouraging students to venture off campus to ask questions of the professionals who work with these materials and grow their understanding of the construction process. Students learn about instances of architects and engineers working together to push the boundaries of structures and their material capabilities. These courses encourage students to do the same. The formatting of the classes allows students to test their own intuition and learn from failure, increasing their confidence in design. To close the semester, students present their ideas to professionals and discuss how to improve their projects.

Detailed drawings of full-scale beam mockup

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CAUTION SAILS

126

DISCOVERING THE FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF REAL ESTATE

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RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE 126

Students:

Enrico D’Abate, Brendan Flowers, Evan Gantley, Alexa Sass

Faculty:

Matthew Roland

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

END 500

Program:

MSRED

DISCOVERING THE FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF REAL ESTATE UrbanPlan is a realistic, engaging exercise created by the Urban Land Institute and taught in several universities throughout the country. With UrbanPlan, participants learn the fundamental forces that affect development in our communities. In Fall 2021, students in END500 (Principles and Processes of Real Estate) formed mock development teams to compete for an award and address the requirements of a request for proposals from a hypothetical City Council. Within this process, students explore the challenges of addressing financial, market, social, political and design issues at play. While working through these design issues, student teams collaborated to form a vision statement for the district, to serve as the driver for their work with UrbanPlan. They worked as teams to develop a pro forma and create a site plan and three-dimensional model of their vision through the UrbanPlan program. Within these teams, students took on specific roles consisting of site planner, financial advisor, marketing advisor, city liaison and neighborhood liaison.

This year, the students formed three teams and presented their development plans for the mock site to the hypothetical City Council using Zoom.

THROUGH COMPETITION, THE STUDENTS MOVED FROM A THEORETICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF REAL ESTATE TO THE PRACTICAL REALITIES AND DEMANDS OF A DEVELOPMENT TEAM AND PROCESS. The City Council was composed of real estate professionals who facilitate and review the students’ proposed developments through discussion and questions. Each of these land use professionals had been trained in UrbanPlan to inform their responses

to student work. In a discussion-based format, students learned that there are many different potential outcomes to address the requirements of the request for proposals. Students presented their site plan, financial outcomes and representative images of the proposed building within the redevelopment plan. The culmination of the course was the selection by the City Council of a winning team to proceed with their hypothetical project. Throughout this module of the course, the complex development problem drove students to propose remarkably sophisticated solutions in a short period of time.

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Using UrbanPlan as a tool for real estate, with examples of built form typologies

CAUTION SAILS

DISCOVERING THE FUNDAMENTAL 126 FORCES OF REAL ESTATE 128

RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE

128

Students:

Delaram Haghdel, Mariella Hirschoff

Faculty:

Kenneth MacKay (coordinator), Elaine Chow, Julia Jamrozik, Jon Spielman, Seth Amman

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 301

Program:

BS Arch

RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE The integrated design studio in the B.S. in Architecture program allows students to focus on the development and refinement of an architectural design in greater detail. This design studio is driven by several spatial qualifiers such as context, structure, building systems and energy performance in response to Buffalo’s climate. Students work on the ability to make design decisions with architectural projects while demonstrating synthesis of user requirements, technical requirements, regulatory requirements, site conditions and accessible design. The students began their semester constructing buoyant vessels or boats. The Fall 2021 agenda required each studio to produce two boats, both built to suit the criteria of speed, maneuverability and stability. Students worked collaboratively to design, construct and float a vessel at the School’s annual regatta at Buffalo’s Gallagher Pier. Constructing a 1:1 wooden vessel allowed students to gain a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of structure and skin, and how certain geometric forms

work more efficiently than others when the human body and the natural force of water are design constraints. A portion of the building process involved learning and developing an intuitive appreciation for the physical laws of nature, including density, weight, gravity and buoyancy. Working through these principles as a group exemplifies the amount of communication, labor and coordination involved in executing such a collaborative project. To further their investigation of the human-to-water relationship, students designed a Riverboat Museum and Boathouse located along the entrance to the Erie Canal in North Tonawanda, New York. The relationship between land and water became a pivotal threshold in their designs. Looking to their vessels for inspiration, the fundamental qualities of structure, skin and envelope all resulted in different ways of enclosing space. By beginning the semester at a hands-on scale, students were able to focus on the interaction of skin to structure before applying their system to a building.

Photographs comparing model and boat constructions

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Building sections, section perspectives

STRUCTUROSITY 122

130

Students:

Josh Barzideh, Tyler Beerse, Tom Cleary, Camilo Copete, Bhalendu Gautam, Sam Goembel, Marissa Hayden, Ollie He, Nick Hills, Jamie Jones, Lovepreet Kaur, Ben Starr

Faculty:

Nicholas Bruscia

FIGURE TO FIBER

130

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 606, Situated Technologies

Program:

MArch

FIGURE TO FIBER The Spring 2021 Situated Technologies research studio returned to the topics of geometry and topology through surface disclinations, introduced by Assistant Professor Nicholas Bruscia in 2019 as both a developing area of research and a pedagogical exercise. The studio looked to explore contemporary notions of material customization that are guided by geometric principles. Topics explored within this studio were three-fold. First, the scalability of surface disclinations and how to enhance their stability with a synthetic fibrous layer. Secondly, an exploration of their aggregation into larger structures via periodic tilings. And thirdly, how to harness their "snapthrough buckling" to increase bending stiffness within thin surfaces. Some natural materials and formations are shaped by disclinations, or "defects" in their topological composition, that force curvature into initially flat or planar elements. Originating in crystallography, the basic principle can be applied to materials at larger scales. For example, the intuitive materialization of these formal characteristics are observed in traditional Japanese

kagome basket weaving techniques. Students looked to small studies of paper models to experiment with the ways in which a basic geometric figure, or a flat square, circle and triangle, can transform through the overlapping of material to create positive or negative curvature. By studying these paper models, students observed how material can self-react and transform into complex and self-stabilizing structures that have inherent mathematical rationality. Students worked with paper form-finding models and physics-based digital simulation to discover ways to increase the bending stiffness within a thin surface. This flexure and bending resulted in the understanding of material behaviors. With the observation of material behaviors, students were able to begin manipulating forms through newly introduced curvatures to control a desired outcome. This change in curvature was often paired with tiling and specific arrangements of tilling that could transform a planar surface into a collective and distributed experience, rather than a centralized object. Geometric construction meshes / bending simulation

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Plywood mockup within Crosby Hall for Atelier week

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Paper models of counter-active bending / forcing two modules to balance between stable states

Plywood mockup within Crosby Hall for Atelier week

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Examples of paper forms created within surface disclination studies

With the digital representations and material understandings, students moved into large-scale physical mockups of their designs. Working with two layers of 3mm plywood with staggered seams allowed the projects to scale up well beyond the dimensional limitations of standard sheet materials. The synthetic fibrous skin and natural wood grain of the material could be used to help accommodate areas that had tighter bending radii or to increase surface stiffness in other areas. These internal stresses within the mockups are distributed evenly throughout the structure once it was completed, further stabilizing the form.

Aggregation test model

Within the final fabrication phase, students also looked to examples of joining seams to help stabilize their plywood mockups. Research was done on the benefits of each binding and joining technique to choose the most beneficial

option for each structure and its geometry. Students explored incorporating carbon fiber reinforcement and designed seam details to strategically allow for disassembly and transport. The student work exhibits the potential of topological bending at a large scale, opening up possibilities for further educational research that combines material behavior and geometry toward new fabrication techniques. While stereotomic projection is associated with shaping mass, surface disclinations may be associated with shaping thinness, turning our attention away from the monolithic and toward the monocoque.

134

TANDEM CLOUDGAZING

134

Students:

Nirmiti Pandit, Hannah Ruth, Carol Thomas, Jolanta Volkova

Faculty:

Stephanie Cramer (coordinator), Randy Fernando, Korydon Smith

TA's:

Joshua Barzideh, Liya Chandy, Eryn Conlon, Denice Guillermo, Reid Hetzel, Marietta Koeberle, Madeleine Niepceron, Christopher Sweeney, Austin Wyles

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 102

Program:

BS Arch

TANDEM CLOUDGAZING In Spring 2021, freshmen architecture students explored combining material systems, simple building components and fundamental actions to create built prototypes that are, in an alchemical way, greater than the sum of their individual parts. The studio begins with a game called architectural alchemy. Students are asked to draw one card from three different decks populated with material systems, components and actions. At times, these cards imply compatible goals such as using a stacked light timber wall system to afford seclusion. More often, they introduce challenging goals like developing a bent laminated wood ceiling system for holding fire. Students play the game individually first, developing a full proposal in drawing and model. Groups and then teams form around common interests in material and action, and play the next round of the game, which requires an integration of two materials, one component and one action. Each team develops a goal statement to articulate the project program and intentions.

TANDEM CLOUDGAZING The goal statement of this team was to design and build a bent laminated wood and folded steel plate floor system for supporting studying through tandem cloud gazing. In this project, students were interested in studying how the natural curvature of the human body could inform the curvature of pieces of bent-laminated wood. With wood as the primary material, folded steel was then used as an anchoring point for the wood and a means of connection to the ground. Having never worked in a group to produce something at this scale, students were required to determine and leverage each members’ strengths. Breaking down the project into research, material experimentation, drawings, and eventually the build process, kept this team on track to produce a prototypical segment of a system intended to allow the user to lay down and gaze up at the clouds with a partner.

Final project (top), team working on fabrication (bottom)

135

Construction documents by students

128

RIVERBOAT MUSEUM AND BOATHOUSE

136 MICROHOME,

MODULAR HOME

136

Students:

Andrew Abbey, Miguel Ortiz-Teed

Faculty:

Elaine Chow

Term:

Summer 2021

Course:

ARC 607

Program:

BS Arch, MArch

MICROHOME, MODULAR HOME For this Summer 2021 studio, students focused on the design of a micro home and modular home to be entered into two design competitions. The overarching theme across both home types was to introduce a design strategy in response to specific environmental contexts and target users. Students considered what it means to design for a specific group or communal need, or how various programmatic spaces could function when overall building footprint and square footage requirements are limited. RIPPLE HOUSE Forest fires in the Pacific Northwest are a major problem for firefighters in the region. At the time of this studio, the need for forest and wild-land firefighters had been growing at a rapid rate to combat areas in flames. Individuals and families displaced by the fires increased the need for urgent housing. Ripple House proposes a possible solution to this problem through a modular construction system utilizing cross-laminated timber panels. As a result of their overlapping structural integrity and lack of cavity spaces, cross-laminated

timber (CLT) is a strong fire retardant. Within the proposal, students designed prefabricated modules that are assembled, shipped to site, and anchored to a pre-poured concrete strip foundation. By taking advantage of a prefabricated unit assembly, the Ripple House design can be customized to fit familial needs and expanded upon when needed. Ripple House gets its name from the terracotta rain-screen facade. Representative of rippling water, the homes symbolize the extinguishing of forest fires. Students took additional measures to design the landscaping of each community site. Succulents were added to the landscaping to provide an immediate boundary to each home, as they can retain a high amount of water and act as a natural fire retardant. A secondary layer of tree protection exists at a greater distance from each house and larger community. Using layers both in construction systems and landscaping increases protection amongst these building systems and larger communities.

Plan and exploded axon of house

Ripple house community plan render

Ring of Protection Landscaping

Smoke Jumpers

Site Location and Current U.S. Wildfires

Community Concept

137

SIGNS OF LIFE 70 138 FIRING

138

Students:

Dylan Russ, Austin Wyles (Project Fire Box TDS-02), Ryan Cortazzo, Cristopher Hopkins (Interheater)

Faculty:

Christopher Romano

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 606, Material Culture

Program:

MArch

128

FIRING Historically, fire is the process of combustion, ignited through the chemical reaction of heat, oxygen and fuel.

STUDENTS EXAMINED HISTORICAL CONTEXTS OF FIRE WITHIN THE WORLD AS RITUALISTIC EVENTS, OR ELEMENTS OF SURVIVAL. Fire in architecture can be looked to as a material and can be associated with energy. In the context of materiality, it is often coupled with ideas of thermal adaptation when considering human life, shelter and survival. Over time, fire’s usefulness in the built environment has been transformed into a dangerous element if not properly tended to. Architects today have shifted their designs to relinquish fire - once the center of the built environment - and prevent its use in contemporary society. Students explored the concept of fire being redacted from architecture when

approaching this studio. They looked to examples of how fire has been incorporated within architecture as forms of energy with the industrial revolution and how it has been replaced by other energy sources altogether. Beginning with methods of energy transfer, students fabricated a device designed to be a source to heat a single object. Students used the techniques they developed in creating their heat sources as they transitioned into teams. The teams developed habitable spaces, fabricated based on their individual research methods of heat and energy transfer. These methods took many forms and utilized several materials. They were encouraged to choose materials for their thermal properties and ephemeral qualities. Some of the materials students used included wood, metal, glass, cloth and, in some cases, food. On site, students documented the ephemeral experiences from within their structures. The following is an excerpt of student work. Thermal Delivery System: local fuel ignited for fire event

139

Prototype with operable envelope: exposing tactile / sensorial aspects of site, light, sound: Project Firebox TDS-02

140

Thermal analysis: Interheater

Thermal analysis and final mockup: Project Fire Box TDS-02

141

Orthographic drawings of proposed warming hut: Interheater

PROJECT FIRE BOX (TDS-02) EXPERIENTIAL LOG, APRIL 23, 2021: "Settled along the creek bed, Firebox stands out of the shallow water. The crisp rectangular form supported by 4 feet. This alien object is placed in a dense early spring forest. The spring melt left the creek cold and raw, left ragged from the recent highwater. Seeking shelter from the cold sunny day, we removed our shoes to enter this chilly space. We began to kindle a fire, lifting the hatches under the decked floor. I grabbed the fuel to start a fire, letting it

slowly heat the oven, filling the space with a smoky cedar aroma, opening the walls slightly to let the smoke vent. The cool air was brought in through the wooden decked floor, gradually warming the kettle on the oven and infusing the dry air with steam. The shadow of the steam reflected against the synthetic envelope separating us from the forest. The translucent skin filtered our view of the trees, with the sunlight brightening the interior with an even brilliant light. With the kettle whistling I put the loose green tea into the glasses, pouring the water over the tea and letting the new smell fill the air. As I drink my

tea, I notice the creek through the floor juxtaposed with the fabric skin. Thinking about relaxing in this bright clean space, a hideaway from the still, hibernating forest, noticing the sounds of life returning."

REFLECTION DESIGN FOR INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS ABERRANT ECOLOGIES CONVERGENT HISTORIES ON BROADWAY QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR PLANNING THE WORKS OF MEGAN BAILEY

144 148 150 152 156

148

ABERRANT ECOLOGIES DESIGNING INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

144

REFLECTION: ENVIRONMENTAL INTERNATIONAL PLANNING AND / 3.5 YR STUDENTS 156 POLICY 144

Student:

Nathaniel Mich

Faculty:

Jordana Maisel

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

ARC 623 MUP 588

Program:

MArch, MUP

DESIGN FOR INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS Design for Inclusive Environments is a course that helps students understand how design influences the usefulness and responsiveness of the physical world for a wider and more diverse range of people. Within this course, students learn the principles and origins of inclusive design to help empower those who use the products, buildings and policies that affect their daily lives. Students explored concepts of inclusive design through three major projects over the course of the semester. To begin, students researched populations that they felt were under-represented or excluded within traditional methods of design. These populations ranged from people who suffer migraines or chronic illness due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to students or workers with neurodivergence, to marginalized community members. By creating a paper that explored the needs of these communities, students gained appreciation for the statistical importance of designing for that group of users. Students were able to learn about some specific instances of design being harmful to these groups

of people as well. This research also helped students in framing questions and hypotheses about the built environment that they would then present to these populations. As a follow up to this initial research, students continued their work by seeking out people from the populations they were researching. The purpose of this was to interview people with similar experiences to learn how the built environment and related policies serve them in the ways they are intended to. The Interviews helped students understand barriers people may face or how they may be neglected in their daily life by the built environment. The students formulated a transcript based on their interview(s), which helped identify themes and concerns moving into the final phase of the semester as well as specific needs of the interviewees that could be incorporated into the design. To close the project, students developed a design or policy intervention targeting their user population. Students designed a poster to articulate the

145

Project process and mental mapping for Empowered Queer People who look out for each other

5% Adult population Number of LGBTQ+ adults who have been physically threatened or attacked due to their identity

15% In 2020, 5.6% of the U.S. Population Identified as part of the LGBTQ+ Community

80% 30%

Generation Z (Born from 1997-2012)

70%

Number of Adults who identify as LGBTQ+

146

Statistical information

proposed intervention and associated research to help communicate it to a broader audience. Many of the proposals from this project aimed to integrate one or more of the eight foundations of Universal Design, broadening the application of this research well beyond the original target audience.

just the desire for human contact), is threatened by state, social, economic and physical violence. This violence is exacerbated by how the pandemic has limited the ways in which people can gather and socialize, especially in pursuit of various kinds of intimacy.

"Empowered Queer People Who Look Out For Each Other," was a three-part exploration of how universal and inclusive design can be applied to places of Queer desire, particularly Queer-centric rave venues. This project considered how the goals of inclusive and universal design could be applied to programming and outreach, municipal and land use policies, and the physical environments that constitute or impact Queer spaces.

Mich’s essay explored the possibilities and pitfalls of creating inclusive environments in gay bars, bathhouses, Queer student organizations and clubs. Mich then explored different methods of research by conducting an interview with a local Queer rave organizer, to understand the development of and challenges faced by Rochester's Queer underground music scene. Finally, Mich identified programmatic, policy and physical environment interventions and precedents that could be applied to a current Queer rave venue or event in the Rochester area.

Nathaniel Mich recognizes within the literature review that sexual desire is a fundamental but under-recognized force in shaping urban fabrics: it animates restaurants, movie theaters, parks, gyms, and much of the entertainment and leisure infrastructure of a city. Queer and non-normative sexual desire (or even

Within the United States, there has been a recent increase in the number of individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. More individuals from Generation Z are now identifying with the label as well. The issue of creating safe spaces for people of Queer identities was important in the region due to the fact that a

EMPOWERED QUEER PEOPLE WHO LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER

majority of people identifying with the LGBTQ+ label are located mostly within the Northeastern or Northwestern portions of the country. An issue with this information is that some people are not ready to self-identify. Other issues include the fact that surveys often measure sexual orientation rather than self-identification. Regardless, many adults have found themselves physically attacked or hurt because of their identity. This fact supports the desire to have multiple safe spaces for people of Queer identities. Mich identified the existing conditions of spaces designed for the LGBTQ+ community within the literature review. The focus within the review was primarily on leisure spaces, where people can connect to fulfill their social, emotional or physical needs and desires. Within the research, Mich found that a threat of violence shapes the physical environment of leisure sites. This threat of violence brings up issues and concerns for an individual’s privacy to protect their physical safety. Responses to this have been the lack of physical identification of Queer spaces from the street view. Venues and centers

have no signage to identify spaces, and often their locations are only shared if the individual attending is already a member or ticket holder of the club, venue, or organization. This does ensure privacy of individuals and privacy of location; however, it prohibits certain aspects of growth and visibility for these communities. Mich also identified that the physical space of Queer communities is often situated upon desire. These spaces fit into categories of clubs, bathhouses, and rave venues. In these specific typologies of space, physical contact is emphasized, creating constricting spatial arrangements, and promoting a culture of desire for physical touch. These spaces are often designed for cis-male gay men, and do not consider the spectrum of users who fit under the identification of LGBTQ+. The review shows how the current state of these environments fails to address issues of race, class, and gender as well as aspects of mental and physical limitations. People that these current spaces exclude may be those with sensory issues, or physical limitations. Areas designed to promote physical proximity and touch could result in potentially inaccessible or dangerous spaces for those living with physical disabilities. Lighting, color, and sound also impact these spaces. The environments often support a rave or club culture, which features environments of loud music and elaborate lighting displays. These characteristics may be overwhelming to someone with sensory processing issues, making it difficult for them to feel accommodated or welcome within the space. As a result of the current state of its culture, it could make these individuals feel excluded from these environments all together.

"THIS IS THE FIRST PROJECT I'VE DONE IN THE MUP PROGRAM THAT REFLECTS OR ENGAGES WITH MY IDENTITY AS A QUEER PERSON." DESIGN AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS From targeted interviews and literature review, Mich proposed a number of potential solutions to make Queer spaces more accessible to individuals identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Mich proposed that there could be spaces where lighting and sound does not enter the space, providing places to cool down from a stimulating environment. To improve intersectionality and consent, it was proposed that members attending these spaces receive further education on proper behavior. This could be done through ticket sale information guides or providing the need to have verbal consent upon entering. Mich identified that people operating Queer spaces do not often own the space, making physical changes for accessibility challenging. Improvements for these issues could be found by adapting current codes and zoning laws to help fit the community’s needs. Finally, Mich proposes there be on-site safety and harm-reduction interventions. Information within this intervention includes safe and proper use of drugs, self-testing services, safety precautions for contaminated or altered drugs, and the attendance of properly trained, trauma-informed, staff who can attend to any issues within the space.

147

LETTER FROM THE DEAN 148

ABERRANT ECOLOGIES 144 DESIGNING

INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

148

Students:

Gwyneth Harris, Sangeetha Othayoth

Faculty:

Miguel Guitart

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

ARC 628

Program:

MArch

ABERRANT ECOLOGIES For the Spring 2021 Ecological Practices intellectual domain seminar, students explored and analyzed "undesired" natures within their city, identifying "aberrant ecologies." Students worked through methods of analog making to investigate these instances and rediscover them as opportunities for natural growth in the built environment. They paired photographs of their natural environment with their own artworks to prompt questions around how nature participates with the city in unexpected ways. Gwyneth Harris explored the methodology of collage to depict how the artificial environment shapes and coerces the natural world. Harris explored how nature reacts to the built environment and how the natural environment may leave impressions upon the built environment. This work aims to decontextualize observations to interpret these relationships of nature and artifice at different scales and encourages an ephemeral take on the subject. The student intentionally brings recognition to patterns within the built and organic environments, which suggests that they may

influence the decisions of designers to better integrate and accommodate urban nature in the built environment. Sangeetha Othayoth examined the human relationship with, or dominance over, the natural environment. Othayoth analyzed how human decisions affect nature and therefore our psychological, emotional and physical well-being. However, these observations bring to light that humans may not be the one with the power, as nature is resilient and able to sustain and thrive without human intervention. Othayoth worked through drawing to convey empathy towards the natural environment to the viewer. Through the work, they characterize and humanize trees and shrubs to unveil the psychological effects humans have on nature. Othayoth hopes to inspire those looking at the work and at nature to feel sympathy for nature when considering the harm that the built environment and human intervention may have on existing conditions.

Drawings made by Sangeetha Othayoth

149

Collages and drawings made by Gwyneth Harris

REFLECTION: REFLECTION: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS

CONVERGENT HISTORIES ON BROADWAY 150

LETTER FROMGrace Bird, Sergy Dossous, Charlon Students: THE CHAIR: Foster, Ted Griswold, Sarah Martin, Joshua Nathaniel Mich, Tyson Morton, DANIEL HESSMcClain, Annalyse Paulsen, Michael Santoro, Valerie Weisbeck, Bree Zuchowski Faculty:

150

Kerry Traynor

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

URP 581, URP 582

Program:

MUP, MSRED, MS Arch

CONVERGENT HISTORIES ON BROADWAY Existing

The historic preservation planning studio was composed of graduate students from the historic preservation, real estate development and urban planning programs. These students examined the historic contexts that formed two important components of the urban fabric of the East Side of Buffalo. The two components included the current site of the City of Buffalo Department of Public Works Garage, formerly an arsenal, armory and auditorium, as well as the surrounding Pratt-Willert neighborhood of the Ellicott District. The neighborhood was home to Buffalo’s historically Black community, where many businesses were listed with Victor Hugo’s Green’s Negro Motorist Green Books (Green Books) travel guides to aid Black travelers navigating segregation during the Jim Crow era. Students worked to provide recommendations for the future use of the City-owned Broadway Armory, and proposed an interpretive plan for the Green Books-related historical resources of

the Ellicott District. The students analyzed the Ellicott District’s history, which included the development of Buffalo’s Black community, and the impacts segregationist and racist policies and practices have had on the area due to Urban Renewal. Much of the studio’s research was informed by the community engagement and development work of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission (MSAAHC).

HOW DO WE PRESERVE AND INTERPRET SPACES WHERE THE MATERIAL FABRIC HAS BEEN DESTROYED, OFTEN BY POLICIES AND PROGRAMS THAT TARGET MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES?

STRUCTURE The students structured their research and report around the following five questions. (1) What are the strengths and limitations of the normative approach to historic preservation, as well as attempts made by the National Park Service to diversify the stories and places it preserves? How does a non-normative approach to preservation allow for a reevaluation, critique and expansion of normative preservation practices? (2) Using the Green Books as a guide, how do the many converging histories of immigration, segregation and racism, infrastructural investment and disinvestment, and community resilience interweave to create the build and cultural urban fabric visible today? (3) What would it take to apply the normative practices of historic preservation and interpretation to the Broadway Armory campus and the historical and cultural resources of the Ellicott District? (4) What non-normative preservation and interpretation practices can be

151

Proposed

Existing

Proposed

Proposed and existing zoning conditions and land use plan for Buffalo and Buffalo's Ellicott District

implemented in the surrounding neighborhood to highlight, celebrate and protect the historic and cultural legacies of marginalized communities and histories? How can these practices be applied in context with significant losses of built environment integrity? (5) What proposals for adaptive reuse and historic interpretation of the Armory and neighborhood will have the potential to meet the needs for the surrounding communities, preserve character defining features and achieve economic sustainability? These questions lay between normative and non-normative historic preservation and interpretation practices. Normative practices are those that align with the guidelines and limitations for eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places. Non-normative practices seek to expand and move beyond those limitations for assessing significance, integrity, context and interpretation. Non-normative strategies of preservation help to raise the question on which histories have been written out. These approaches help the

students to see and communicate the parts of history that preservationists, planners and developers may otherwise be blind to including the stories, memories and movements of ordinary and often marginalized people. METHODOLOGY The studio performed a close analysis of 30 Green Book editions and the Buffaloarea listings they contained, historic map analysis using Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, archival and demographic research which complemented secondary historical research to develop and deepen the historic context of the Broadway Armory and Ellicott District. The analyses were paired with current demographics, condition reports and amenities connected to the historic trends. The real estate development students conducted market research and analysis and back-of-the-envelope analysis, and created a pro forma to understand the financial requirements of restoring and reusing the Broadway

Armory. They paired this with precedent and literature research identifying successful examples of adaptive reuse and non-normative preservation in analogous contexts. The report makes proposals for programming and interpreting the Broadway Armory and neighborhood so that they both respect the area’s historic legacy and support the present-day community.

Existing conditions of parlor from the green books

QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR PLANNING 152

152

REFLECTION: STUDENT / STUDENT MENTORSHIP REFLECTION: FACULTY / STUDENT MENTORSHIP

Students:

Jacob Bleasdale, Sara Campbell, Nicole Capozziello, Christian Oliveira Demelo, Leslia Moma, Fuzhen Yin, Amanda Ziegler

Faculty:

Robert Silverman

Term:

Spring 2021

Course:

URP 509, URP 675

Program:

MUP

QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR PLANNING For most, the COVID-19 pandemic led to drastic changes in day-to-day life, and higher education was no exception. The Spring of 2021 was a period of inconsistency and uncertainty in response to the pandemic, and arguably within the University at Buffalo’s policy and response. Students studying qualitative methods for planning formed a focus group of graduate students to gauge their perceptions of the university’s response to in-person learning. The report, titled "Back to Normal?: Graduate Student Perceptions of UB’s Return to In-Person Learning," captures the mixed responses students had to topics such as safety, policy feasibility, accommodations based on regulations, mental health, interpersonal connections and education. This report was specifically targeted at one population’s response to the announcement about in-person learning in the Fall of 2021. It is important to note that at the time of the survey, many courses were still being held online. For most Spring 2021 courses, UB shifted to a hybridized model. This model encapsulated many forms, ranging from courses taught

explicitly in person (with the exception of students who became ill), to courses meeting in person a portion of the time, to some courses being taught explicitly online. This report records the responses of graduate students and teaching assistants within the spring semester after UB announced that it would shift to more in-person modes of instruction in Fall 2021. The survey population of graduate students who were also previous or prospective TA’s offered a unique perspective to the study. These students had experienced a full year of remote learning. They also served to bridge the gap between students and teachers, and could offer insight to the potential benefits and obstacles of UB’s return to in-person learning. METHODS Students structured their focus group to fit a panel of graduate students with a priority on those who had already served as or planned to serve as a teaching assistant. The focus group was led by a moderator who used a semi-structured questionnaire, supplied by the research team, to collect student responses;

follow-up prompts were offered when appropriate. Concluding the conversation, students were given a brief post-interview survey to supply researchers with a demographic analysis of focus group participants and offer further insight on their opinions. One question on the survey asked students to rate UB communications on the topic on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst, and 10 being the best. Results of this questionnaire showed that the average score amongst students was a 3.4, reinforcing the comments of students within the focus group interview. The team leading the report was an interdisciplinary team comprised of graduate students from UB’s programs in social work, public health and urban and regional planning. The student team used a coding approach for their transcript to identify patterns within the focus group and to highlight overarching themes of the conversation. From the conversation, the students identified four themes reflecting the focus group’s perceptions: (1) the importance of human interaction, (2) worries and uncertainties about returning to in-person

80% 60%

No TA Experience

60%

Rochester 20%

20% 40%

80% 20%

20%

60%

20%

In-person Remote Buffalo

Male

Female

Other

25-34

35-44

White

Black

Other

Location of Respondents

TA Experience

Dissatisfied

Satisfied Demographics and Student Satisfaction with UB's Response to COVID-19 & Communications

instruction, (3) choice of instruction method and (4) the university’s approach to communication regarding in-person instruction.

that their remote teaching experiences were "horrible," and that they were looking forward to teaching in person in the fall.

HUMAN INTERACTIONS AS AN IMPORTANT BENEFIT FOR STUDENTS AND TA’S

"I NEED TO FEEL YOUR ENERGY. YOUR ENERGY WOULD TELL ME A LOT ABOUT HOW YOU'RE RESPONDING TO ME OR RECEIVING WHAT I'M ACTUALLY SAYING. "

The topic of human interaction was identified as critical by the participants. Face-to-face interactions with peers are crucial to a healthy mentality, and these interactions became increasingly more valuable during the height of the pandemic and its associated isolation. Students in the focus group stated that they looked forward to the days they would be on campus, to be surrounded by others and to see people’s faces without the divide of a screen. Teaching assistants added that teaching through remote learning had been extremely difficult. The "Zoomscape" can sometimes be seen as an endless void of black screens; some TA’s said they had never seen their students’ faces. The absence of face-to-face interaction for teachers and TA’s made it difficult to know if students received material properly or if they were paying attention in class. Those with TA experience shared

WORRIES AND UNCERTAINTIES ABOUT RETURNING TO IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION Participants within the study stated that feeling safe is the most important aspect to returning to campus. This was expressed both psychologically and physically. Some students, primarily students of minority populations, expressed that they may not feel they belong within the setting of in-person instruction and therefore feel more at peace when not having to be physically

present. Other students expressed concerns with physical health, saying they would have increased anxieties if they were sitting close to someone expressing symptoms. The concern of physical health was met with a concern for accommodation. With a university population of 30,000, students had concerns about how the university planned to follow distancing protocols and be size-conducive. The focus group shared concerns at the time of an increase in positive cases. This made them feel that their health and safety was not always being prioritized, and that other factors were at play when making the decision to return to in-person instruction. The students concluded that if they felt safe, the return to in-person instruction would be fun and exciting, noting that the response of the university felt premature compared to existing data at the time. CHOICE OF INSTRUCTION METHOD Students found that the shift to remote instruction for studio-structured classes was extremely difficult. However, students also got used to the structure of remote

153

154

Aerial image of UB South Campus courtesy of Austin Wyles

coursework and gained some autonomy surrounding their instruction. For some students, this allowed them a greater freedom of choice within their lifestyle, including the option to live outside the Buffalo area while receiving their education. UNIVERSITY’S COMMUNICATION REGARDING IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION From the focus group, most students responded that they were not satisfied with communications from the university around the return to in-person instruction. Survey results showed that the students felt a low satisfaction score regarding the university response to the transition to in-person instruction. Students reported feeling ‘out of the loop’ of communications due to an influx of contradictory information. This information was not only coming from the university and School, but also outside sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control, and at the state and federal levels. Students said many of the details for the return to in-person instruction did not seem complete, which increased their anxieties. Many students believed it was too soon to make a decision regarding

in-person learning, and felt the university should wait to announce information until they had solidified their response. The students felt that information being released from the university was diluted or lacking in detail. They felt that this could be a result of the university’s own lack of clarity in making an effective decision or related to the university’s communications plan. Alerts were frequent, often vague, sometimes contradictory to other sources, and quickly became outdated. Some students found themselves completely ignoring emails from the university. Students felt they needed to be prepared for every potential outcome, which increased their stress and anxiety. Others felt that the emails about in-person instruction were a way to encourage a return to normalcy as prospective students made enrollment decisions. Some students felt that existing protocols - such as the mask mandate and social distancing - were inconsistent with the promises of in-person learning. Many questioned whether these protocols would continue into the next semester.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The report showed that there has been a stress on the students and TA’s interviewed. Their long days within isolation have been paired with stress of remote learning and some look forward to the return to normal aspects of daily life. The responses of the students helped to show that the desire to rush into a brighter future is not expressed solely at an individual level, but at institutional levels as well. Students understood that balancing learning needs and safety would not be perfect. However, they felt that hypothetical prospective students’ wishes, the university’s reputation to the outside world, and university profits undermined student needs. They expressed a desire for students to choose their preferred methods of instruction, based on their comfort and circumstance. They also noted that more communication is not better communication. Fewer instances of more thoughtful and detailed communication would have been preferred. The excess of information ultimately reduced their trust in university planning.

155

Aerial image of UB South Campus, courtesy of Austin Wyles

While the rapidly evolving circumstances of the pandemic complicated the university’s plans to return to campus, the transition provided an important opportunity for the university to demonstrate the qualities and values that initially drew students to UB.

DESIGNING INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

144

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND 156 POLICY REFLECTION:

REFLECTION: STUDENT ASSISTANTS

INTERNATIONAL / 3.5 YR STUDENTS

156

Student:

Megan Bailey

Faculty:

Wes Grooms

Term:

Fall 2021

Course:

URP 568

Program:

MUP

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE It is to seek the welfare of not just the wild but the who’s who breathe the air in the concrete jungles and urban sprawls everywhere, an expanding understanding to guide our future care. Yes, it is contested, interpreted diversly by those who are invested, a political assessment, a grassroots progression, of power, both battle cry and inhibitive expression. No, it is not unchanging, it shifts and adapts, responding, always aiming to reflect the needs and dangers that today bring, and it grows in every space as it asks: is this a just thing?

UNSETTLED Our world takes shape, it forms through the lessons of a multitude of teachers. In the ivory tower, the learning can be long and narrow, showing us a way of thinking and doing which upon leaving seems right and solid. 157

Until, that is, we encounter teachers from different worlds. It is in these classrooms that we are unsettled; ideas once firmly planted are brought into uncertainty, the hows and whys and wheres of our world disturbed. But to be unsettled is not to raze the old world, not necessarily, though some structures may need to be torn down or changed. To be unsettled is to start to understand that other structures and ways exist. It is a lifelong positioning of listening and learning. An opening up to the voices of others. An exploration of new worlds. A mindful reflection on the roots and routes of our own world as we seek to put our skills to good use. And in my unsettling, I am learning how to expand, refine, reconceptualize my world to see where power and privilege and dispossession and creativity and compassion and culture and humility intersect and intertwine. It is a transformative discomfort.

TO COME?

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE + PLANNING ROBERT G. SHIBLEY, FAIA, FAICP, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Dean - School of Architecture and Planning KORYDON SMITH, EdD, Professor and Chair - Department of Architecture DANIEL B. HESS, PhD, Professor and Chair - Department of Urban and Regional Planning 160

STAFF Teresa Bosch De Celis, Marion Brush, Barbara Carlson, Brian Conley, Holly Cook, Christopher Day, Alexis Donnelly, Kevin Donovan, Sharon Entress, Norma Everett, Christina Farrell, Wade Georgi, Thomas Goergen, Joelle Haseley, Jason Hatfield, Matthew Hervan, Hope Isom, Heike Jacob, Jessica Johnson, Stacey Komendat, Christy Krawczyk, Jeffrey Kujawa, Jason Kulaszewski, Danise Levine, Krista Macy, Jordana Maisel, Bruce Majkowski, Subbiah Mantharam, Douglas McCallum, Louisa Morris, RJ Multari, Chiwuike Owunwanne, Laura Quebral, Bartholomew Roberts, Lindsay Romano, Maryanne Schultz, Brendan Seney, Rachel Skrzypek, Samantha Stricklin, Heamchand Subryan, Monique Sullivan-James, Rachel Teaman, Daniel Vrana, Heather Warner, Jonathan White

FACULTY Mary Allen, John Amershadian, Seth Amman, Paul Battaglia, Benjamin Bidell, Alex Bitterman, Jonathan Bleuer, Martha Bohm, Samendy Brice, Nicholas Bruscia, Joshua Budiongan, Brian Carter, Albert Chao, Elaine Chow, Brian Conley, Stephanie Cramer, Charles Davis, Gregory Delaney, Surabhi Santosh Dhopeshwarkar, Zuzanna Drozdz, Joseph Ebert, Mustafa Faruki, Randy Fernando, Lukas Fetzko, Libertad Figuereo, Stephen Fitzmaurice, Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah, James Gottstine, Kelly Gregg, Wes Grooms, Miguel Guitart, Zoe Hamstead, Hiroaki Hata, Kelly Hayes McAlonie, Nate Heckman, Daniel Hess, Christopher Hogan, Michael Hoover, A. L. Hu, Joyce Hwang, Julia Jamrozik, Lisa Kenney, Conrad Kickert, Bonghwan Kim, Joy Kuebler, Brian Kulpa, Annette LeCuyer, Shawn Lewis, Jeff Lipuma, Laura Lubiniewski, Elizabeth Machnica, Kenneth Mackay, Dennis Maher, Jordana Maisel, Bruce Majkowski, Rachel Maloney-Joyner, Stanicka Mathurin, Marguerite McAfee, Mark McGovern, Camden Miller, RJ Multari, William Murray, Derek Nichols, Youngtack Oh, Chris Osterhoudt, Erkin Ozay, Jiyoung Park, Maia Peck, Abigail Peters, Eric Poniatowski, Laura Quebral, Georgios Rafailidis, Samina Raja, Nicholas Rajkovich, Jeffrey Rehler, Eamon Riley, Bartholomew Roberts, Matthew Roland, Christopher Romano, Andrew Schaefer, Annie Schentag, Greg Serweta, Mary Shaw, Mark Shepard, Robert Shibley, Rutuja Shinde, Robert Silverman, Korydon Smith, Jin Young Song, Jon Spielman, Hadas Steiner, Edward Steinfeld, Ernest Sternberg, Stephen Still, Despina Stratigakos, Joseph Swerdlin, Beth Tauke, Henry Taylor, Adam Thibodeaux, Michael Tillou, Kerry Traynor, Michael Tunkey, Daniel Vrana, Bradley Wales, Adam Walters, Zherui Wang, Chihuangji Wang, Sue Weidemann, John Wightman, Austin Wyles, Li Yin, Brenda Zhang, Justina Zifchock

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A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO the School of Architecture and Planning's community partners throughout the year of 2021, our generous speakers, critics, teachers, staff, students, and friends. Our collective and individual growth would not be possible without you.

Thank you to those who have supported my efforts over the past 5 years at this school. I will cherish the memories of my experiences, people I have met, and those who have influenced me to become who I am today. May you learn from this book how much it has meant to me.

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