BUFFALO, NY

Trip: May 21 - 23, 2018 - Workshop with Joyce Hwang

HOST CITY

Buffalo promptly exposes its pervasive renewal energy to visitors; the city fell into disrepair following various socio-economic changes in the late half of the 20th century, triggering the effect of countless empty lots and abandoned buildings. Numerous architectural remnants such as the Darwin Martin House, the Kleinhans Music Hall, the Central Terminal Train Station and the Guaranty Building attest to Buffalo as being one of fastest growing and wealthiest cities in the United States in the late 19th to early 20th century. The urban composition is actively changing due to strong socio-economic and architectural initiatives.

The first visit was to the recently restored Henry Hotel, originally the Buffalo State Asylum, which was originally designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, and Frederick Law Olmstead. The complex was conceived as a genuine healing place, giving users access to plentiful natural light, wide open-spaces, ultra-high ceilings and landscaped outdoor spaces. The elegant re-use of the site allows public access to a forgotten heritage building.

The second visit was to Silo City, where beautiful vestiges of grain transportation remain on the shores of the Buffalo River. The site still has a flour mill, a malt house, multiple historic grain elevators, as well as punctual architecture/art projects. The experience of walking through these modern day ruins, exposed the exquisite acoustical and visual qualities inherent in these monolithic structures and generated many ideas of re-use.

A third visit was to the Immaculate Conception Church/Assembly House 150, an inspiring experimental architecture/art space run by Dennis Maher (Clinical Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture). The project is a collaboration between SACRA (Society for the Advancement of Construction Related Arts), Erie County Department of Social Services, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; the goal of the program is to teach skills to trainees, who will be re-introduced into the construction workforce. The models, mock-ups are built inside the old church, which contains a full wood workshop, an auditorium space and a library.

HUMAN ACTIONS/IMPACTS ON THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE

At first glance, the Tiff Nature Preserve and the Lewsiton Art Park appear as long-time natural refuges for local wildlife but in reality they were both former highly contaminated landfill sites full of refuse and radioactive waste. Both landscapes were capped with a clay cover and given the chance to re-become a ‘natural’ setting in the 70s. Joyce Hwang, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture and Director of Ants of the Prairie, has two of her works installed at these locations; Bat Cloud is a hovering bat habitation assemblage and Bower (in collaboration with Ellen Driscoll) is a framing structure that integrates housing for local birds and brings public awareness to avian deaths due to windows.     

WORKSHOP

The second workshop was a positive scale-up, with a total of sixteen (16) participants. Nine (9) KANVA members made the trip to Buffalo to meet Joyce Hwang, to visit her respective works and to partake in the workshop. Six (6) other colleagues/fellow/student from the University at Buffalo attended the workshop to continue the discussion on biocentric architecture. Many thanks to Joyce Hwang, Sarah Gunawan (Peter Reyner Banham Fellow 2017-18, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture), Sara Hayashi (Visiting Researcher, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture, Ph.D Student, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Lab of Yoshiharu Tsukamoto / Atelier Bow Wow), Julia Jamrozik (Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture, Partner at Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster), Martha Bohm (Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture), Chris Romano (Research Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture, Principal of Studio NORTH), and Nick Rajkovich (Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo Dept. of Architecture) and the KANVA team for being so receptive to exchanging thoughts throughout the workshop.

KANVA members present on the trip: Rami Bebawi, Tudor Radulescu, Joyce Yam, Minh-Giao Truong, Olga Karpova, Dale Byrns, Laurence Boutin-Laperrière, Laurianne Brodeur, Katrine Rivard.