Although certainly not as exciting as the new buildings popping up left and right in Toronto, Buffalo has started to get some much better buildings to add to their stock in the new century. In fact, I would submit to you that the new airport helped people realize that it’s okay to build contemporary and well designed buildings in simple ol’ Buffalo.

One’s built environment defines the culture of the region. I would say that the new buildings that I will highlight, suggest that there are people in Buffalo who want to make our built environment much more respectable. Although mostly conservative, these new buildings are contemporary and classy and although they won’t attract the attention of anyone outside of home, they are buildings that we can all feel good about.

285 Delaware (2007)


HHL did a great job breaking away from the dreary brown building culture of this part of Delaware with a building that Richard Meier would probably love. It looks so simple at first but the closer and the more you look at it you realize that the building has a lot of very subtle unique features.

Public Safety Campus (2006)

I was up in Buffalo for vacation in 2004 and I couldn’t believe that they were building something this nice in downtown Buffalo. Its’ not perfect, the labratory side is very uninviting and drab with its heavy dark gray/black wall. But the side facing toward Main and towards the South is quite exciting in a part of downtown that lacks much excitement.

Bio-Informatics School (2006)


This is my favorite new building in Buffalo. To me the windows pushing out of the facade suggest that what goes on in this building is going to push Buffalo ahead into the future. Its of a pretty imposing size but the white walls with blueish windows give it an extremely light feeling.
All I can say is that I wish the other two campuses were this awesome.

Hauptman Woodward (2005)

A great building that many say will gain recognition with the passing of time. I love it but that parking in the front is killing me. Unique windows, great interior. The metallic half-cylinder shape is a nice change of pace too.

Buffalo-Niagara Int’l Airport (1997)

To me, the building that helped push Buffalo architecture out of its long rut. Another building that is something to be proud of and a local icon but conservative in design and will remain unknown to anyone not from here. I wrote a term paper on this building but for some reason I can’t think of anything else to say about it right now.

Alferio Center (2002)

Unkown to many because its tucked away and hidden on North Campus. Its a smaller building that hosts the Business School at UB. A great break away fromt the late-modern and very brown campus that surrounds it. White interior, sweeping glass exterior. A nice building, that looks much better because of its neighbors’ pure ugliness.

Federal Courthouse (2009?)

This will fit in with the rest of these buildings. Very simple. Very elegant. Class. Doesn’t want to rock the boat though. It will be the glassiest building in Buffalo I assume and will be a local icon. No one outside of Buffalo will know about it but it will complete Niagara Square into a fascinating “architectual timeline” to mix in with the Art Deco, Brutalist, Neo-Classical, and WPA style structures around it.

City Tower (2010?) and the new Burchfield Penney (2008) will be two more structures that will help define the early 21st century for Buffalo.

All in all, Buffalo really is starting to make up for 90% of what has been built in Buffalo since WW2. High-quality conservative buildings after years of nothing to speak of will hopefully lead to some innovative out-of-the-box architecutre soon enough for us all to appreciate.

About a month ago my friends and I drove up Washington Street and I saw those infamous orange “Saperston” signs on the Icon.

A month later I see that the Buffalo Icon really is closing. In fact, the last show is tomorrow night.

391 Ellicott is a crappy old building. Pretty seedy looking in fact, especially being next to the Genesee Block.

The sound system was mediocre, it pissed off a lot of musical acts I saw.

But at the end of the day kids absolutely loved this place. And like a great song, it became a part of a lot of kids from the area.

I’ll miss it, and I’m really thankful I got to see the bands I saw there and have the memories I have from there in the couple of years I’ve been able to enjoy its seedy, quirky charm.

*Photo of This Day and Age @ the Buffalo Icon. March 7, 2006.

When I lived in Buffalo as a kid, I remember Toronto always seemed to be my family’s sanctuary of sorts in the early-mid 90’s and now that I’m back in Buffalo it still serves that purpose to me.

So anyways, one of the main reasons for me to trek up to Toronto is for some of the really great 21st century architecture that is popping up all over.

World famous Daniel Liebeskind (who will be at UB on October 4th by the way!) designed the extension to the Royal Ontario Museum. I didn’t like his Denver Art Museum because his building is more isolated, but the contrast of his crazy crystal-like building seemingly coming out of and over parts of the older and much more plain ROM is extremely exciting.

Will Alsop who will probably gain more recognition within the next few years designed the extension of the Ontario College of Art and Design. Its the craziest looking building I’ve ever seen in person. Like a spaceship made by really artsy aliens. Interesting how Grange Park gets untouched while ginormous coloured (Canadian spelling) pencils hold up the classrooms above.

Superstar and Toronto-born architect, Frank Gehry designed the under-construction extension to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Its one of his more mellow/simple looking buildings. A nice break from the crumpled-paper phase he’s been going through.

Morphosis is a firm that is wildly popular now and built the University of Toronto Graduate House. They tend to emphasize letters and/or numbers that brand the building sometimes. This is obviously one of the buildings. I love the ‘O’.

Some of you might not understand why there would be people like me who cringe at the fact we’re building Frank Lloyd Wright structures in 2007 in Buffalo when we could try to be in the 21st century. To me it just says we’ve accepted the past is the only good thing we have and ever will have.

But anyways. If you ever want a world-class urban experience, the QEW is calling you.

As someone who mostly experiences downtown by foot, with a little bit of light-rail mixed in…a mixed-use rehab on Main Street is more important to me than an office building on Court Street.

So my wishes are granted.

The loft front has been a bit quiet lately. The Webb and Warehouse lofts are almost done, Cobblestone should be underconstruction next spring, and the Fairmont Creamery is being gutted-but outside of that, slim pickins.

Yeah it is great to see some affordable lofts coming in anywhere downtown but this is one of the most important locations possible. Most of the loft projects are scatterd and isolated but this loft project can help create density and connect with the most concentrated downtown neighborhood that is located in/around the Theatre District. Not to mention its right accross from the Bellasario. With a residential density like that, we have a better chance at getting some respectable retail around.

Can not wait to see this project completed.

*Photos courtesy BuffaloRising

So the Sabres are getting a new scoreboard afterall and will debut this Saturday against Pittsburgh. It looks great…Little improvements here and there keep the HSBC Arena feel brand new 10 years after the fact. The ribbon board three years ago, last year’s locker room renovation and now this scoreboard-its nice to see Golisano making sure his facility is always top notch.

Let’s hope this one doesn’t fall down.

Here’s some more Sabres stuff to buy! The team released “Better Days” a 2006-07 season-in-review with all sorts of extra features. $10. If you’re going to have one Sabres season-in-review, this is prrrrobably the one to have.

Speaking of Sabres. I saw Jason Pominville at Wegmans and sat at the table next to Max Afinogenov and Dmitri Kalinin at Wasabi all within half a week. Impressive.

Yes. Its becoming a weekly installment whether you like it or not. Today’s story isn’t as good as a woman grabbing my nose for fun or a man urinating in the seat next to me, but its’ still good.

Today I sat next to a rather large man. On each finger a different and quite unique ring. He had a walker. His walker had a basket. And in his basket was….

Sausages. Lots of Sausages. Literally bursting out the seams of his basket. Cooked, cooling off, and slowly-wrinkling sausages. All for himself.

Sausages.

I keep referring to them as the Paper Lofts but I don’t think that markets too well. Regardless 210 Ellicott is looking amazing. I haven’t walked by the place since the project was announced and it looks ’so fresh and so clean’. I will say though that its going to take a whole lot more loft projects in the CBD to feel like it has some life to it. At least AM&A’s.


Wonderful project. 40 more in the next 3 years. Please.

On my bus ride to campus, the driver piped the Sandy Beach show through the speakers and I got to hear him for the 1st time.

Wow.

Just wow.

I completely respect people who choose the suburbs over Buffalo, in a lot of cases I don’t even blame them…but I never heard someone just spew such pure…PURE…intense hatred for the city and the people that live in it. Incredible.

Some woman to support city kids and their surroundings. He went OFF on her and used her name after the ensuing calls bashing the city.

This one woman was complaining that city kids were making fun of her being really fat. And now she’ll never come back downtown. Beach was like “YEAH! SEE! Those are YOUR kids, City of Buffalo. YOUR SHOOTERS, DRUG USERS…” etc. “And thats why we’ll never go into town.”

Fascinating stuff.

I have no problem with people living in the suburbs, but if you do it because you want to be exempt from dealing with Buffalo’s problems…just look at the inner ring of Amherst and Cheektowaga and realize slowly but surely, the same problems are coming your way.

I don’t have a car. But I’ve become slightly bored with my personal Buffalo of Downtown, University Heights, and North Campus. So this school year I’m trying to explore and get a better feeling for the rest of the Buffalo area…I think it will help me understand the Buffalo region better.

For example:
Yesterday I was taking the 32 bus back to town through Cheektowaga/Cleveland Hill area and Cheektowaga has these neighborhoods that look like they’re frozen in time back to 1955 or 1960. Small single family homes built with cheap materials but decorated with passion by the owners, old ladies on their porch, old men taking care of their gardens, kids riding their bike back from football practice. I saw bars in humble looking one-story structures that are packed before dinner time with hearty local folk. I suppose the elderly folks out front were once the young post-WW2 parents who made Cheektowaga a wonderful Levittown and the hearty men in the bars were at those same bars after a long day of bringing home the bacon when Buffalo was a manufacturing hub.

These neighborhoods looked like they still strive to be like the ‘Leave It To Beaver’ ideal American ‘hood. I really didn’t think these places still existed. On the way out I asked myself if Levittowns like Cheektowaga will become architectural fascinations like old neighborhoods in the city have become-except perhaps in a more twisted way. I don’t know. But I will say that paying 3.50 for a trip through time was quite the bargain.