Iim an ex-pat attending graduate school at Syracuse University, just down the Thruway from my hometown. As upstate travelers know, Buffalo and Syracuse are very similar cities. Both have experienced an industrial exodus, leaving vacant warehouses, plants, and factories. Both cities were cut apart by the intrusion of huge elevated highway projects, creating barriers to transport and interpersonal exchange across neighborhoods. The physical and visual barriers of I-81 cutting through Syracuse and the ominous walls of the 33 cutting through the East Side of Buffalo, for example, fuel racism and classism, all while providing quick routes through and away from the city. Both cities are trying to combat the ibrain draini of the young, intelligent, and sometimes wealthy college students who spend four years in the two major US universities located in these regions: University at Buffalo, and Syracuse University.
Unlike UB, which continues to isolate itself and its students in Amherst, the SU administration is taking tremendous steps (and spending a lot of money) to integrate itself into the cityis urban core, and to increase student traffic downtown. The school has recently undertaken two projects that UB and the City of Buffalo would do well to replicate.
In need of a space to house the School of Architecture while its main campus building underwent renovations, SU purchased an enormous (135,000 square feet) vacant warehouse downtown. The former Dunk and Bright furniture warehouse is near Syracuseis Armory Square, a major downtown ilifestyle zonei of boutique shopping, loft apartments, and nightlife. The warehouse, however, sat empty and loomed over the district as the beginning of the iscary urban voidi n those wasted former industrial areas that generate much more fear than anything else. The reuse project was announced in March 2005, and faculty members moved into their new offices in December 2005 in preparation of classes beginning in the building in January 2006. In less than one year this building was transformed from blighted urban monolith, probably a candidate for demolition, into an exciting dynamic urban presence for the University in the heart of the city.
Before:
After:
Now iThe Warehousei has large windows, is lit from the outside at night, providing an exciting visual landmark (gone is that scary urban void), and several thousand students come downtown every week for classes, to work in design studios, and to meet with faculty. And the building is not sealed off from the community either. The ground floor features a cafE, a public art gallery, and performance spaces. After renovations are completed in the old school of architecture building some of the offices will move back to the main campus, and more public amenities and programs will move into the downtown building. If you take a peek at the buildingis website, you can see a video demonstrating the ways art and architecture students are using this space to turn Syracuse into their design laboratory. Not only are the students using the cityscape to develop their drawing skills, but can you imagine what this facility does for the schoolis marketing department? Not only does it have a traditional nineteenth century campus (just like UB), but also a hip urban element. Who says students are isolated with nothing to do? Weire in the middle of a city here!
When the plans were announced for this new building, the administration was met with the usual skepticism n a skepticism Buffalonians have become too accustomed to. The student newspaper cried out that students would be inconvenienced having to ride a bus downtown to get to class n or worse, they feared their safety might be compromised in ithe cityi on the edge of the urban void. Today there is little complaint as a dedicated bus line makes a regular loop from the facility to the main campus (that many students also use to access the shopping/entertainment district right next door). The building also has its own campus security detail, and an electronic ID card is required to access the buildingis lobby and upper floors after a certain hour at night. Sound progressive design strategies and adept logistical planning always quiets the naysayers.
Buffalo has already seen the impact of major investments in specialized university/industry research facilities in the Biotech sector. Can you imagine the impact if UB had the kind of dedication to downtown Buffalo that SU is showing in Syracuse? Imagine if UB had the initiative to purchase and renovate a similar warehouse downtown? What if UB bought the Eckhardt Building on Broadway and Fillmore and turned it into a small business development center in which undergraduates and graduate students in the business school collaborated with community members in addition to doing their own coursework? Or what about the Tishman Building whose small floorplates supposedly make it ifunctionally obsoletei for Class A office space, but probably perfect for student lofts, classrooms, and studio/rehearsal spaces? One of the stated undesirable issues with the building right now is that all of the utilities bundled together for the entire building. Not a problem for the NYS Dormitory Authority who heats, cools, and electrifies entire buildings without billing individual clients. And itis right near Main Street, opening it to the MetroRail, and having all those students only a stoneis throw from Buffalois thriving entertainment district.
Which brings to mind another progressive initiative that SU is undertaking, the development of a iconnective corridori between the University and downtown core, a project backed by state aid. As I mentioned above, Syracuse is sliced down the middle by I-81, making it essentially impossible, and certainly undesirable, to walk from one side of town to the other under a massive overpass. SU is leading the charge to build a lighted pedestrian pathway leading from the University, passing by (and visually/spatially linking) major downtown institutions/anchors such as the Everson Museum of Art, the hockey arena, civic arts center, theatres, and finally ending up at n you guessed it n The Warehouse and the downtown shopping/entertainment district. The goal is to mark a clear unified pathway that highlights the cityis resources, emphasizes pedestrianship, and gives no credence to the irrational fears of ithe cityi that keep pessimistic people holed up. The lack of organized, logical, and human scaled paths to oneis destination really does propagate baseless ideas that ithereis nothing to do herei and iits so hard to park.i Whenis the last time you walked under the Skyway, or over an I-190 footpath to reach the river? Would you do it more if the logistics were different?
Now here is one project that UB, the City, and the NFTA have to find a way to get together to do. People have been saying it for years, and the current fuel price crisis is making it ever more apparent; the MetroRail must be completed to the UB North Campus as it was originally intended. Iive been tooting SUis horn here, but I will say that a subway line from UB to Downtown Buffalo (especially with UB facilities downtown) would be impressive, even more impressive than a pedestrian path. Students would be able to go from the isolated Amherst campus to Chippewa St, the Albright Knox/Elmwood Area, or a to Sabres game in a 25 minute train ride. If UBis Amherst Campus were the northern terminus of the existing subway line it would send a clear message to students: iWe want you here, we have things here for you, come explore, join the community.i Further, imagine the connections a student would make during her senior year if she was living in a student loft space downtown and walking to her internship at a law office during the afternoon. I bet she would stay and plant roots in the city, the city that she is helping to create. With a little progressive planning and investment, the opportunities can be there for students to help create the city we all want Buffalo to be.
Itis happening in Syracuse with the leadership and investments of Syracuse University. University at Buffalo, are you listening?
Links:
http://warehouse.syr.edu
http://connectivecorridor.syr.edu/