On November 8, myself and 27 other Daniels Faculty students from this semester’s ARC201 class embarked on a day trip, led by Assistant Professor Jeannie Kim, to see architecture in Buffalo, New York. The majority of the trip was spent at Silo City where, upon arrival, everyone was astounded by the massive scale of the buildings on site. The gargantuan grain elevators were once instrumental in the economic growth of Buffalo, but gradually came to be abandoned by the 1990’s.

In recent years, the site has been re-invented as an art space where installation and performance art are juxtaposed within the derelict state of the silos.

The tour provided an opportunity to see the spatial and experiential conditions of an architectural typology that inspired Le Corbusier and his ideas about modern architecture. The silos provided a good case study in understanding relationships in massing, and addressing architectural space whether it is a conscious production or a by-product of one’s chosen form(s).
 
We were also treated to a brief tour of the Darwin D. Martin House by Frank Lloyd Wright, which helped us realize the great potential for architects to be deliberate and uncompromising about our designs in realizing a vision for space and living.

Just before heading home, we visited downtown Buffalo to see Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building and ponder the architect’s most famous line “form (ever) follows function.” Everyone was excited to see the richly ornate exterior of one of North America's earliest skyscrapers.

To see more photos from the trip, head over to the Daniels Faculty's Facebook page.