ARC 607- Urban Design Studio (Building Bridges)-Conrad Kickert

The fall 2024 Urban Design GRG studio will focus on Building Bridges. Focusing on Buffalo's historic Cobblestone District, our studio will build bridges between diverse Buffalonians by designing a heterotopian public realm network that connects affordable and market-rate housing with new opportunities to work and meet. We will build bridges between Buffalo and its natural environment by investigating linkages with the Buffalo River, long-lost historic canal systems, and the budding Riverline. We will build bridges between Buffalo's past, present and future by preserving and connecting the Cobblestone district's remaining heritage with several surrounding development opportunities and challenges. And we will build bridges between Buffalo and the world by making better connections between Buffalo's downtown waterfront, Amtrak, and the expanding MetroRail. 

Most of all, this studio will build bridges between urban design and real estate development, simulating the real-world process of enacting urban transformation in the United States. Our architecture studio will collaborate with the Masters of Real Estate Development capstone project in interdisciplinary teams. In various configurations, teams will jointly analyze the site and its surroundings, travel to Pittsburgh to see best (and worst) practices of urban transformation, propose a realistic yet innovative urban design and development concept, and engage in an iterative process of designing blocks, building types, and public spaces while testing their financial and regulatory viability. Ultimately, teams will present their proposals to a jury of local development and planning partners and stakeholders for a grand prize, akin to the high-profile Urban Land Institute Hines Urban Design Competition.