Additional information, email: Albert Chao
This studio explores narratives and spaces of archives to study, document, and amplify the work of Robert Traynham Coles (1929 - 2020), a Black architect who started a practice in Buffalo in 1963. Through historical research and the retracing of his legacy and impact on Buffalo, the goal is to both foreground narratives that have been overlooked from the canon of architecture, as well as to explore opportunities for archival methodologies to reclaim historical and social spaces of typically marginalized voices.
Robert T. Coles built extensively in and around Buffalo: Robert T Coles Projects: Google Earth Link. For the first part of the studio, we will conduct research and site visits to his built work to understand his impact in Buffalo. We will study the collective network of buildings through drawing and modeling as well as site observations and documentation. We will then explore in more detail the context of selected buildings and spaces and how they have evolved over time. Beyond the built form, the ambition is to trace, document, and expand on the social, economic, and political conditions that shape the built environment. Methodologies to document and communicate the research will include drawing and modeling, augmented reality informational overlays onto physical models, and critical Building Information Modeling.
In the second half of the studio, students will position themselves around the potential of the archive as a platform to learn, educate and mobilize through expanded forms of design, media, and installations. Students will also explore and/or challenge typical constructions of histories and narratives within different archival methodologies.
The studio will strive to foster a space for co-creation and collaboration, and will be accessible to all. No prior knowledge of software or coding required. The studio work will be interwoven with Albert’s research as a 2023-2024 Journal of Architectural Education Fellow. Additionally, students will have an opportunity to contribute to a potential exhibition for the collective body of work.