University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

UB is the premier public research university in the northeastern United States and the largest and most comprehensive campus in the 64-campus SUNY system. Consistently recognized by top university guides and publications for excellent value and high-quality academics, UB was the first SUNY institution invited to join the prestigious Association of American Universities, an association of elite research universities in the U.S. and Canada. A great school of architecture and planning relies on a great city for its inspiration. From internationally celebrated buildings and parks and a bustling Lake Erie waterfront to lively urban neighborhoods and a vibrant immigrant community, Buffalo offers the aspiring architect an ideal setting for living and learning. Buffalo sits on the U.S.-Canadian border, on the edge of Lake Erie and just south of Niagara Falls, providing the region an abundance of natural resources and economic advantage, today and throughout the region's history. Buffalo's period of great wealth brought master architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, and Daniel Burnham to the city to design some of their most important buildings. Wright's Martin House and Sullivan's Guaranty Building, in particular, have inspired generations of architects worldwide. Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York's Central Park, laid out Buffalo's network of parks and parkways. Buffalo is also home to the works of Louise Bethune, revered as "America's first woman architect," as well as a world-class collection of artworks and heritage sites. With the most extensive study abroad participation levels at the University at Buffalo, the Buffalo School offers diverse, life-changing travel opportunities for students. Our exchange programs include three European universities, allowing students to complete a semester of coursework while immersed in the local culture and environment of Aarhus, Denmark; Darmstadt, Germany; or Weimar, Germany. Similarly, global summer studios, led by faculty from the Buffalo School, engage buildings, cities, and countries with striking natural, constructed, and cultural landscapes. In 10 weeks of in-studio and on-site experiences, students build knowledge, deepen friendships, and expand their perspectives. In Spain, Costa Rica, Ireland, or Japan, summer abroad participants can graduate early and prepare for careers in an increasingly global field.

School Philosophy

The Department of Architecture is committed to the philosophy that architects have a role to play in the aesthetic, social and cultural betterment of society. Our education prepares students to see the full implications of what architecture does for the built environment by proposing future forms of habitation that are innovative in their aesthetic and cultural contribution and that can inspire the social imagination. We teach our students that as architects their work will condition how we live, work and socialize. Research and creative practice are not just platforms but the basis for our academic programs in architecture and planning. We do this through a broad interdisciplinary approach that reaches across the University at Buffalo, a flagship campus of The State University of New York and one of 34 public research universities in the prestigious Association of American Universities. The Buffalo School's architecture program is founded upon a learn-by-doing approach to professional education. From the studio to the community, Buffalo School students and faculty constantly 'do' and 'make' through applied research, built works and creative activities. Here in Buffalo, design inquiry becomes design-build while planning concepts become adopted plans for neighborhoods and regions. Situated within the resurging City of Buffalo and its surrounding binational region, we partner with local industries, firms, designers, planners, governments, and an active grassroots movement to test and advance ideas. With a fully-equipped fabrication shop and materials shop available right on campus, the Buffalo School makes digital and physical modeling easily accessible to students in all programs. The Buffalo School takes its role as part of a public research university seriously. Our mission is tied to serving the public and being a forum for public debate. Through our lecture series, fellowships, sponsored chairs, community engagement, research and pedagogy we invite the public to engage our students and faculty to discuss local and global issues as they affect the design of the contemporary and future built environment.