Regional October 11, 2009 9:16 AM

Doors Open for Architecture

Doors Open for Architecture
It's time again for the 8th Annual Binational Doors Open Niagara, as part of the Binational Tourism Alliance's partnership with Doors Open Niagara.  The event kicks off at 10 AM on Saturday, October 17th and Sunday, October 18th.

The theme this year is "The visionaries behind the scenes."  It's a celebration of the architects, builders, designers, and stewards of the beauty they envisioned and left for us to enjoy.

The kick off  event for Doors Open can be found at Taps Brewery in downtown Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Learn about the 76 venues for this year and the special events taking place across Ontario and Western New York. 

Buffalo venues include; the Karpeles Manuscript Library, Burchfield-Penney Arts Center, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Ellicott Square Building, and Buffalo Religious Arts Center.


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you mean "The arrogant elitists behind the scenes."

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NYTimes has a great article on Burchfield the artist and mentioned the Burchfield Penny Art Gallery for anyone who wants to read.

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I love this event. Unfortunately the exterior of the B-P is not exactly inviting.

Does anyone know what happened to the promised sculpture garden that was supposed to be installed on the Elmwood Ave. side? All we got was a path? And what happened to the competition for two monumental exterior pieces?

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Give them time, they have been open only a year, it takes ages to aquire world class sculptures to adorn the grounds of the world class museum that you are complaining about.

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At a public meeting with neighborhood residents, the museum and Buffalo State agreed to make a public gesture by installing a sculpture garden (in response to the concern that the building presents an ugly blank wall to the street).

They also said they were holding a design competition to have two large outdoor sculptures installed. I don't think it's asking too much for them to live up to their agreement.

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My thought is that it was scrapped. The B-P had only originally allocated about $300,000 for the sculpture garden, which would not nearly accommodate what it would cost to commission and construct quality pieces here. We have never even seen a single rendering released which shows concepts for the sculpture garden. It amounts to little more than lip service to quell those that were rightfully upset about the horrid exterior design of this building. It neither functions well as a major element on Elmwood Ave., or as an important campus building for Buff State. Its just disappointing all around. I think they just hoped that everyone forgot about that promised sculpture garden.

replied to hamp
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Why BRO chose the BP for this photo is puzzling. It's the biggest disappointment in Buffalo architecture in decades.

Martin, The new Burchfield-Penney is not a world class museum. It could have been a contender, though, but what we have is one of the worst mediocrities the city has suffered in decades.

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Without the guidance of SERIOUS Architecture critics, our local governments and institutions will continue selecting mediocre or past-prime architects for high profile projects.

replied to EricOak
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Buffalo State did not choose mediocre architects. While Gwathmey may not be at the top of their game, they are considered to be a good firm.

Buff State dropped the ball. The client should get what they want. Unfortunately Buff State did not want a building that opened up to the street. It was obvious from early renderings that this "box" was going to be ugly. I guess no one at Buff State could understand this or cared.

Finally. This is not a Buffalo phenomonem. Many ciities have commisioned awful art museums.

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I have had 2 out of town colleagues that have mentioned without proding what a stunning building the BP Museum is

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America's sense of design has been dulled that much.

replied to VGS
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I think the interior is pretty nice. As for the exterior, I actually tried really hard to like it, I really did. I tried to get excited about how the panels are zinc and how they run in different angles on the different facades. But in the end it still looks like a squat bunker to me, with that horrible loading dock (?) visible from Elmwood.

replied to townline
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right. Just the interior shouldn't be enough.

replied to JSmith
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