Firms Have Design Ideas for Medical School

Wow- some terrific possibilities. I would be happy with any of them, but the HOK design is the one that I like.

Does anyone know if the city is still considering extending Allen Street past the metro station and into the medical campus?

HOK please

Yep - Even though this isnt there Cemented concept - HOK visually is the most appealing....

HOK- pleeease.

these different proposals all seem to be vastly different in square footage.

Did the Medical School have a SFage size they were shooting for?

It's exciting to finally see a new building of this scale right on Main St.

Whichever company they choose (and whatever the final designs look like) I hope the side facing Main Street is not considered the "back side".

Please dont destroy the street grid, that is my only comment.

I like the size and the glass and the concepts but would like to keep the major streets intact.

imo the hok is nice mostly because its artificially lit in a way it will not appear in reality...

It would be better to see it without the lighting to make a valid comparison

lest we forget the "blue" glass panels on the federal courthouse so soon...

Really Kick Ass!

This is the kind of scrutiny that large scale (and even small scale) building projects should go through. Look at the results! "Place making" buildings!

Super exciting for UB, BNMC, and the City and Residents of Buffalo!

I think your all reading the page wrong I think HOK is the 3rd model Pelli Clarke Pelli Associates is the 2nd model the one that is lit up.

yes TY I missed the last one

HOK is clearly the best design. It incorporates a strong Main Street presence while promoting a campus atmosphere facing east into the corridor.

Grimshaw & Brody or the Cannon design get my vote for what its worth, probably nothing. Actually surprised folks havent called out HOK as 'suburban" and demonize it. I liked the verticality of the Vinoly design but then I saw their treatment of the first floor that looks like nothing more than a cold sterile wall. If they incorporated more street level interaction I might like that as well.

It would be nice to bring a Pelli design back to WNY.

Today, if you want to see a Pelli designed Winter Garden you must go to the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.

Good enough for Wall St. not good enough for Niagara Falls.
http://pcparch.com/project/rainbow-center-winter-garden

check out the websites to imagine the final product. All are incredible. But its Pelli by a nose.

it seems like most proposals have landscaped terraces incorporated in the designs.

I like

What will happen to UB's campus on Mainstreet in North Buffalo?? I would hate to see that neighborhood die out, there's so many little businesses there that are patroned by the college students...

In 10 years this section of Main Street is going to blow your mind. Main Street in general is cleaning up almost everywhere. Amazing stuff.

It's striking how quickly this is moving. Impressive.

HOK's design looks like it crosses right over Washington and looks to really be a ni....

....Wait, stop everything. Isn't that an old building on the corner of Washington and High street ?

I mean, it's old and everything, and that must mean its worth saving. Oh well. Strike two for the medical campus. Does this building have a name, so when the "save-that-old-building" article comes out tomorrow I will at least know which one the author is refering to ?

Its really too bad Diller Scofidio & Renfro dropped out. They were the most interesting firm in the group.

Now I would cast my vote for Grimshaw.

is it really the southeast corner, which has a building on it, and not the southwest corner, which is a vacant lot?

I like the fresh new perspective of each rendering but I have to say the HOK design looks like something that belongs at Sheridan and Transit and could easily be converted into a football stadium. I'm going with the up-to-the-curb transparent design of Cannon Partnership.

Main Street first floor should be designed for retail. First floor windows should comply with Buffalo code and not be tinted.

Architecture today seems to be more about "look what we can design with computers", why? "who cares?"

If UB really cares about the local economy it will pick the Cannon partnership, as it would keep
Jobs in the area. 375 million represents millions in design fees that should stay in the local economy!

Purely conceptual. Call me in ten years when they start pouring the foundation. Does anyone else notice that 95% of announced projects to be constructed 'soon' never come to fruition?

I prefer the Vinoly and the Grimshaw (the bottom two). They are the most creative and unusual. Whether they are practical, I don't know. But they are the most visually arresting. The Cannon design is visually arresting, too, I admit, but it looks rather silly, like a bunch of shoe boxes sitting on the floor of your closet.

McHOK is resorting to Christmas lights to get their cookie cutter designs noticed? They haven't had more than a handful of fresh ideas since Pilot Field, and even those get rubber-stamped ad nauseum onto every subsequent project they get.

Is it just me, or does each of these designs include removal of the MetroRail station? (except perhaps Cannon/Pelli, I can't quite tell)

WTF is up with that???

Davis Brody, No! No! No!

DR - the answer is . . . the former site of the Langston Hughes Cultural Institute, 25 High St.

An unshuttered eye (from a vantage point across the street from the front of the building) would probably see it has architectual essence -- notice the windows.