A few weeks ago there was a story in The News about how some magazine (I forget which one) lowered the UB Law School's raking a few notches. The school tossed off the ranking as unscientific and of little merit. Later in the article Law School officials did acknowledge that rankings of this type do have an effect on the school and that it is important to have a good national reputation. They then used the ranking (ironically) as a springboard to lobby for a new Law School building. They noted that the building, O'Brian Hall on the Amherst campus, is dated, too small, and dysfunctional. Dedicated in 1974, O'Brian Hall was the first academic building on the vast new campus. It was named for John Lord O'Brian a noted constitutional lawyer who worked in the administration of six US presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Harry Truman. He was an influential member of the UB Council in its early years.
The Amherst Campus was envisioned as a highly planned utopia of learning and as such many of the best architects of the early 70's were called on to make their mark on its built environment. As part of that plan highly regarded Chicago architect Harry Weese was selected to design the new law school, one of the most important buildings on campus. Harry Weese is probably best known for his beautiful underground stations for the Washington DC Metro subway system. He has many great buildings to his name. But, he has some major flops as well. Time has revealed O'Brian Hall to be one of those flops. We cannot lay all the blame at the feet of Harry though. He was a victim of his time (along with many if not all the great names who designed buildings on the campus). The 70's was an odd decade in architecture. Architects were struggling to reinvent our worn out cities. Many designers at the time thought of themselves to be part of a new enlightenment in architecture.
In actuality this was far from the truth. The trend was to use massively planned and controlled places like the Amherst Campus as the solution to social and urban problems. They wanted complete control but forgot about the people using these spaces. Places like Amherst (campus) were designed by men (and I wrote men on purpose) who stood around sprawling models while looking down from above at little trees and paths and tiny little dot-like people. They made decisions based not on how people live in and react to space, but on how it looked as a sculptural composition. Random planning rules such as "all buildings shall be composed of brown brick" were imposed. The failures are well known and are commonly chastised.
Yet, even today many of the original 70's planning guidelines remain in place on campus. I remember my reaction to O'Brian Hall when it was new. When young I was very excited by the building. It was big and modern with some innovative elements for its time. The center of the building is the Law Library with a large atrium space at its core. At the focal point of the atrium is a skewed stair (a Weese signature). The stair is interesting to look at but treacherous to use. Ringing the balcony edge is a continuous desktop/railing. To use this desk you actually sit on the floor with your legs in a depress floor edge. It was a very "groovy" kind of youthful architectural detail at its time. Another architectural detail that caught my eye was the private study rooms, which had sliding doors and round windows to the outside. O'Brian Hall would seem a bit quaint today if it was not so oppressive from the outside. This building is at the very center of the Amherst Campus and is probably the building most people think of when they think of that cold lifeless campus.
So now it seems the push is on to build a new Law School. As far as I could find out there is no official plan for a new building and current State finances would seem to rule anything out in the near future. But, if the new Governor pushes through the major growth plan proposed by Spitzer, the University will likely focus on a new Law school building as a major element of that growth. Of course when you talk about the growth of UB many think of the city as well as Amherst. Is there any chance for a new Law School building downtown? It would certainly make sense. All the major courts are downtown. All the major law firms are downtown. Why not the Law School? Graduate schools, such the Law School operate somewhat autonomously from other portions of the University, which means they do not need to be tied to a main campus setting. I think of the empty (Paladino) lot on Court Street as a perfect Law School location. I can dream can't I?