Buffalo State Student Union addition
Buffalo, New York·Campus addition·Bookstore, cafe, and student services
- Where
- SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, New York
- Work
- Student Union addition for a bookstore, cafe, and student services, with Quad landscaping
- Principal in charge
- Don Harrington, Architect, LEED AP
- Recognition
- Buffalo/WNY AIA design award
The Student Union needed room for a bookstore and a cafe.
A bookstore and cafe on the Quad, without losing the Quad.
Buffalo State needed room at its Student Union for a student bookstore, a cafe, and other student services. The answer was an addition to the existing building, on the central Quad at the middle of campus.
That location was the hard part. Anything built on the Quad changes how people walk through the center of campus, so the walking routes, and access for people with disabilities, were worked out for the campus as a whole, not just at the new doors. The aim was to add the space students needed while keeping the Quad as the center of campus.
Outside, the landscaping was designed to keep the basic look of the 1970s campus buildings while softening the hard edges of the Quad. Inside, the cafe is a long room with a wall of tall windows down one side, so the tables sit in daylight along its whole length.
The project received a Buffalo/WNY AIA design award. Structural engineering was by Siracuse Engineers of Buffalo.
The addition, outside and in.
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