- The Learning Environment
The Learning Environment
Environmental designers plan and develop physical environments with which people interact every day. Direct, tangible engagement with the environment – whether it be neighborhoods, communities, urban streetscapes, or citizen activists – is fundamental to the aspiring environmental designer. University at Buffalo Environmental Design is distinctive by engaging our students in the dynamic binational Buffalo-Niagara region. In Environmental Design, students become involved with municipal governments and neighborhood groups, urban and rural environments, citizens and leaders, and the challenges they face: both complex problems and creative opportunities. This is done through in-class exercises, site visits, field work, directed research, capstone courses, and through Environmental Design studio workshops. Through Environmental Design, we prepare students for careers in which they can make positive change in communities.
About Our Facilities
The School of Architecture and Planning's historic home in Hayes Hall reopened in 2016 after a $45 million restoration that has revived an iconic landmark for UB and created a flexible, dynamic learning environment for future architects, developers, environmental designers, preservationists, and urban planners.
The Architecture and Planning Library, located in Abbot Hall, is one of ten libraries within the University at Buffalo.
University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning IT Services comprise two sets of facilities: a central collection of laboratories and computing classrooms, and a collection of distributed facilities located in the graduate and undergraduate architecture and urban planning studios.
The Digital Fabrication Workshop, one of the premier fabrication facilities in the Buffalo Niagara region, is the hub of our learning-through-making curriculum. Equipped for fabrication of all types, the shop serves both as a space to execute coursework and as a think-tank and makerspace for collaborative research with practice and industry.
About Our Faculty
Senior faculty from University at Buffalo Urban and Regional Planning teach core courses in the undergraduate pre-professional environmental design program. Faculty from Urban and Regional Planning have been recognized with the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition, some courses are taught by professional urban planners, public administrators, environmental educators, historic preservationists, architects, designers, and real estate developers. Urban Planning faculty research is catalyzed by diverse partnerships with public, nonprofit, private, and industry funding sources. Outcomes include peer-reviewed publications, books and evidence-based action in new plans, policies, designs, and programs in Buffalo and beyond.
Faculty List Directory
Please visit the School of Architecture and Planning faculty webpage for additional information about our faculty.