Faculty, student-designed chocolate shop nominated for Architizer Teamwork award

The Larkinville location of Blue Table Chocolates, the creation of UB architecture adjunct instructor Seth Amman’s firm, Arch & Type, in collaboration with UB architecture students, has been nominated for an Architizer A+ Teamwork award.

Designed by Arch & Type founder Amman and designer Adam McCullough, both alumni of the School of Architecture and Planning, the small location at 799 Seneca St. in Buffalo aims to enhance the crafting and consumption of chocolate. The shop’s design mirrors a jewelry store, and the sloping ceiling — milled foam in fireproof layers, finished in metallic golden paint — simulates the flow of melted chocolate.

Rather than focusing on the superficial image of chocolate and painting cocoa beans on the walls, Amman and McCullough explored chocolate’s emotional and physiological impacts, and how to evoke such feelings through material and space.

“This shop is distinctly Buffalo, despite lacking elements typical of Buffalo architecture,” Amman says. “The project came together thanks to a large team of hands, using a variety of methods — digital and physical, typical and atypical — to turn a shared mental image into a space that celebrates chocolate and architectural craft.”

While Amman’s firm and client Ben Johnson had the final say in the design, the energy for the project — and the necessary teamwork they hope will be recognized with an Architizer A+ award — came from students from the School of Architecture and Planning.

“Architecture is inherently a team profession; nothing can be done on your own,” Amman says. “To be able to recognize the many hands that went into crafting this project was humbling.”

The Architizer A+ Teamwork award is dedicated to projects that feature close collaboration between architects and others within a firm — as well as collaborations with other architecture firms, engineers, consultants, artists and artisans, product manufacturers, clients and more.

The Arch & Type team created a video to illustrate the role UB students played in the design process, with other specialties coming from outside craftspeople.

Amman looked to UB’s architecture students for this project because he had seen their unique skills firsthand in the design courses he teaches. Part of the curriculum that proved to be especially helpful in the Blue Table design process was the use of specialized digital fabrication software. Once the designs were complete, the student interns at Arch & Type assembled the digitally milled forms for the golden ceiling, a process they were familiar with from their coursework.

“Working on the Blue Table Chocolates project was one of the toughest, yet most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on,” says Mariella Hirschoff, a student intern who digitally modeled the golden ceiling as part of the student fabrication team. “I’m proud of our team for embracing the risks of experimenting with new materials and methods of fabrication, and how hard we all worked to make it happen.”

John Archilla, another member of the student fabrication team, shares Hirschoff’s sentiment. “Working with Seth and the others was a pleasure,” Archilla says. “Everyone contributed their time and efforts during the semester, which is already a pretty relentless time in the architecture program. All the team members were able to chip in in ways specific to their skill sets, which was immensely helpful in getting the project completed in such a tight timeframe.

“The teamwork award nomination is definitely a satisfying acknowledgement but working with the people on this project was a real honor,” he adds.

Beyond the recognition the award nomination brings to his firm and the people involved — including UB’s SMART fabrication factory, the student interns and  local artisans — Amman is proud the nomination also highlights Buffalo on the global stage.

“Cultivating what makes Buffalo special is a worthwhile endeavor,” he notes. “It lies in the synergies amongst its people that inspire me and how building something together offers a space to create something magical.”

Amman says the Architizer jury’s nomination of this project for a teamwork award celebrates the collaborative spirit and collective expertise that brought Blue Table Chocolates to life.

“The award is a testament to the synergy between local artisans, the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, and the vibrant community of Buffalo,” he says. “This accolade recognizes the remarkable contributions of every hand involved.”

Voting for the Architizer A+ Teamwork award is open to the public until May 10.