Campus community celebrates ‘new’ Crosby Hall

The enthusiasm on Madeleine Sophie Sutton’s face is evident as she describes what it’s been like to study, learn and collaborate with fellow architecture students and faculty inside the newly renovated Crosby Hall on the South Campus.

“It’s a fantastic building. It’s so inviting. The open layout, combined with all the natural light that comes in, it’s amazing. I love coming to school here every day,” Sutton, a student in the master of architecture program, said on Thursday, shortly after she and other members of the UB and School of Architecture and Planning communities came together for a ceremonial reopening of the building.

Designed by E.B. Green and completed in 1931, Crosby Hall has housed the Department of Architecture’s studio-based experience for the past four-plus decades. (It was originally the home of what is now known as the School of Management.)

The building underwent a $28 million makeover — inside and out — that began in 2021 and wrapped up in time for students, faculty and staff to reoccupy Crosby with the start of the fall 2023 semester.

Thursday’s ceremonial reopening provided the opportunity to celebrate the building, giving those in attendance a chance to tour the lounges and gallery spaces, and admire the careful attention that was paid to restoring Crosby’s historic fabric while equipping it with the technology required of a 21st-century university experience.

“This is a proud day for our School of Architecture and Planning, our university and our entire community,” President Satish K. Tripathi said. “Crosby Hall is, of course, a centerpiece of UB’s South Campus, and today we celebrate the magnificent renovation of this historic gem.”

Tripathi added: “This renovation is a prime example of UB putting our students at the heart of everything we do. It demonstrates how, in accordance with our master plan, we are cultivating a transformative scholarly environment for our university community.”

Julia Czerniak, who began her tenure as dean of the School of Architecture and Planning in September, said she was impressed by the “amazing spaces” available to the school’s students, faculty and staff when she first arrived on campus.

“This dedication to facility excellence continues with the renovation of Crosby Hall,” Czerniak said.

She highlighted the building’s high-efficiency heating, cooling and ventilation systems — among other sustainability features that put Crosby on target to achieve LEED Gold status — as well as its technological upgrades and spaces for learning and collaboration, resulting in a “thoughtful blend of old and new.”

“The result, as you see here today, are remarkable, light-filled spaces, open studios that support collaborative learning, and enhanced educational technologies that foster seamless paths between physical and digital modes of design and making,” Czerniak said.

When the School of Architecture and Planning was assigned Crosby Hall in the 1980s, “It functioned, but it was not an example for what future designers should aspire to,” Czerniak said. “However, what you see today is. What you see today is architecture — architecture that provides a place and space for creative, talented and intelligent people to discuss provocative ideas, do meaningful work and collectively advance timely and serious projects that address the environmental and social complexities of the 21st century.”

To hear Robert M. Haelen, senior vice chancellor for capital facilities and general manager for the SUNY Construction Fund, describe it, the “old” Crosby Hall was “worn out and tired.”

But the renovation restored Crosby’s classical limestone exterior to its original luster, and traditional classrooms were transformed into the airy, open studios that Sutton so enthusiastically talked about in her remarks.

“While a beautiful building is being turned over to you today, these are merely walls,” Haelen said. “It’s what happens within the confines of these walls that is the most important thing. Again, the very reason why we are here is to provide a transformative educational experience that will changes people’s lives forever.”

Haelen acknowledged Stephanie Hiller, BS ’02, MA ’04, who led both the design and construction phases of Crosby Hall for the SUNY Construction Fund.

Haelen called the new Crosby “a perfect fit” for the School of Architecture and Planning, and a building worthy of the architects and designers who will call it home.

Sutton even used the word “grateful” to describe her appreciation of the renovation, noting that Crosby sets a high standard for excellence and provides a place for students’ work to be celebrated.

“The new Crosby Hall is an uplifting space that provides a backdrop for the synergy between our students, faculty and staff within our school community,” she said. “As I walk past the shadows cast by this building on the wintry Buffalo days, I am grateful for this investment in our facilities and our futures.”