Architecture studio memorializes Hayes Hall’s past

How does memory become part of architecture? That was the question Miguel Guitart posed to the 12 graduate students last spring in his design studio called “Memory, Build!” In exploring that concept, the studio produced two memorials that pay respect to the hallowed grounds on which Hayes Hall on the South Campus rests.

It is well documented that the South Campus was originally part of the Erie County Almshouse and cemetery, which operated there from 1851-1913 (the Erie County Almshouse previously operated on Porter and Fargo avenues in Buffalo from 1829-1850).

The poorhouse’s 372 gravesites were first discovered during a Bailey Avenue lighting project in 2008, and again in 2012. After the initial discovery, Douglas Perrelli, teaching professor, and Joyce Sirianni, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor emerita, both in the Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, embarked on what would be a nine-year project to meticulously and respectfully disinter the human remains and assure the complete removal of all individuals from the construction area.

The remains were then reinterred at Assumption Cemetery in Grand Island. In fall 2018, the university officially dedicated a memorial garden to honor those who died in the care of the former Erie County Almshouse.

For his studio, Guitart proposed his students to explore the ground’s role as a repository of memory.

“The architectural program became a memorial to those who lived and died here,” says Guitart, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning. “The goal was to think of the ground and the soil as a vehicle through which we could honor and remember those mostly anonymous members, who were probably forgotten by society because they had no possibilities of any kind, so they came to the Erie County Almshouse. They lived here. They died here and they were buried here.”

The students’ memorials are composed entirely of earthen materials. They experimented with a variety of materials in class, including plastered river pebbles, clay, sand, mud plaster, stone, charcoal, salt and wooden flakes.

They were even asked to reflect on the question of what a memorial means to them. “A memorial is a place of commemoration that shows respect for the history and truth of something that happened, a place that invokes thoughts and emotions,” said Brian Eng. To Samantha Mambrino, “A memorial is to keep an individual’s spirit alive after death; a reflection of that person, their values, their stories, preserving their memory into the world.”

Students Christian Frank, Alice Gao, Alex Honan, Rachel Kramp and Joseph Mochol designed the memorial called “Plinths to Piles,” situated along the eastern end of Hayes Hall, which explores ideas of erosion and transformation.

This proposal consists of nine plinths, or square concrete blocks that serve as a base, topped with a mixture of sand, clay, silt and limestone. The nine plinths symbolize the nine decades during which the poorhouse provided assistance to more than 180,000 men, women and children.

Visitors to “Plinths to Piles” will see three different rows of plinths, one pointing toward Hayes Hall, another toward the burial site and one toward the memorial garden immediately west of Clark Hall. The arrangement created visual and conceptual connections with sites of relevance to the narrative of the memorial.

Over the course of the next few months, the piles of soft rammed earth atop each plinth will erode and the spaces between each one will gradually get covered. “This dynamic transformation invites contemplation on the passage of time and the fluidity of memory, encouraging visitors to reflect on the stories encapsulated within the layers of the memorial,” the students wrote.

The piles represent the depth at which the coffins of those buried near Clement Road were found: a mere 2.5 feet below ground. As the softer top erodes over time and the piles grow on the ground around each base, “the material returns to the ground, symbolizing an eternal cycle,” the students wrote.

The second memorial, called “Reframing Memory” and located on the western side of Hayes Hall, features three structures designed for seating, each positioned toward one of the three key sites in the project narrative while providing a sense of a “safe, protected space for visitors reflecting on the suffering of the Almshouse’s inmates.” This memorial was created by Brian Eng, John Garcia, Brendan Hill, Carol Recinos Luna, Samantha Mambrino, David Rodriguez and Claudia Savoy.

The three seating bases are made of styled blocks formed from a mixture of Portland cement, sand, water, and dry and wet clay.

During the warmer months, vegetation planted in the gaps within each block will bloom, “bringing a sense of life to it,” the students wrote, adding that “vegetation is incorporated to increase the sense of connection to the earth, along with a feeling of seclusion and pondering.”

The students’ work is preserved in a book Guitart compiled that documents every stage of the studio, from initial exploration with materials and inspiration sites, to drawings and photographs of the finished projects.

The studio created an opportunity to reflect collectively on the role of memory in architectural design and the ways in which the ground becomes a fundamental material base for this work,” says Guitart.

The studio met with Kelly Hayes McAlonie, UB’s director of campus planning and chair of the Contemplative Sites subcommittee of the university’s Public Art Committee, who helped advise the students on site locations. They also collaborated with Perrelli and Jaume Franquesa, chair of the Department of Anthropology.

“It was an honor to work with Miguel and the students on this truly innovative and meaningful project relating to the shared history of what is now the UB South Campus. It was exciting for me to be able to provide important contextual information from an archaeological perspective,” says Perrelli. “It is gratifying to know that the information was taken to heart and used in a positive way in the implementation of the project. To see the results on the ground, on campus, was impactful and moving in a way I did not expect.”

Additional collaborators included Justin Miller, safety engineer with Environment, Health and Safety, and Wade Georgi, manager of the School of Architecture and Planning’s Fabrication Workshop.