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April 1996

Major Headache? Sickening Building Syndrome Strike

By Rebecca Randall

As a fifth year student of architecture at Cornell University, it is my responsibility to propose a thesis and follow it through the preliminary design stages. I have made the reuse of the Richardson buildings my thesis, and I propose for consideration that the primary buildings of the complex, those designed by Richardson himself (as opposed to outlying buildings designed by E.B. Green and others), be used as an extension of Buffalo State College's Department of Psychology in the form of an Art Therapy school and outpatient clinic. This would work in conjunction with the current Buffalo Psychiatric Center as well as with the Albright-Knox. In addition to this would be a gallery of patients' art and a museum of the building itself.

Influencing my final proposal were the thoughts that

1) Due to the ignorant social stereotypes and stigmatization surrounding psychiatric centers, one can not realistically expect an unaffiliated organization or institution to comfortably and successfully take up residence in close proximity to such a center.

2) The site upon which the Richardson buildings sit is very active. Within easy walking distance, and in view of each other, are Buffalo State College, The Albright-Knox art gallery, The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, the present Buffalo Psychiatric Center as well as middle income housing. This charged atmosphere demands a proposal that would assimilate and use the surrounding influences as its basis for existence. 3) The Buffalo State College campus is overcrowded and desperately needs to expand its usable building space.

The difficulties arising from the desire to reuse and revitalize the old Buffalo Psychiatric Center are varied and numerous. The hospital, originally designed by H. H. Richardson, provided treatments and care for the mentally ill of the late 1800ís and early to mid 1900ís. The treatments prescribed then are often thought brutal and primitive by today's standards. This common view of early psychiatric institutions results in an overwhelmingly adverse social reaction to the buildings and the desire to personally take responsibility for the future of the complex.

Another setback for many prospective developers and businesses also revolves around the stigmatization of the mentally ill. The buildings in question are in close proximity to the functioning Buffalo Psychiatric Center, which in turn deters potential proposals that rely on community residency. Such proposals include apartment complexes and condominiums, which in another situation, would be almost ideal reuse solutions for this type of building.

Richardson's design of the plan follows that of the Kirkbride system of organization. This system places the administrative functions in the center of the complex with the ward buildings stepping away and back in a V-formation. The patients, upon admittance, were evaluated and placed in buildings according to the severity of their ailments. The most ill and ìsocially unacceptableî are placed furthest from the administration, the link to society. Patients, ideally, step up buildings as they are cured and skip out the center doors as socially acclimated.

It is interesting to see how the buildings have naturally deteriorated. The two furthest ward buildings on the east side of the complex have been demolished and built over. The two outer buildings on the west side, though still standing, are deemed ìnon-restorable.î The solid, center, ìlink to societyî is still in good condition and could easily be inhabited. The buildings themselves have mimicked the ideological intentions of the plan.

It is important, at the very least to keep the reminder of what once was. My proposal will seek to incorporate the school/clinic into the shells of the administration building and the two buildings on either side. The existing two outer buildings, though considered unrecoverable, can still be utilized to retain the original intention of the complex. Here is where the galleries and museum will be designed out of the ruins of the old institution. At this location society will be able to inhabit the old and the new, to judge and wonder, to fear and to understand what society has been and is.

Architectural ruins are strewn across Europe, visited and viewed allowing a past era to be collectively remembered. They are existing, visible artifacts left to remind us of a time we will never know, but must never, in turn, forget. To forget where we came from is to forget who we are.

In my design of the galleries and museum I will attempt to stabilize the ruins of the last two buildings, it may end up being the foundation only or a wall or corner or ornament, but regardless of the part, the new design will build out of the ruins, not on or over the original design. An analogy can be made to a phoenix from the ashes.

Despite all of my own proposing and scheming, the reality of the state hospital on Forest Avenue is bleak. In the short time I have been investigating the complex, hope seems to be waning among bidders and administration. The costs to revitalize the complex as a whole are more than any one organization can front, while the stigma and past use of the buildings deter others. Bureaucracy, as is usual, disallows for any plans to be immediately put into action. The system takes its time as the spirits of those involved slip into apathy. What the Richardson buildings, as well as almost every endangered building, needs is decisive action, spurred on by constant community support and genuine interest n the preservation of our past for our future.

My proposal is but one of several possibilities. The potential of the buildings exists. It is up to the community to allow that potential to serve Buffalo once again.