Day One at Silo City

Today starts my week long adventure in my home town of Buffalo through the lens of my thesis on adaptive reuse of abandoned industrial buildings in shrinking cities.  Case study: grain elevators in Buffalo.  This morning I met with Jim Watkins, the Silo City Site Manager who is a wealth of knowledge of the happenings and history of these concrete giants.  I interviewed him outside his house beside his super-chill giant dog, feeling totally dwarfed by the silos rising around us.  He gave me a tour of the site and led me through the three buildings that Rick Smith of Rigidized Metals owns and then gave me free range to explore.  Also on the site today was a graffiti class for inner-city youth: using the silos as their canvas, remnants of a wedding that happened there, and the beginnings of the design studio with +FARM with whom I was able to talk.   

I have lots more meetings, tours and interviews scheduled and will even get to check out a wedding happening at Silo City on Saturday.  

I'll be here grinning all week, smelling Cheerios from General Mills.  

Meanwhile, here are some photos from today: 

Lake & Rail Elevator

This building is being turned into an architecture studio space.  This was also the building where the hive of bees from Elevator B were discovered.

They are growing hops here now! Appropriate for a grain elevator...

The hops!

Check out that wall section reveal!

The site of the Graffiti class

The painted structure is a project by Professor Sergio Lopez Piniero from UB.  http://www.holesofmatter.com/concretedeserta/

There are decorations in the background left over from a recent wedding reception there. 

the texture!

The scoops  that would carry the grain

Art by Max Collins

another masonry section revealed in a window opening

Vibrations from music and movement cause left over grain to dislodge itself and accumulate on the ground...possibly 50 years old

A stage was built for performances

The ceiling shows the evidence of board-formed concrete

Lots of opportunities for art installations 

Preparation for occupation by horses for future carriage rides on site

Little house, big house.  This is Marine A where +FARMS Studio has set up headquarters

Chalk: the ephemeral graffiti

The Site for orientation