The Buffalo Architecture Foundation, in partnership with Explore Buffalo, enjoyed a beautiful morning in Downtown Buffalo learning about three important Buffalo buildings, and having lots of fun with pool noodles and sidewalk chalk! The group started at the Guaranty Building, reviewing structural concepts such as post and lintel, and steel frame constrution. We then moved across the street to St. Paul’s Cathedral to compare this Medina Sandstone building to its steel framed neighbor.
At St. Paul’s Cathedral we learned terms such as arch, compression, tension and even saw the only flying buttress in Buffalo! We used our pool noodles to re-create these structural shapes. Inside St. Paul’s Cathedral, the group was able to see many Gothic elements, such as pointed arches and tracery windows. Back outside, we sketched the tracery windows on the sidewalk below. Our third building was Ellicott Square where we were able to enter the interior atrium space to see the structure of the skylight above. We sketched the ornately detailed columns as our final activity of the day.
We are so pleased to be able to offer these tours to the youth and families of Buffalo! We look forward to our next two tours on Saturday, August 2nd (Parkitecture) and Saturday, August 9th (Color + Materials). Find out more details here.
