Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan

Contact Us

UB 2020 > Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan > Planning Library > Phase II: Campus Concepts > Downtown Campus > Creating a Planning Framework

Phase II: Downtown Campus

Creating a Planning Framework

Concepts Phase Planning Principles

  1. Promote the presence and identity of the UB Downtown campus.
  2. Maximize the collaborative potential of the Health Sciences and their partner institutions
  3. Enrich academic life with complementary uses
  4. Collaborate with Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) partners on campus life necessities such as transportation, recreation, security, and public open space

New Building Guidelines

  • Locate public and clinical uses on lower floors and non-public instructional and research uses on upper floors
  • Provide secure and climate-controlled pedestrian passages between buildings.
  • Maintain visual connections to outdoor open spaces
  • Respond to the surrounding context through appropriate massing, building height, and solar orientation.

Program Adjacencies

According to the “Redistributed Growth” scenario, the core of the UB Downtown Campus will be the Health Sciences schools and community outreach programs. Supporting the academic programs will be complementary uses—such as research incubators, clinical facilities, and medical offices—that will translate instruction and research into practice. Campus services and amenities could enrich the residential, recreational, and social life of the UB community and its neighbhors.

UB within BNMC

UB within BNMC

What is the BNMC?

The BNMC is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the cultivation of a world-class medical campus for clinical care, research, education and entrepreneurship in downtown Buffalo.

  • BNMC’s position serves as a literal gateway in downtown Buffalo
  • UB’s community outreach and educational opportunity programs will enhance and leverage its gateway location

Transit and Pedestrian Access

Transit and Pedestrian Access
  • New pedestrian routes will better connect the Downtown Campus to the two NFTA metro stations.
  • Convenient and safe access to public transit will minimize the future need for more parking
  • Comfortable, safe and convenient pedestrian connections are important between all facilities within the Downtown Campus

Parking

Parking
  • Future growth may require a significant increase in parking (the equivalent of five to sixteen acres, of surface parking, depending on the scenario) if alternative transportation is not fully leveraged.
  • Sustainable parking structures are more efficient than acres of surface parking

Program Scale and Location

Proposed development for the academic programs, campus life services, and complementary uses could equal up to 4.0 million square feet (excluding parking).