Silo City

Buffalo is home to the greatest collection of grain elevators in the world. Dating from 1897 to 1954, they embody building forms and technological innovations that revolutionized the global grain industry and inspired Modernism. Recognizing them as redundant and at risk, a local resident purchased the group of four elevators behind his metal workshop in 2005. Having prevented their demolition, removed commercial pressure and spent a decade clearing rubble, this project opens the silos to the public and gives the people of Buffalo time and access to determine their productive future. Silo City is evolving as a laboratory for the arts and industry, with cavernous spaces transformed through the visual arts, music, horticulture, urban sport and heritage tourism. The dramatic landscapes that ebb and flow between the elevators are being gradually remediated as wild flower meadows, bee gardens and sustainable riparian landscapes. New uses are evolving organically and intuitively through engagement with local people, underpinned by a strong sense of shared custodianship. The regenerative potential of the site is intertwined with the wider post-industrial city. Miriam first visited Silo City in 2013 and is a design advisor and project advocate.