Omar Khan says students in the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture are ahead of the curve when it comes to thinking futuristically.

They are engaged in cutting-edge research in responsive architecture, an evolving field in which structures are no longer static but can sense their environmental conditions and react accordingly.

Khan was recently appointed chair of the UB Department of Architecture, but for many years he has practiced in the field and explored the intersection of architecture and pervasive computing.

The following is a condensed version of a recent conversation with him.

BLJ: You practiced architecture for eight years in New York City and then went back to school, Tell me why you decided to come to the University at Buffalo.

OK: It was more a circumstance. Sept. 11 changed everything. The work dried up very quickly. So for one year I decided to teach at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) as a lecturer. Based upon that, I said, "This is a lot of fun. This is what I'd like to be doing." And then I applied around, and Buffalo was one of the places that was very interested in what I'd been doing. They'd wanted to start a computing in architecture program and push in that direction. They saw me as a good fit.

BLJ: At UB, you co-direct the Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies. What are the goals of your research there? What sort of future applications do you see for this type of work?

OK: The center's work is really tied to architecture, urbanism and pervasive computing. I think it scares people, this kind of idea that computing is everywhere. On one hand, we're trying to demystify some of the scary aspects, and on the other we see the opportunities that are going to come out to allow people to be much more engaged in their environment.

My main interest is much more about how do you regulate these relationships? I would like to understand buildings as a communication device and a socialization device. There are many practical solutions. For instance, in our lifetime we will definitely see how these kinds of systems will make aging in a home a real possibility. You have a kind of smart house. It'll be not so much about surveillance but about people having a better sense of their lifestyle. There's a real possibility here where architecture becomes more a participant.

BLJ: Since UB has evolved to include more research on technology in architecture, do you think these studies are attracting a different type of student?

OK: The school was always unique in that it always had a research component - maybe not in computers as much. What's really interesting about us at the University at Buffalo is that we also do it (research) in our pedagogy. So we're not only doing this stuff as a cutting-edge sort of interesting aside. The School (of Architecture) at the moment has four graduate research groups.

What I'm seeing in terms of students is, I think, that there's a radical shift taking place because of information technology. When I was first at Buffalo, students still drew to a large extent with pencils and pens. Now everything is just about on the computer. We try to combine the two to make sure people don't forget or lose what are very important skills like sketching and drawing.

This also has shifted a little bit the knowledge base. Lots of students know a lot more in terms of skill base. They're working on computers constantly and learning software tools much faster. Students are far more capable of learning on their own. Before, instruction happened in much more formalized conditions. I'm very interested in pushing this kind of nonformalized learning.

BLJ: How is this dynamic of more independent learning going to influence the field of architecture?

OK: I think we're going to see that this kind of invention in architecture is going to come from the bottom. We're not seeing this happen on a large scale, but in more practical areas like environmental systems. There are not many companies that can make a skyscraper that's going to be responsive. It'll slowly phase in as computing becomes cheaper. You're going to have students in the midst of their education actually producing very novel solutions.

BLJ: Though much of the work by students and faculty is groundbreaking, Buffalo has a strong sense of tradition and distinguished architecture. How do you maintain a balance between new technology and history?

OK: We have to understand history, especially in terms of the history of Buffalo. When the grain elevators were built, they were a technological wonder. When Frank Lloyd Wright got hired to do the Larkin Building, he was a young, radical architect, not your mainstream architect, and the Larkin Building had some really unique technological aspects to it. Buffalo's always been ahead of the curve. We were the first electrified city. When people were building that kind of stuff, they were thinking to the future, not to the past.

There's an incredible amount of history there that I would say is a history of progress; it's not a dead history. We constantly need to be reminding ourselves: Computers are not in opposition to it; it's just the next phase. We have one faculty member beginning to work on a project that's going to be a mobile app to allow you to navigate through Buffalo as a walking tour. I think historic preservation, in a funny way, is going to find some intrinsic resonance with the kinds of "tekkie" work we're doing. It's a wonderful marriage and it should happen in Buffalo.

BLJ: Architecture students have the opportunity to be engaged in many projects while at UB. What types of jobs are they finding after they graduate?

OK: Things are tight everywhere. A lot of our students are local, and they want to stay local. In just about all the big firms in Buffalo, we have our alumni. There is that kind of community because we are the only school of architecture in the whole SUNY system. Otherwise, most students will gravitate to New York City, Boston or Chicago.

If students find themselves getting empowered early on in their education, that's not a student who's going to work in a normal corporate environment. That's a student who is going to go out and invent something totally new. That's something I'd love to see continue to be fostered.

The kinds of students we're going to be producing are going to be very entrepreneurial, very inventive. We have lots of problems and very few real solutions, and I don't think the solutions are going to come from our politics. What we're able to produce at the University at Buffalo is a student who has an incredibly good work ethic. Our students understand the frustration of creativity and are incredible workers. That's what I hear constantly.

Breann Petro is a freelance writer from West Seneca.