Ater being selected for The Resilient Campus, an international design competition hosted by the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, Second Nature’s team was one of the winning competition entries.

During Fall-Winter 2025/26, we partnered with EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture, MASS Design Group, and SITELAB Urban Studio to shape a vision for a more resilient, ecologically healthy, and socially-connected campus. Based on extensive research, local engagement, and a highly collaborative design process, our team produced "Our Future is a Forest."

The proposal begins with a simple conviction: ecology is not one layer of a resilient campus; it is the lens through which everything else comes into focus. The Forest is the backbone infrastructure for imagination: imagining wildlife, student life, new connections to East Buffalo and beyond, and regenerative futures and construction methods. The project looks to repair balance and provides a vision for resilient growth at the U at Buffalo's South Campus.

"Our Future is a Forest" demonstrates the deep potential of nature as a design force. Re-establishing healthy ecosystems enhances biodiversity but can also catalyze architecture, learning practices, job training, and community connections. We're excited to have this example out there to inspire and take further.

The winning teams were announced in February and the work is now part of a traveling exhibit, first opening in Berlin in March.