Learning Through Unmaking

Students from Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning will engage with the Fairlawn site in East Aurora as both a place of study and a living project. Working within the framework of rewilding, they will take part in the careful deconstruction of the original house—an intentional first step that prioritizes material recovery, reuse, and a deeper understanding of how the site has been shaped over time. Alongside this process, students will investigate the site’s layered history, from its agricultural origins to its suburban transformation, contributing design thinking that supports its ecological renewal. Through observation, analysis, and hands-on work, Fairlawn becomes not a finished condition, but an evolving landscape where past and future are held in balance.

CORNELL