Not crazy, and already suggested/explained. Not a perfect fit in terms of major offerings, but potentially workable between its LArch minor and SU cross-reg - would need to investigate whether ESF students can access SU arch studio classes. Seems maybe a bit belabored to assemble the desired program when it already exists, fully-formed, at Buffalo, but if the setting appeals more for whatever reason, it’s an option and would definitely be affordable.
The minor at Buffalo is not such an issue since there are two different interdisciplinary majors that fit and that include that content… but additional flexibility is good in case another major outside of architecture & planning starts to appeal.
OP, the problems with starting in community college are that 1) most won’t offer studio classes (Nassau CC seems not to have anything like that), so you’d be postponing that aspect of your education, and 2) merit for transfers is much more limited, so you would likely be locked into the SUNY/CUNY transfer pathways, as it would be tough to get privates or OOS publics to budget as a transfer applicant. For what you want, that just brings me back to SUNY Buff as the default transfer destination… and if that’s the case, why not just go there to begin with? That way, you won’t miss out on this: Freshman Studio: The Architectural Design School Experience - School of Architecture and Planning-UB - University at Buffalo And you also wouldn’t miss out on first-year social connections - you could either live in the Architecture LLC, or potentially in Honors College housing - either way, so much happens freshman year that you wouldn’t get at community college. You should get in here, and you can afford it, so I’m not seeing how the CC plan wins. Something else might edge out Buffalo if the stars align money-wise, but I don’t see why you’d turn Buff down for CC unless you truly couldn’t afford 4 years at SUNY, which it appears you can.