The Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly known as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) has announced that it will welcome its first visitors on the 25th of May, 2023. Revamped and expanded, the new campus designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson features “new work of signature architecture, the Jeffrey E. Gundlach building, and extensive renovation to existing buildings”.
Designed with substantial input from communities throughout Western New York and the museum’s leadership, the campus, envisioned by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, stretches “alongside the city’s beloved Frederick Law Olmsted– designed Delaware Park”. The inclusive, interactive, and porous campus comprises 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, five studio classrooms, an interior community gathering space, and more than half an acre of new public green space.
Located on the north side of the plot, the Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building adds more than 30,000 square feet of space for the display of special exhibitions. On the other hand, the Gundlach Building inverts “the traditional model of the art museum as an opaque facility and creating tremendous porosity between interior and exterior”. The structure generates highly flexible exhibition spaces to present contemporary and modern art of all scales and media. Connected to the rest of the campus, and more particularly to the Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers Building, designed by E. B. Green and originally constructed in 1905, the Gundlach Building takes on an OMA-designed glass-walled structure, the John J. Albright Bridge that links both edifices in question.
Other existing buildings on site received many updates and improvements such as the neoclassical Wilmers Building which got a new roof for example, and the Seymour H. Knox Building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and completed in 1962 that will feature a 2,000-square-foot gallery, five classroom studios, a 350-seat auditorium, and a new restaurant.
It has been amazing to witness our collective vision for the Buffalo AKG take shape in such a culturally and historically significant campus and city, […] The project was designed to connect art, nature, and people by providing new links of access and radical transparency, and we’re excited to see the campus come to life as it welcomes new activities and dialogues with global and local communities.-- Shohei Shigematsu, Partner, OMA New York.
As part of a vision to regenerate Western New York, Governor Kathy Hochul explains that “the Buffalo AKG Art Museum expansion is a transformative project that will provide a significant boost to Buffalo’s future.” Managing to raise approximately $195 million for the construction and $35 million for operating endowment funds, the project was responsible for what soon became the largest fundraising campaign for a cultural institution in the history of Western New York.
“The vision for this project is to create a museum that can serve as a platform for human expression and a cultural resource for everyone in our community […] The leadership of the Buffalo AKG is constantly evaluating the role of the museum in today’s rapidly changing world and how best to contribute and partner with others for the public good.”-- Board President Alice Jacobs.
