The Albright Knox Art Gallery is proposing a package of modifications to its approved and currently under construction expansion project. The most significant change is the removal of a proposed tunnel from the underground parking garage to the museum lobby. Instead, a headhouse will be built close to the museum entrance providing access to the southeast corner of the garage.
The proposed egress headhouse will contain an elevator and circular staircase. It will consist of a concrete core with an architectural finish, metal paneling, wall-wash lighting, and an acrylic panel or laminated glass exterior.
Other changes include slight changes of the massing of the new museum wing to provide better viewsheds to historic resources, bringing the north building’s loading dock to grade level, and the reconstructed 1905 historic stair on the west side of the museum will be cast stone rather than stone. LED illumination will be installed in the base of the risers of the staircase to improve safety.