Construction continues at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum for an underground parking garage, a 30,000 sq.ft. museum wing, and other improvements. Designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu, the new building will incorporate numerous visitor amenities and is envisioned to have a wraparound promenade that visually connects the interior of the building with the surrounding Frederick Law Olmsted landscape.
The project will more than double the number of works the museum can display at any given time, including adding state-of-the-art space for presenting special exhibitions. It will also radically enhance the visitor experience at the museum, creating more space for education, dining, and social activities.
The expansion project plans to:
- Provide a larger space to exhibit the collection of masterworks, which has increased four-fold since the last expansion in 1962;
- Create premier facilities for special exhibitions;
- Enhance the visitor experience with new and better space for education, dining and special gatherings;
- Integrate the museum’s campus within Frederick Law Olmsted’s Delaware Park;
- Build an underground parking structure and transform the surface parking lot into a vibrant green landscape and gathering place;
- Open a route through the museum from Elmwood Avenue to Olmsted’s Delaware Park, adding a new point of entry and exit on the east façade of the museum’s 1962 Building;
- Cover the 1962 Building’s open-air Sculpture Garden to create a new Indoor Town Square for year-round civic engagement, open free of charge to the community during museum and program hours;
- Create a new education wing in the lower level of the 1962 Building; and
- Construct a signature scenic bridge that connects the new building with the 1905 Building.
With a gift of $62.5 million, Buffalo native Jeffrey Gundlach is the leading donor to the AK360 project. The museum is expected to reopen in the first half of 2023.