Last week, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) welcomed its local community, special guests, and supporters from around the world for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the start of the museum’s summer opening season. The event marked the first opportunity for the public to visit the museum’s renewed and vastly expanded campus designed by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. The culmination of a $230 million capital campaign, the largest such campaign for a cultural institution in the history of Western New York, and three-and-half years of construction, the new Buffalo AKG comprises more than 50,000 square feet of prime exhibition space, five state-of-the-art studio classrooms, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Town Square, and more than half an acre of new public green space situated above an underground parking garage. Designed with substantial input from communities throughout Western New York and the museum’s leadership, the renewed and expanded campus is ensconced within the city’s beloved Frederick Law Olmsted–designed Delaware Park. With the addition of three new points of entry positioned throughout the campus, the museum’s architectural presence now reflects and advances its mission to radically increase the accessibility of its facilities and engage all members of its community with an inclusive, interactive, and porous campus.
Beginning June 19, 2023, the public will be able to visit the museum’s renovated Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers Building, Seymour H. Knox Building, and the new Ralph Wilson Town Square, featuring Common Sky, a new, monumental site-specific artwork by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio Other Spaces. On the campus’s north side, the Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building, a new work of signature architecture by OMA/Shohei Shigematsu in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, will open to the public on July 20, 2023.
“With dogged determination and much passion, we here at the Buffalo AKG have aspired to uplift our community by building a museum of and for the people, a museum without walls that segregate, separate, and tie down the human spirit and imagination. We have dreamt of the moment when people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, can walk unhindered through the doors of a new museum, one that harnesses the full measure of its historic legacy along with all the potential it holds for the future. Knitting together the hard work and dedication of hundreds of staff members, board members, volunteers, community partners, elected officials, donors, family members, and many others: this day is now upon us,” said Janne Sirén, Peggy Pierce Elfvin Director. “The Buffalo AKG has always been a bit of a rebel, precociously seeking out, even defining the artistic revolutions of tomorrow alongside artists and other creative spirits who are the wellspring of courageous, radical creativity. Thanks to our new, state- of-the-art twenty-first century campus, we now have the opportunity to empower people to dream big, to actualize and activate in welcoming spaces their own creativity through the transformative power of art.”
“The trifecta of our internationally recognized art collection, our soon- to-be world-renowned architectural campus, and the many special individuals who commit to this institution as staff, volunteers, supporters, and visitors alike, combine to create a museum that any place in the world would be proud to call its hometown art museum,” said Alice Jacobs, Board President of the Buffalo AKG. “We are grateful to the generations of past philanthropists who created and sustained the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for more than 161 years. Today, in becoming the Buffalo AKG, we welcome many new philanthropists who are committed to the idea that museums are much more that art on the walls. While Buffalo as a place of culture and creativity may have been a well-kept secret for a long time, after today the word will definitely be out.”
“It has been an incredible experience designing a new building and campus fit for the great curatorial and programmatic ambitions of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum,” said Shohei Shigematsu, Partner at OMA. “Creating a space for one of the greatest collections of modern and contemporary art, in a historic park and campus, informed a design centered around dialogue amongst three generations of buildings; and art, park, and city. The new Gundlach Building is informed by enriching the dialogue of art and contexts with people. Clad in a glass veil, the building is radically transparent, capturing the campus history and nature from the inside and exposing the internal activities to the outside. The space created in between the veil and gallery becomes an enclosed terrace for diverse activities. A set of new and restored elements visually and physically link the campus together to create a true arts campus—the edifice and plinth form provides architectural continuity; the scenic bridge immerses architecture, art, and people in nature; the restored historic stair and great lawn opens the campus to the city. Together, the building and campus reflect a collective ambition to push the museum typology toward a more open future.”
“After delivering half a million dollars in federal funding to the Albright- Knox Gallery, one of Buffalo’s greatest treasures, I am proud to see the renovation and expansion of a beloved Buffalo cultural staple come to fruition,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. “I’m excited to see the continued success of this world-class cultural institution for Western New York to continue to benefit from its presence in the community.”
“The breathtaking Buffalo AKG Art Museum is one of the world's finest institutions for modern and contemporary art -- showcasing the economic and cultural renaissance Western New York has experienced in recent years,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. “Buffalo is very fortunate to have a world-renowned art museum with a reputation that has grown to even greater prominence as it expands its campus and collection of works. The new building and campus are a dramatic work of art that will attract visitors and support the regional tourism economy for decades to come.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Buffalo AKG, and we applaud the museum for its foresight and conviction in planning a dramatically renewed and expanded campus that will serve so many stakeholders and its bold mission for decades to come,” said Cooper Robertson partner Erin Flynn, RA, LEED AP. “Not only does this expansion bring signature architecture to the region’s cultural attractions, it also reflects the depth of community input and engagement that Buffalo AKG embodies. We are delighted to be part of this story."
“It’s been an extraordinary honor for Gilbane to help build the new Buffalo AKG Art Museum,” said Keith Leal, Vice President and Upstate New York Business Leader, Gilbane Building Company. “This exquisite museum is truly a masterpiece and will captivate visitors from all over the world. We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with the Buffalo AKG Art Museum team, OMA, Cooper Robertson, Arc Building Partners, our subcontractor partners and the trades workers. This transformational project is the result of tremendous collaboration and dedication and will make Buffalo proud.”
To see a list of exhibitions, click here: https://buffaloakg.org/
