The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is looking to the future with the announcement of updated plans to build a new freestanding building on the north side of the museum's campus. The new work of "signature architecture" will add 29,000 square feet of space for displaying special exhibitions and the museum's world-renowned art collection.
The $155 million project is being developed with architecture firm OMA/Shonei Shigematsu and is part of the AK360 Campus Development and Expansion project. Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2019, with the grand opening of the new Buffalo AKG Art Museum expected in fall of 2021.
The museum also hopes to improve its campus by building an underground parking structure and transforming the surface lot into a vibrant green landscape and gathering place. The plan also calls for a route through the museum from Elmwood Avenue to Olmsted's Delaware Park, adding a new point of entry and exit on the east facade of the museum's 1962 building.
More refined plans for the expansion will be announced in coming months. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery will now request approval from the City of Buffalo to move ahead with the project.
