OMA puts nature at the forefront with the expansion of Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Founded in 1862 in the port city of Buffalo in New York, the Albright Art Gallery began to operate in its own building in 1905. In 1962 the gallery opened a major addition designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Gordon Bunshaft, a proponent of the International Style. Since it was donated by the Seymour H. Knox Foundation, the building took on the name of Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

The 1905 solid, neo-classical building by Edward B. Green and the 1962 Modernist extension by Bunshaft, which included a new auditorium box and an outdoor courtyard sit side by side, amidst the urban fabric that unravels around it. Conversely, the proximity of the two historic structures cut off the park that surrounds it for access from outside and views for visitors inside the building itself. This was one of the primary reasons that necessitated a further expansion, with renowned design practitioners from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture OMA being called upon to provide their expertise.

Architects at OMA typically predict that there are only two types of museums: a museum in the park, embedded in the tranquility of nature, and a museum in the city, implanted within the energy of urbanism. The new Buffalo AKG Art Museum, sited at the northern edge of the historic Delaware Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is both. The city has a rich architectural history—from silos and manufacturing facilities to buildings by Eero Saarinen, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright. As modern architects, OMA’s insertion of the new facility was not only about expanding the complex to accommodate the museum’s growing art collection and diversifying programs, but also to reconnect it to the park and city and establish a new openness to public activities.

The 1905 and 1962 buildings command a clear separation, closed off from their surroundings. In contrast, the approach for the new pavilion is to unlock the full potential of being in the park.

With significant philanthropic gestures coming from financier Jeffrey E. Gundlach, the new Building has been named after him, and the entire campus was renamed the Buffalo AKG Museum to respect his contributions. Designed by OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu and executive architect Cooper Robertson, with substantial input from the local community and capably steered by the museum’s leadership, the new Buffalo AKG comprises more than 50,000 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibition space, five classrooms, an interior community gathering space, and more than half an acre of new public green space.

At the ground level, the architects started with galleries in the shape of a cross, or a plus sign (because it’s an addition). The galleries lie at the heart of the building while four transparent corners—containing the lobby, media gallery, office, and loading dock—bring the park in and surround the museum in nature. While the scale of the cross galleries is akin to that of the intimate rooms of the 1905 structure, two larger, more efficient gallery boxes that resonate with Bunshaft’s box are stacked above. A double-height gallery in the front of the building connects the cross and flexible boxes.

The designers also observed how museums are evolving to provide diverse avenues of public engagement through expanded gallery activities and non-exhibition programs. They concluded that museums now need to strike the right balance between programmed and programmable space, and must find new relationships between them. One response to their findings was to wrap the second-level gallery with a promenade, an unprogrammed space for various activities—from sculpture exhibitions and galas to educational programs and wellness classes. The promenade and stack of efficient galleries are enveloped by a transparent facade that achieves an open and ephemeral quality. This “veil” covers the promenade to form a double-height buffer zone between nature and art. The resulting winter garden simultaneously embeds visitors in the park and exposes the museum’s activities to the campus and city. “It is an inverse of the Bunshaft: while he captured nature at the centre of art, we place art at the core surrounded by nature,” states lead architect Shohei Shigematsu in an official statement.

In addition to the new Gundlach Building, the existing campus as a whole is preserved and improved. The new, scenic John J. Albright Bridge connecting the Gundlach Building to the 1905 building, now known as the Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers Building, weaves through and immerses visitors in the historic park landscape. The surface parking lot is buried underground and happily replaced with a large park lawn at the centre of the campus. The 1962 building, now known as the Seymour H. Knox Building, becomes a new community engagement, learning, and creativity centre; greatly enhanced by monumental artwork Common Sky by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio Other Spaces, which now encloses the original open-air and largely inaccessible interior courtyard to create the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation Town Square, a public gathering space with numerous amenities open free of charge year-round.

Most importantly, a new point of entry on the east facade of the Knox Building establishes a connection from the city to the park.

While the existing buildings were hermetic historically, the new Gundlach Building opens itself up to its surroundings—a transparent entity that contributes a new profile and language to the lineage of the architectural history of the institution. Together, the new complex offers an array of programs and spatial experiences—from classic to modern to contemporary, gallery to classroom, intimate rooms to grand halls, lawn to courtyard to winter garden. The result is a true campus-like museum that integrates art, architecture, and nature.

Project Details

Name: Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Partner: Shohei Shigematsu
Project Architect: Lawrence Siu, Paxton Sheldahl
Team: Gregory Serweta, Thomas Holzmann, Maxime Leclerc, Laura Baird, Patricio Fernandez, Napat Kiat-Arpadej, Bartosz Kobylakiewicz, Claudia da Costa, Jesse Catalano, Tamara Jamil, Camille Bongard, Remy Bertin, Joanne Chen, Federico Pompignoli, Jackie Woon Bae, Jan Casimir, Brian Tabolt, Daeho Lee, Philippe Audemard d’Alancon, Yashar Ghasemkhani, Regan Dyer
Competition Team
Associate: Laura Baird
Project Architect: Lawrence Siu
Team: Jason Long, Daeho Lee, Maxime Leclerc, Ceren Bingol, Nicholas Solakian, Wesley Ho
Executive Architect: Cooper Robertson
Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Structure: Arup
MEPFP: Buro Happold
Civil: Wendel
Façade & Waterproofing: Thornton Thomasetti
Exterior Lighting: Arup
Museum Lighting: Litelab
AVIT: Buro Happold
Code: Paul Battaglia
Historic Preservation: Preservation Studios
Acoustics: Jaffe Holden
VT: Van Deusen & Associates
Specification Writer: The Friday Group LLC
Geotech: McMahon & Mann Consulting Engineers
Parking: Philip Habib & Associates
Graphic Design: Wkshps with Once-Future Office
Town Square Roof, Common Sky: Studio Other Spaces - Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann