The Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building is a new work of signature architecture that will add more than 30,000 square feet of space for the display of special exhibitions and the museum’s world-renowned collection of modern and contemporary art. The courtyard of the museum’s existing Seymour H. Knox Building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft and completed in 1962, will be covered with a new artwork by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio Other Spaces. This new Town Square will be the hub of the museum's community engagement activities and will be adjacent to the museum shop, the cafe, and five state-of-the-art classrooms. The entire Knox Building will be free of admission charges.
The new underground parking garage will be covered by the Great Lawn, more than half an acre of public parkland that abuts the Gundlach Building and the Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers Building, designed by E. B. Green and completed in 1905. The capital campaign to fund the construction of the Buffalo AKG is the largest such campaign for a cultural institution in the history of Western New York. The lead patron of the Buffalo AKG is financier Jeffrey Gundlach, who has given a total of $65 million to the capital campaign through a series of matching challenges.
In addition to adding to Buffalo’s remarkable architectural legacy, the museum will improve its campus by:- Building an underground parking structure and transforming the surface parking lot into a vibrant green landscape and gathering place, a green plaza
- Opening 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 Seymour H. Knox Building
- Covering the Seymour H. Knox Building’s open-air Sculpture Garden to create an indoor Town Square, a new space for year-round civic engagement, open free of charge to the community during museum and program hours
- Creating a new education wing in the lower level of the Seymour H. Knox Building
- Constructing a signature scenic bridge, the John J. Albright Bridge, that connects the new Gundlach Building with the Wilmers Building
In April 2019, the museum announced that artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann, founding partners of Studio Other Spaces, proposed a breathtaking work of art to cover the indoor Town Square. Entitled Common sky, the design is inspired by the weather of Buffalo and the museum’s lush park surroundings.
-->On November 4, 2019, the Albright-Knox's Elmwood Avenue campus closed for construction and on November 22, Albright-Knox leaders and elected officials broke ground on the project. Our construction partners include Gilbane Building Company, ARC Building Partners, and Cooper Robertson.Gilbane has completed mass excavation, concrete foundation work, and the steel frame for the new Gundlach Building and is now focusing on enclosures and interior work. Construction will only occur between the hours of 7 am and 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Contact us using our online form to ask questions or sign up to receive updates on the project.
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum is scheduled to open in the first half of 2023.
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