Lifting the Veil

A dramatic update to the Buffalo AKG Art Museum extends an open invitation

- ELIZABETH FAZZARE

In the late '90s and early 2000s, a lot of municipalities wanted the Bilbao effect," says architect Shohei Shigematsu, referring to the cultural and economic impact that Frank Gehry's Guggenheim outpost had on the Spanish city. "Now they want the Art Basel effect, more event-based engagement to the arts." With this evolution in mind, Shigematsu, a New York partner at the international firm OMA, designs museums not only as hallowed exhibition spaces but as places to gather, learn, and celebrate.

His comprehensive update to the Buffalo AKG Art Museum offers a dynamic case in point. Debuted to the public on June 12, the project comprises a 118,000-square-foot expansion to the 161-year-old institution, formerly known as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, as well as its restoration. The current campus dates to 1905, when architect Edward B. Green completed its Beaux Arts building. A modern edifice by Buffalo native Gordon Bunshaft followed in 1962. Over the decades, however, the museum's programmatic needs outgrew these two structures, which Bunshaft linked with a walled-off courtyard while demolishing the historic staircase. "It was quite hermetic," says the architect. "The museum looked elitist and closed, though the activity inside is the opposite."