Gwathmey Siegel to Design Buffalo, NY Art Center

The new facility is slated to open in 2007.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 3/29/2006

In Buffalo, New York, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center will soon have a new home. Designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, and located on the Buffalo State College campus across the street from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the new 75,000-square-foot facility will provide additional space for the museum’s exhibition galleries, as well as education and public programs.

Gwathmey Siegel’s design is a fusion of interlocking geometric forms and innovative materials. A series of domed skylights will draw in daylight and lead visitors to exhibition galleries. The first floor will offer a café, museum store, classrooms, collection study areas, auditorium, performing hall, permanent collection galleries, and large feature exhibition galleries, as well as space for contemporary art installations.

In addition to showcasing more of the museum's permanent collection, space on the third floor will provide visitors a glimpse of the restoration and preservation process of artworks on paper.

Celebrating the achievement of artist Charles E. Burchfield as well art local to the region, the museum is currently on the third floor of a campus building. The new facility is expected to be completed in the fall of 2007.