The Albright-Knox Art Gallery has just announced that the museum’s once-in-a-lifetime expansion project, known as AK360, has taken a giant leap forward in record time with the pledge of the largest single private donation to a cultural institution in the history of Buffalo, New York.

Financial visionary and prominent art collector Jeffrey Gundlach, a native of the Buffalo area who has maintained lifelong ties to the city and its world-renowned Albright-Knox, has made an innovative challenge gift to the institution of $42.5 million. The gift has galvanized the entire Buffalo community to rally in support of the project, with more than $40.5 million contributed from the private sector, including individuals, foundations and corporations, as well as expected government support of an estimated $20 million, including $15 million from the State of New York. This spectacular level of rapid support has inspired the museum to increase the goal of its capital campaign to $125 million. Funds will enable the museum to realize an urgently needed expansion and renovation of its buildings—with a design by Shohei Shigematsu of the internationally recognized firm OMA—and to enhance its campus in Frederick Law Olmsted’s magnificent Delaware Park. As part of the AK360 Capital Campaign, the museum will also bolster its operating endowment to ensure its future vibrancy and vitality.

In recognition of Mr. Gundlach’s extraordinary vision and generosity, and in honor of his dedication to the city, the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy has unanimously resolved that the museum shall become known officially as the Buffalo Albright-Knox-Gundlach Art Museum, colloquially the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. The new name continues the museum’s tradition of honoring transformative donors. The name change will take effect upon the opening of a new building on the museum’s expanded and renovated campus.

The Albright-Knox formulated the AK360 project following an 18-month outreach effort to determine whether its public wants the museum to be enlarged and enhanced and to understand how the community would like an expanded museum to function. Based on public input, the Albright-Knox then developed the concept ofAK360, a title that signals the goal of taking a 360-degree view of the relationship between the institution and its community and urban setting.

The expansion project will:

• Provide much-needed space to exhibit the collection of masterworks, which has quadrupled since the last expansion in 1962
• Create first-rate facilities for presenting special exhibitions
• Enhance the visitor experience with new and better space for education, dining and special gatherings
• Integrate the museum’s campus within Frederick Law Olmsted’s Delaware Park

The Albright-Knox then conducted an international search for a design architect and selected the firm of OMA/Shohei Shigematsu. One of the world’s most admired architectural firms, OMA is known in America for projects including the Seattle Central Library, Milstein Hall at Cornell University and the IIT Campus Center in Chicago. The enlarged and enhanced Albright-Knox will be OMA’s first museum project in the United States.