In Buffalo, New York, the Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo (LACB) has an important cultural role to play in the city that overlooks Lake Erie. Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright, Olmsted-designed parkspaces, and cultural institutions by other greats including Eliel and Eero Saarinen are among the buildings and landscapes that shape the city. The nonprofitfocused on advancing the citys architectural heritage and legacyoperates from the Richardson Olmsted Campus, a milieu with its own rich history. LACB recently announced plans to expand its footprint within the historic site. LACB will decamp from its post inside a tower of the Richardson Olmsted Campuss central building and instead set up shop in a former kitchen building part of the original campus function as a hospital. A new glass addition from Hweler + Yoon will accompany the restored historic structure.Building 12 was formerly a kitchen when the campus operated as a hospital. (Courtesy Hweler + Yoon)The LACBs new home not only involves saving and reusing another historic structure on the Campus, but, more importantly, represents an investment in the community by expanding the scope of the Centers mission to highlight one of the greatest collections of period architecture in the country, Paris Roselli, executive director of Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo, shared in a statement. Before it was the Richardson Olmsted Campus, the buildings and accompanying property encompassed the Buffalo State Hospital, a treatment center for individuals with mental illness. The masonry buildings were designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson with landscaping by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The facility opened in 1880 and treated patients for nearly one hundred years before closing. Part of the campus was sold off in 1927 to create the Buffalo State University campus, while the remaining structures, including the historic copper-topped tower building, were left for naught until a reuse plan surfaced at the start of the 21st century. In 2017, TenBerke completed work on the propertys regeneration and the former hospital is now a hotel and conference and event center.Today, Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo mounts exhibitions on Buffalos architectural past inside the Richardson Hotel, the hospitality venture that opened in the towers building of the former hospital. In 2023 a contract was executed by to restore and stabilize Building 12, so LACB could move its operations and exhibitions to a more permanent location on the campus. The existing structure is a low-lying masonry building with a shingled hipped roof. The nonprofit also has plans for an addition.The glass addition will be faced with 18-foot, scalloped glass panels. (Courtesy Hweler + Yoon)Renderings of the proposed addition from Hweler + Yoon show a new rectangular glass vestibule connecting the historic Building 12 to a round glass pavilion. This primary volume will feature swelled, convex glazing. The structure will be built so as to nearly encircle the masonry building. Eric Hweler said the addition will create a mirage-like effect, a result of the 18-foot tall scalloped glass panels that face it. Inside, there will be gallery space. Under the original campus plan Building 12 was used as a kitchen; it was connected via a curved corridor to the other campus buildings. Similar corridors were implemented across the campus connecting the two wings to a central administration building.Reinforcement work on Building 12 is already underway. A timeline for the groundbreaking and construction of the glass addition will be announced this spring. Hweler + Yoon and LACB will work with Hadley Exhibits, Buffalo Construction Consultants, Cannon Design, Fisher Associates, R.E. Kelly, J.A. Gulick Window Company, and Weaver Metal & Roofing on the project that will surely only cement Buffalos architectural legacy.