The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has selected WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism as the lead architect for the museum’s upcoming expansion and transformation project. Their guiding theme united the trilogy of architecture, landscape, and community as reciprocal elements that work together while maintaining the majestic south lawn view into the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park. WEISS/MANFREDI’s concept is aligned with the museum’s goals for a dynamic, open, and inviting design that will create more spaces to present all forms of art, as well as new opportunities for immersive and creative experiences for audiences of every age.
Below the six finalist teams’ concepts.
Kengo Kuma
The team is supported by GGN (Landscape Architecture), Endelman & Associates (Accessibility), Post Oak Preservation Solutions (Heritage), Art Processors (Exhibition and Experience design), and Buro Happold (Structural/MEP/Lighting Engineering).
Drawing from the Midwest’s prairies, riverbeds, and limestone bluffs, River / Stone weaves art, people, and landscape into a living cultural tapestry. Fluid pathways unite the 1933 Nelson Atkins Building, the Bloch Building, and a new expansion grounded by local materials and human-scaled gestures. Porches, covered passages, and terraces dissolve the form, encouraging spontaneous encounters and linking the museum with surrounding neighborhoods.
Locally sourced stone, sustainable timber, and expansive glass echo the land’s quiet rhythm, fostering warmth and transparency. Underscoring Kansas City’s geological heritage and communal spirit, River / Stone broadens accessibility for families, firsttime visitors, and longtime patrons alike.
Gently sloping routes and terraced landscapes reflect regional history, creating places for reflection, conversation, and cultural exchange. Through this harmonious approach, the new addition transforms the museum’s campus – building on its longstanding commitment to engagement, wonder, and inclusivity – where nature, architecture, and community flow seamlessly as a true “Museum for All.”
_
Renzo Piano
The team is supported by West 8 (Landscape Architecture) and Arup (Sustainability, Structural/MEP/Lighting Engineering).
Our proposal for the expansion of the Nelson-Atkins Museum seeks to reconcile past and present, forging a museum for all. The original Beaux-Arts building, with its classical symmetry and civic grandeur, now stands in quiet dialogue with Steven Holl’s luminous addition to the east. Our design tries to restore equilibrium – balancing the old with the new – through a pair of precise interventions to the north and south. The sweeping, monumental stairs, long a symbol of art’s inaccessibility, are transformed. In their place, an open threshold welcomes visitors of every background, dissolving the notion of art as a privilege reserved for the few. A transparent pavilion – light-filled and porous – erodes the boundary between institution and community, allowing the museum to breathe with the life of the city. Here, architecture becomes an act of invitation, transforming the Nelson-Atkins into a truly civic and accessible space, placed gently within the life of the city.
_
_
Selldorf Architects
The team is supported by Reed Hilderbrand (Landscape Architecture), Atelier Ten (Sustainability), Two Row Architect (Indigenous Consultant), Renfro Design Group (Lighting), Arup (MEP Engineering), Guy Nordenson & Associates (Structural Engineering) and TYLin Silman (Structural Engineering).
Bringing Art to People
The original Nelson-Atkins building re-establishing itself as the central figure with a newly glazed Portico façade that signals activity and a new generosity of scale and spirit. Truly a Museum for All.
Our design seeks to strengthen the Nelson-Atkins Museum at all levels – to connect it more to its surroundings, to its landscape, to its history, to its visitors and wider public – bringing art to people.
We wish to create a world-class inviting arrival experience where everyone feels welcome, where barriers to entry are dissolved literally and figuratively.
Our new West Building is a partner to the Nelson-Atkins and Bloch Buildings, completing and complementing the ensemble with openness, transparency and flexibility. Comprised of a series of volumes, the new building confidently holds the western edge of the site with inviting hospitality and artmaking spaces. Framing and activating the redesigned North Court the new building will energize the entirety of the Nelson-Atkins campus.
_
_
Studio Gang
The team is supported by SCAPE (Landscape Architecture), Atelier Ten (Sustainability), JSA/MIXdesign (Inclusive Design), Snyder Consultancy (Cultural Strategy), Heritage Consulting Group (Heritage), Burns & McDonnell (Civil Engineering), Lam Partners (Lighting), Altieri (MEP Engineering), and Thornton Tomasetti (Structural Engineering).
Studio Gang’s design extends the edges of the Nelson-Atkins building with vibrant thresholds that merge the museum with the Sculpture Park and invite visitors into closer relationship with art and each other. Uniting inside and outside, the new architecture embodies the creative energy of connecting across differences.
Wherever visitors arrive, they’re immediately greeted with lively activity, transparency, and amenities that encourage them to stay and discover more. Accessible, inviting entrances extend inside to become convenient internal connections.
At the south, the Art Bluff wing hosts the museum’s new exhibition, education, and social spaces. Its topographic design negotiates the site’s slope and bridges the different levels of the existing museum, helping people of all abilities easily get where they want to go. At the north, landscape enhancements and a café enliven the plaza, and the museum’s original entrance is reopened as a fully accessible front door.
_
_
Weiss/Manfredi
The team is supported by SCAPE (Landscape Architecture), Atelier Ten (Sustainability), WeShouldDoItAll (Exhibition and Experience Design), Taliaferro & Browne (Civil Engineering), Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP Engineering), and Severud Associates (Structural Engineering).
A Connected Tapestry
A nexus of culture and community, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is treasured for its innovative programs and internationally recognized collection. The crisp forms of the existing buildings offer an elegant counterpoint to the landscape, yet their opacity conceals the vibrancy of the museum and precludes an invitation to the broader community.
Our design’s organic geometries shape the new west addition, and, with the expanded South Terrace, recenters the Cultural Campus around the treasured Sculpture Park. The newly accessible north entry frames a natural ecological landscape, and the rooftop addition amplifies a central entry.
Strategic renovations and luminous additions reinvigorate the elegant but fortified museum to signal a new transparency, both literal and philosophical. New and existing galleries, expanded spaces for education, performance, events, and dining all overlook the reimagined Sculpture Park. Here, new reciprocities – between architecture and landscape, art and ecology, invite the community to engage and create a new tapestry for the arts.
_
_
WHY Architecture
The team is supported by WILDING x WHY (Landscape Architecture), Atelier Ten (Sustainability), STRATA Architecture + Preservation (Heritage), Arup (MEP Engineering, Lighting), and TYLin Silman (Structural Engineering).
The Hug: A Museum That Embraces
Our expansion is more than an addition – it is an embrace. It wraps around three sides of the existing museum, creating new connections to the galleries, landscape, and city. This is not just about gaining space – it’s about unlocking the potential of what already exists, shaping a more welcoming, inclusive, and connected museum. A new entry pavilion ensures an intuitive, inclusive arrival while pathways link visitors to art, events, dining, and gardens. The new Sky Wing offers Kansas City’s most breathtaking cultural vantage point. The Photography Center, positioned at the intersection of The Nelson-Atkins building and Bloch addition, serves as a bridge between past and future, establishing photography as an anchor of the museum’s evolving curatorial vision. This museum can evolve, adapt, and grow with its audience. Every surface is a canvas, every space an opportunity, ensuring The Nelson-Atkins remains a place of discovery and wonder for generations.
_
