Image: The museum's proposed new extension

Corning Museum of Glass (CMG) started work on its new US$64m (EUR50.8m, £40.9m) extension project, which will add a new North Wing at the attraction in New York state, US.

The 100,000sq ft (9,290sq m) addition - designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners - is to be completed in 2014 and aims to "dramatically enhance" the museum's visitor experience.

The scheme will create one of the largest spaces dedicated to presenting contemporary art in glass and is being fully funded by CMG benefactor and glass manufacturer Corning Inc.

Plans feature 26,000sq ft (2,415sq m) of gallery space specifically designed to showcase the museum's growing collection of works, along with a new temporary exhibition gallery.

Meanwhile, the adjacent ventilator building of the former Steuben Glass factory is to benefit from a transformation into a new space for the museum's live glass-making presentations.

A theatre space will be revamped under plans by Smith-Miller and Hawkinson into an extra glass-making venue, while HAIGHArchitects has designed a renovation of CMG's café.

Elsewhere, landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand Associates are designing outdoor public spaces - including a 1-acre (0.4-hectare) campus green looking into the new gallery.

CMG executive director Karol Wight said: "This is a transformative design that responds to those demands and further enables us to bring glass to life for the 400,000 people who visit our campus each year."

Details: www.cmog.org