University of Iowa art school moving out of old Menards

IOWA CITY - Early May is a busy time across the University of Iowa campus - with students cramming for finals and wrapping up projects while faculty and instructors prepare for and complete assessments.

But the standard spring surge is amplified this year for the UI School of Art and Art History as it collides with the deadline for moving out of the temporary space it's been inhabiting across town for eight years.

Still, many faculty and students are OK with the earlier deadlines and extra work - given the circumstances. They are moving into a new $77 million Visual Arts Building at 107 River St.

The state-of-the-art complex, measuring more than 126,597-square-feet, rises four levels and boasts innovative studio spaces specifically designed to enhance energy use and artistic creation, according to Steve McGuire, UI professor of metal arts and 3D design and studio division coordinator for the School of Art and Art History.

'It will be great to get into the new building,” McGuire said. 'It's conceptually and technically exciting.”

The School of Art and Art History and their numerous disciplines moved into the shell of a former Menards store at

1375 Highway 1 West in 2008 - after historic flooding devastated the campus, including the UI arts complex along Riverside Drive.

The move was a spatial downgrade to about 70,000 square feet and involved the erection of temporary walls, light fixtures, and other amenities, according to McGuire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to finance a replacement building, but construction didn't start until June 2013.

After eight years in limbo, the UI art school is on track to host two classes in its new permanent home this summer, while faculty, staff, and graduate students get organized for a full slate of classes in the fall. And crews this week are loading and unloading moving vans - while students and faculty rush to pack their belongings - to meet a May 13 deadline to be out of the old Menards.

That deadline is the result of a confluence of factors involving FEMA requirements and the university's lease of the interim space. The university is obligated to leave the space just as it found it, and the institution has contracted with a firm to do just that.

'All the temporary walls and lights need to come down and out,” McGuire said.

In preparation for the move, art and art history students and faculty halted coursework Friday to allow full concentration on getting out this week. Moving crews were on site first thing Monday morning, wheeling filing cabinets on dollies through doors propped open with concrete blocks and setting aside department signs and labels bound for their new home closer to campus.

The new Visual Arts facility offers 'loft-like” space for ceramics, sculpture, metals, photography, print making, and 3D multimedia programs. The school offers 700 programs and has an undergraduate population of about 2,000, plus about 80 graduate students and 40 faculty members, McGuire said.

The new building has about 180 student spaces for graduate students, faculty, and staff. McGuire said the structure is remarkable both for its groundbreaking environmentally-friendly features and its open floor plan encouraging interaction and cooperation.

'You can turn your head anywhere within the building and watch the work that's going on,” he said. 'You can walk through four floors of artistic activity.”

The LEED Silver-certified building has natural light and ventilation inserted into the deep floor plates via 'multiple centers of light,” according to project officials. Natural ventilation comes through operable windows, and a 'punched concrete frame structure provides thermal mass at the exterior while bubble slabs provide radiant cooling and heating.”

McGuire said the new UI Visual Arts Building is the first of its kind in the nation.