Museum of Utah and Collection Facility North Capitol Building Project Team Owner Dana Jones, Executive Director Capitol Preservation Board Architect of Record Brent Tippets, Principal Nathan Leavitt, Principal Karen Ferguson, Project Manager Whitney Ward, Programmer VCBO Architecture Architect — Historical David Vottero Schooley Caldwell Associates Architect — Museum & Collections Heber Slabbert ajc architects Civil Engineer Kirk Bagley Bowen Collins & Associates Landscape Architect Greg Boudrero MGB+A The Grassli Group Structural Engineer Jerod Johnson Reaveley Engineers Mechanical Engineer Stephen Connor Colvin Engineering Associates Electrical Engineer David Wesemann Spectrum Engineers Director of Video Production Jill Singer RLMG Museum Exhibit Design Lonnie Schwartz The Design Minds Exhibit Fabrication (engineering, building, coordination and installation of custom interpretive exhibits) Amy Dale, Senior Project Manager Capitol Museum Services General Contractor Okland Construction For nearly 40 years, the Utah Historical Society’s library and artifact collections were displayed and stored in what can only be called an utterly inadequate location — the Rio Grande Railroad Depot. Mind you, this building is a historical gem. It is a landmark, but it was sadly unsatisfactory to house Utah’s precious visual arts and historic artifacts. Beyond its seismic instability, the building also lacked the critical physical and environmental conditions necessary to ensure the preservation of the vast and diverse pieces that the state had acquired. Much of the collection had been stored in the basement of the depot, which, predictably, was subject to wild humidity swings, dust and pests. The March 2020, 5.7 magnitude earthquake severely damaged the state-owned Depot. This necessitated a major building renovation to safeguard the Depot’s structural and architectural integrity. A fortunate byproduct of the renovation was that the building needed to be emptied, and the collections were moved to a secure but modest temporary facility in Midvale. The Vision Coincidentally, the state was also in the early stages of planning the new North Capitol Building at the Utah State Capitol Complex. Utah’s cultural community had been pleading for a new museum for some time. Tim Glenn, Museum of Utah director, credits then Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Speaker of the House Brad Wilson and Senate President Stuart J. Adams, along with Gov. Gary Herbert and other legislators, for recognizing the value of moving the collection into the office building that is replacing the razed 1960 State Office Building. Once envisioned as a parking garage, Herbert, Cox, Wilson and ultimately the legislature saw the advantage of having an accessible space that could tell Utah’s distinctive story to the roughly 200,000 people who tour Capitol Hill annually. Glenn said, “We wanted to show off who we are, display our historic collection and have Utahns see themselves represented in this space. What can do that better than a free history, arts and culture museum?” The new 67,854-square-foot Museum of Utah and Collection Facility will occupy two and a half floors of the new North Office Building in the Capitol Complex. The project elements include permanent gallery and exhibit spaces, traveling exhibits, staging and support spaces, a retail area, education and classroom space, administration, and staff offices, as well as the necessary antiquities and collection storage, processing, conservation and accessioning spaces. 22 REFLEXION
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==