New 50,000-square-foot Museum and Library will feature:
1. A permanent exhibition doubled in size, covering the dramatic immigration story of Czech- and Slovak-Americans.
2. A 5,500-square-foot library and archives that will encompass genealogy services, oral histories, and research.
3. Multi-purpose public and educational programming space that hold 400 for programs and 250 at tables.
4. Three galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions.
5. A 55-seat theatre for films, lectures, and programs.
6. Outdoor amphitheater for heritage, musical, and theatrical programs.
7. Collections, original artwork and artifacts on display throughout the building.
8. Protection from future flooding; the museum will be elevated three feet above the 2008 flood level.
9. A terrace with view of the river and downtown skyline.
10. Underground parking for 65 vehicles.
11. LEED certified energy efficient design.
Plans to Move and Elevate the Flooded Building Underway
The Board of Directors of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library is pursuing a plan to move and then elevate its flood-damaged museum building, to then become part of a new and expanded facility. In Cedar Rapids the 15-year-old structure is an architectural icon and the museum’s red roof rising above the 2008 floodwaters depicted the Cedar Rapids disaster around the world.
“This museum represents and tells the story of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their history. It is a symbol of the courage and vision of Czechs and Slovaks around the world and it will be the symbol of rebirth for Cedar Rapids,” President/CEO Gail Naughton, said. “We are eager to move forward with our plan.”
In an effort to protect the building from future flooding and to retain it for its original purpose, the board of directors has agreed to pursue moving the physical structure from its current site on the banks of the Cedar River to a site across the street, still in the area considered “Czech Village” throughout the community. The building will be elevated, with parking on the lower level. The main floor of the museum will be three feet above the 2008 flood level. The moved and expanded museum and library is planned to be 50,000 square feet, which will include larger permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, an expanded research library, educational programming space, a new museum store, collection storage and work space.
The board decision followed an extensive process of evaluation, during which, the museum staff and board learned that -- where it stands -- the existing building could no longer be used to house exhibitions, artifacts and library collections.
“We simply cannot insure them in that location,” said President/CEO Gail Naughton. The choice to move the building was determined to be the best way to preserve what has become an icon for Cedar Rapids and the museum’s national and international constituency, while meeting the requirements of an accredited museum.” In 1995, the museum hosted President of Slovakia, Michal Kovač; President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel; and President of the United States, Bill Clinton at the dedication of the museum.
“We are very excited at the prospect of preserving the history of this museum and the people it represents by moving and protecting it,” Board Chair Gary Rozek said. “We have investigated the technical complexities and are confident that such an engineering feat is, indeed, possible.”
The next step is to design the new exhibition center and library. Detailed engineering studies of the building site are underway with the goal to make site improvements and move the existing building in 2011. Construction of the new additions will begin in 2011 with an opening date in 2012.
“After the flood, the museum received a generous gift from the people of the Czech Republic, to help with flood recovery. There is no doubt that this gift helped us to leverage a $10 million (US) allocation from the state of Iowa. But it has value far beyond dollars; it reminds us of the enduring friendship between our two countries,” said Naughton.
Rebuilding the national museum is estimated to cost $20 million (US), with the total for recovery at $25 million. Naughton emphasized that the success of this project depends on the outstanding support from the museum’s local, national and international circle of friends.
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Hydraulics and Mega I-beams Lift Building
All museums curate history. This winter, the National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library will make its own, with the help of its supporters. “It’s apparently the largest museum ever relocated for flood hazard mitigation, and probably the only museum ever elevated,” says Rod Scott of Jeremy Patterson Structural Moving, NCSML’s contractor on the big job. “We’re going to set some firsts for this one.”
The work starts this winter, with crews preparing the building and its new site. The building is actually of wood-frame construction, so among the first jobs will be removing the lower courses of brick façade to the first layer of stone. Then, “we go inside the structure and bolt up every single stud to 15-foot-long, laminated two-foot-square beams,” says Scott. “We start fabricating the main beams, two-by-two-foot I-beams, four of them, 210 feet long.”
Those big beams will be placed lengthwise down the center of the building. “Then we come back in and cross-brace those with 45 90-foot 18-inch beams” to tie the building together during the move. “We clamp the whole thing together with huge C-clamps. All the corners of the building are tied together with steel cable and bracing.”
A series of hydraulic lifts will be placed under the clamped-together building, their controls tied together to synchronize the lift. Lifting up to 16 inches at a time, the devices will raise the structure high enough to allow crews to place 140 multi-wheeled, motorized dollies under the beams supporting the museum. “Then a guy drives,” says Scott. “With a little joy stick with a little box, he drives the building” to its new site. “Basically he'll drive it right down off the riverbank.”
That is scheduled to happen in May, allowing time for a 200-foot-wide dirt ramp to be graded and to freeze solid, providing a stable route for the trip to the new foundation. Once it’s there the museum will be elevated again, by 12 feet, to be placed on its new pedestal.
It’s a big job for a big crew – “an army of ants” – that could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Or not: A smooth move could open new possibilities for re-use of buildings around the world. And the world will see and hear about it. “There’s going to be a lot of international press covering this,” says Scott. “We’re so excited to be a part of this team, it’s beyond description. We’ll show others the potential and the possibilities of what this industry can do.”
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