In June 2008, a devastating flood swept through Iowa, severely damaging multiple buildings on the University of Iowa campus, including its art museum. Although staff and volunteers managed to save the entire collection, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock, the insurance company deemed the building uninsurable. The collection was divided up for safekeeping across the country until a new home could be built.

After years of extensive planning, work on the 86,200-sq-ft, three-story Stanley Museum of Art began in July 2019. Interior finishes include wood slat ceilings, wood flooring, custom access doors, custom built-in display cases and custom easel walls. Many of the structure’s design details were drawn with nearly zero tolerances, such as the building’s exterior that incorporates an alternating composition of 750,000 uncut bricks. The contractor coordinated curtain wall and door openings with the hardware teams and suppliers to ensure the dimensions would work, which required an extensive shop drawing review process.