The development partner on the new University of Iowa Museum of Art project has selected BNIM Architects of Des Moines and Kansas City as the architect of record.

“We have great confidence in BNIM due to the firm’s wide range of notable projects, both nationally and internationally,” says Rod Lehnertz, interim vice president of finance and operations and director of planning, design, and construction for UI Facilities Management. “Our confidence also stems from the connections BNIM has with the state of Iowa and the University of Iowa.”

The UI announced Oct. 22 that a partnership between H+H Development Group of Iowa City and Mortenson Inc. was selected as a development partner for the new UI Museum of Art. The university intends to deliver the project as a public-private partnership. The project has the benefit of local, privately owned land at the southeast corner of the Burlington-Clinton intersection—in the heart of downtown Iowa City, directly across from the new Voxman Music Building.

“BNIM and its partners have created first-rate buildings throughout the U.S., and its senior Iowa architect, Rod Kruse, has received numerous awards and helped design the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, amongst other fabulous buildings,” says Sean O’Harrow, director of the UI Museum of Art. “We look forward to a fruitful and efficient process working with them over the next few years.”

Lehnertz says that as a team of consultants working with BNIM is finalized, the priority will be on “ensuring the unique technical needs of the museum are met while also creating a visual statement fitting of our noted museum collection.” Conceptual renderings of the building are likely to be created in late spring and into summer.

Established in 1969, the UI Museum of Art is one of the leading university art museums in the world, with a mission to serve the UI, the people of Iowa, and the American public in the fields of arts education and art history. Its programs and collection of more than 14,000 works of art cover many major areas, including significant 20th century American and European paintings and works on paper, Sub-Saharan African Art, Pre-Columbian sculpture, Native American art, ancient Chinese sculpture and ceramics, and 20th century American and European studio ceramics. With hundreds of thousands of visitors and participants, the UI Museum of Art is one of the most popular and effective public institutions in Iowa and in the United States.

In advance of the flood of June 2008, the museum building was permanently evacuated. Through the use of temporary facilities and creative outreach, the museum continues to offer the invaluable experience of art to the university, the community, the state of Iowa, and beyond.