Stanley Center sets cornerstones, seals time capsule

The Stanley Center for Peace and Security placed a time capsule behind three cornerstones to seal in the 122-year legacy of the site of its new headquarters. Its legacy grows as the first Living Building in Iowa and one of only 30 in the world. The cornerstones dated 1901, 1971, and 2021 represent significant milestones […]

The Stanley Center for Peace and Security placed a time capsule behind three cornerstones to seal in the 122-year legacy of the site of its new headquarters. Its legacy grows as the first Living Building in Iowa and one of only 30 in the world. The cornerstones dated 1901, 1971, and 2021 represent significant milestones in the life of the building at 304 Iowa Avenue. It was home to Muscatine’s Musser Public Library for 115 years, having first opened in 1902. A new building was constructed on the site and opened in 1972. The library moved to a new facility in 2017 and the city sold the site to the Stanley Center for Peace and Security. In 2020, The Stanley Center accepted the Living Building Challenge to turn the former library building into its headquarters and one of the most environmentally friendly and ecologically sustainable buildings in the entire world.   The Living Building Challenge is the world’s most rigorous, performance-based building framework requiring a project to meet the highest levels of design and standards for how a building meets sustainability goals. It is defined as “regenerative” by creating a net-positive for the world and its community.  A Living Building adds renewable energy to the grid, it captures and treats rainwater for the building’s use, it avoids red list chemicals in construction materials, it reduces landfill waste, it creates aesthetic beauty, it feeds people, and it fosters a positive environment for the health and well being of those who occupy the space.

Keith Porter, president and CEO for the Stanley Center, told the QCBJ he thinks every iteration of this building has been a forward-looking addition to the Muscatine community and now to the world.   “In 1901, it was just a magnificent building that meant so much for the community; a real sign that the community was on the move and growing,” said Mr. Porter. “Then you look at the 1971 building, and you think wow that was really design-forward and of its moment; it looked like this new thing in an old town and I feel like that’s what we’re doing as well.”  The new Stanley Center for Peace and Security is an entirely new design and it also advances the new standards found in the Living Building Challenge.  “That in its own way is a forward looking thing,” Mr. Porter said.  “It’s hard when you’re involved with the day-to-day details and decision making about things to remember what a big deal it really is not just for our organization but for all those standards as well,” he added. Mr. Porter told the QCBJ the new time capsule includes a lot of things from the previous time capsules: newspapers from 1901 and 1971, and even a snapshot of “Zoom-meeting” tiles of staff members, architects, contractors, and consultants. The organization is set to be fully moved into its new headquarters by February 2023.