University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium

Size: 4,550 Tons

Duration: Underway

Location: Iowa City, Iowa

Midwest Steel once again gets the call when a complex and important project needs to be completed safely, properly and on a very tight schedule.

We are currently erecting the structural steel for the replacement facility of flood-destroyed Hancher Auditorium on the University of Iowa campus. The $6-million project required more than 4,550 tons of steel for the heavy trusses and plate girders for the 1,800-seat refurbished facility. The 186,000-square-foot auditorium design required a complex cambering of plate girders and cantilever beams on the exterior portion of the structure.

The five-level Hancher Auditorium renovations were the dramatic result of the destructive 2008 Iowa River flooding that displaced UI art and music programs. Damages qualified for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) replacement funding. Strict safety requirements were necessary in this complex project. The $176-million facility, now built two feet above the 500-year flood plain, is the university’s largest and most expensive main campus construction project in history.

Midwest Steel is honored to be working with Williams Brothers and Mortenson Construction and the other members of the prestigious design and construction team assembled for this challenging and beautiful project.

The Hancher Auditorium strives to enrich the life of every Iowan through transformative artistic experiences. Midwest Steel is a proud supporter of community and collegiate arts and looks forward to the architecturally beautiful finished product set to open in the spring of 2016.

You can see the project underway via live web-cam at this link: Hancher Auditotium Web Cam