IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two major arts buildings are set to reopen this fall at the University of Iowa as the school emerges from historic flooding in 2008 that devastated much of its arts campus.
The new $176 million Hancher Auditorium performing arts center with an 1,800-seat theater was built just north of the original building and seven feet above the 500-year flood plain. Its exterior features 14,000 brushed steel panels.
The glass-lined, six-level $152 million Voxman Music Building reunites under one roof the 450 music students who have been meeting in several interim facilities across the campus. It features a 700-seat concert hall, one-of-a-kind German organ and interior and exterior of twisted terra cotta.