Check out the new federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, but be prepared to de-belt

I was among over 400 people who attended a public open house Friday, Dec. 14, for the new U.S. federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The line to get in snaked through the entry corridor and out the front door at one point, and I waited for about a half hour as visitors were checked through the screening process that is required at all federal courthouses.

 I had remembered to leave my cellphone in the car, but I still had to empty my pockets, take off my watch and my belt and put them, along with my pen and notebook, in a tray before walking through the screener. On the other side I gathered up my belongings and put on my belt in the middle of the crowd.

Awkward.

Aside from that strange moment and the grumpy old man in line ahead of me who didn’t like waiting and made sure everyone knew it, the open house was incredible.

“Wow” sums up the $115 million, 280,000-square-foot building, for which my employer, KJWW Engineering Consultants, provided the mechanical, electrical and plumbing design, along with construction administration and low voltage pathway lighting. Architects for the building were William Rawn Associates, Boston, and OPN Architects Inc., Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.

I’m new to the engineering consulting business, and I am not an engineer, nor do I consult. I work in the marketing department. A big part of my job is to understand what our engineers do, get to know the projects they work on and write various communications on these projects for use internally and externally. Needless to say I have much to learn.

To learn about the courthouse, I began by interviewing Lincoln Pearce, KJWW’s lead engineer on the project. Lincoln worked for 10 years on the courthouse, which was put into high gear after the flood of 2008 inundated the riverfront building in which the courthouse was a tenant. Lincoln explained to me the engineers’ many challenges, many of which were framed by the U.S. General Services Administration’s anti-terrorism design and sustainability standards as well as the architect’s requirements. The engineers were successful. The building is safe, is on track to achieve LEED Gold certification, and none of the systems compromise the architects’ design.

Actually being in the building on Friday allowed me to see the layout, which helped me better understand what the engineers faced. Being there I also realized that I will never look at a building the same way again — I now think about things like air handling units, dedicated outside air systems, point-of-use hot water, economizers and daylight dimming. These are the things people don’t notice — and engineers like it that way. If people did notice, it would mean something isn’t working right.

I talked with the building’s courtroom technology specialist, with people who work in the offices of U.S. Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley and with the clerk of the court, all of whom gave glowing reports on the how the building “works.”

“All the comments I’ve been getting are positive,” said Robert Phelps, Clerk of Court and the man responsible for Friday’s open house. “We are thrilled.”

Phelps added that the building’s tenants “can’t stop commenting on how beautiful the building is and how great everything works… This is one of the best (GSA) projects anyone has seen.”

If you find yourself in Cedar Rapids sometime, I recommend checking out the courthouse — a beautiful, striking structure right downtown at 111 7th Ave. SE. It’s open to the public every day.

Just remember to leave your cellphone in the car, and be prepared to take off your belt.