Des Moines, IA
The 78-year-old Des Moines Art Center is the only art museum in the capital city of Iowa, and one of the few art museums in the country with an affiliated art school open to all. It welcomes around 300,000 visitors annually to its storied campus comprising three historic buildings designed by renowned architects Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier, and its Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Founded as an encyclopedic museum, the Art Center's focus shifted to primarily modern and contemporary art beginning in 1969.
Sustainability is a core consideration of the Des Moines Art Center's strategic planning. A 2024 FCI Catalyst Grant supported the purchase and installation of an LED lighting system in the Art Center's 1968 I. M. Pei Building, replacing over eighty outdated fixtures with museum-quality, Bluetooth-capable, energy-efficient alternatives. This project resulted in an estimated annual energy savings of 36,714 kilowatt hours and an emissions reduction of approximately 28 tons of CO₂.
A 2026 FCI Implementation Grant supports replacement of the original constant-volume air-handling unit in the Art Center’s 1985 Meier Building, a key component of its overall HVAC system and one of the main drivers of overall energy usage. The new unit will incorporate VFD (variable frequency drive) technology and modern control sequences that will greatly increase daily energy efficiency and provide more exacting regulation of environmental conditions inside the galleries. Modernization of the air-handling unit, particularly its fan systems, is expected to reduce energy consumption by 30–60 percent compared to the existing constant-volume unit.