Partnerships
The creation of our new home sparked many new relationships for the Stanley Center. Our partners played a vital role in the success of our Living Building Challenge project and we could not be more grateful. The time and effort that each contributed ensured that every aspect aligned with our values and goal of creating a holistically sustainable building.
Commercial Partnerships
Biohabits was tasked with the creation and engineering of our water filtration system. They prioritize sustainability and ecological stewardship in their work, which is reflected in how our building captures and manages water.
Design Engineers implemented sustainable solutions for our HVAC and plumbing systems. Our water collection and distribution system was integrated into our building with their engineering expertise.
Environmental Consulting & Technology (ECT) was the project’s landscape architect and civil engineer. They incorporated as many plants native to the region as possible in our landscape design.
Graham Construction brought our blueprints to life and built our building. Throughout the process, they found creative solutions to recycle and reduce waste while renovating the existing structure, a former public library. They knew how important sustainability is to our planet and strove to implement our values in as many aspects of the project as possible.
HNI, a furniture company in Muscatine that was also founded by our namesake, Max Stanley, was committed to the Living Building Challenge requirement of red-list free materials. They analyzed and improved the chemical properties of their materials and fabrics to create the furniture in our building, while remaining operationally transparent in their processes.
Integrated Eco Strategy created the foundation for utilizing red-list free materials in our building. With their consulting, we were able to prioritize the use of healthy materials in many aspects of our project.
Neumann Monson, our award-winning architecture firm, recognized our values and brought them into the building design process, which ultimately led us to take on the Living Building Challenge. Their expertise guided us every step of the way, from building design and collaboration with other partners to implementation and Living Building Challenge certification.
Raker Rhodes was the structural engineer for our building. They focused on reusing the former library’s structural steel to minimize waste.
Public Partnerships
The City of Muscatine has been forward-thinking in its approach to hosting one of the first Living Building projects in Iowa. We worked closely with city officials when operationalizing the sustainable energy and water systems of our building, which itself was once home to the community’s public library.
Our neighbors at the Muscatine Center for Social Action (MCSA) provide housing, health care, and support services to those in need. We extended solar panels above the alley between our buildings, capturing sustainable energy while providing outdoor shelter for their guests. Our community decorated the alley by painting the Living Future Mural, and we were able to help MCSA reduce their water use by replacing their washing machines and faucets.
The Muscatine Art Center collaborated with us in helping create the Tree of Accountability. Under its artful direction, Stanley Center staff painted leaves to adorn the tree sculpture on which messages of lived experience, allyship, and solidarity were written by Indigenous and settler community members.
We were honored to renovate the historic former site of the Musser Public Library at 304 Iowa Avenue as our new home. When a time capsule of library artifacts from 1901 and 1971 was discovered during the course of construction, we hosted public events with the library to return the time capsule—with artifacts added from 2022 by the Stanley Center—to the foundations of the building so it may be unearthed again by future generations.
The Stanley Center is located on the ancestral homelands of the Meskwaki Nation. Educators at the Meskwaki Settlement School in Tama, Iowa, have helped us grow our understanding of local Indigenous history. The Tree of Accountability sculpture in our building began an ongoing conversation between Indigenous communities and settlers in eastern Iowa that asks, “How can settlers be accountable to the people of the lands on which they live?”
Live Oak Consulting facilitates consultation, trainings, and evaluation for organizations who seek to partner and foster meaningful collaboration with Native Tribes and communities. Deana Dartt and her team guided us in our land acknowledgment and outreach to local Indigenous community leaders.
Under the guidance of artist Nancy Judd and master welder Heath Daggs, students from the Muscatine Community College, a valued community partner, welded metal salvaged from our renovations of the former Musser Library to create the Tree of Accountability sculpture in our building.