Saving past, looking ahead

Omaha World-Herald: The location of an important element of the new University of Nebraska-Lincoln Innovation Campus — in a remodeled version of a 99-year-old State Fair building — says a lot about Nebraskans’ deep roots and their respect for their past.

For decades, the 1913 Industrial Arts Building showcased the latest in agriculture for state fairgoers. But it deteriorated badly and was closed in 2004.

After its renovation, it will be a sparkling jewel in the Innovation Campus, displaying a range of features, including up-to-the-minute greenhouses and high-ceilinged research laboratories to accommodate large pieces of scientific equipment.

The trapezoid-shaped structure had deteriorated so much over the years that at first the idea was to demolish it. Dedicated preservationists such as Heritage Nebraska, the State Historical Society and several architects worked hard to see that the structure would be saved — not historically preserved, precisely, but creatively reused.

The Industrial Arts Building will be part of an $80 million, four-building complex, the first phase of construction at the Innovation Campus, which is being established on the old state fairgrounds in Lincoln. Another former fair exhibit hall, the 4-H Building, also will be incorporated into the complex.

So the elderly Industrial Arts Building has come full circle: from a display space for the latest harrows and plows, to work areas for the latest in futuristic research and innovation.