By Martha Crofts
The Utah State Capitol''s deterioration - visible cracks in the terra cotta and dome and the lack of protection against earthquakes - have prompted a major renovation project.
'The Capitol is falling apart,' said Allyson Gamble, director of communications and public relations for the State of Utah Capitol Preservation Board. 'It was not built to stand time.'
To protect the Capitol from crumbling in an earthquake, base isolators, basically giant shock absorbers up to six feet in diameter, will be placed under the building.
The Capitol will temporarily be placed on giant stilts (massive, structured internal walls) after excavating 10 to 25 feet under the building. The depths will depend on the position of the hill the building sits on.
The stilts will keep the upper half of the building from snapping off if it sways while the base isolators are being brought in, Gamble said.
The new system will enable the building to move with an earthquake instead of against it.
A team of 59 architects, engineers, construction managers, contractors, consultants and members of the Capitol Preservation Board are planning the use of the base isolators along with other renovations. The base isolation system will be ordered from a contractor this fall.
Each base will be constructed in the appropriate position, meaning not all are the same height and size.
'It is extremely scientific and complicated,' she said.
The project will cost $200 million, half of the initial estimate, Gamble said.
Construction will begin for the base isolation system in December 2004. The building will close starting around October 2004 and reopen in 2008.
Legislators will be relocated to the new East and West Extension Buildings that are currently under construction. That construction began in March 2002.
The new buildings will later become permanent offices for government agencies, opening more room inside the Capitol for the public.
The two buildings will also help complete the original campus-like structure designed by Richard A. Kletting in 1911.
The 59-member team is working to plan other aspects of the renovation as well.
Some of the projects currently being planned include installing a new smoke evacuation system to protect against toxic gasses, creating new safety escape passages (currently the only exit from the upper floors is through the grand staircases), restoring and up-grading the skylights, replacing granite and fixing the concrete in the dome.
'If there is any movement, that thing (the dome) is going down,' Gamble said.
The Capitol Restoration Board, which includes the governor, lieutenant governor, chief justice of the state Supreme Court, speaker of the house, an architect, director of archives and others appointed by the governor, oversees all renovations.
The board was created in 1999.
Board member Jeff Bennion said the renovation is the most exciting building project to happen in Utah in years.
Bennion credits the governor and legislature for putting the process in motion and continuing with the vision even though the budget is tight.
'My children and children''s children will be able to enjoy the building I and my grand-parents and great-grandparents have enjoyed,' he said.
For him, he said, the Capitol is the representation of the entire state government. He said any time a physical renewal happens, it will mean a renewal internally for the government as well.
Bennion said part of the Capitol grounds - mainly the front area - will remain open for visitors.