Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn (formerly known as the Danish Immigrant Museum) report the Museum has received a $50,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation, for the purpose of installing a green roof on the Curatorial Center addition, currently under construction.

Artist’s rendition of the Curatorial Center’s Green Roof.

The green roof is expected to maximize energy efficiency and the thermal barrier between the outdoor environment and artifact storage areas, as well as incorporate the addition into the visitor experience of the surrounding Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park. The addition is being built into the western hillside of the museum and connects in the basement level, bringing the top of the structure at nearly ground-level.

The green roof will serve as an elevated continuation of the Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park space. Museum visitors will be able to walk on a pathway atop the roof, view the native plantings, and read interpretive panels about green roofs and native plantings. The museum’s green roof will be unusual in that it will incorporate prairie grasses and forbs instead of sedums, which are most commonly used on green roofs.

The planting plan, developed by landscapers at Midwest Groundcovers of St. Charles, IL, is based on research done by the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Conservation Science Center. The roof will comprised of 20 different, native plants. Under the roof, the Curatorial Center addition will add 8,000 square feet of artifact storage area and staff workspaces. Construction began on the project in September 2013 and is expected to reach completion in the summer of 2014.

The Iowa West Foundation grant was included in their 2013 fourth quarter grant awards to 32 non-profit organizations in the region. Museum officials say the foundation will be recognized for its grant upon completion of the addition and the green roof on an educational, outdoor panel specifically highlighting green roofs.