A Beacon of Light in Times of Darkness

By Jim Timlick

Guho Corp has been involved in the construction of several high-profile building projects in and around Boise for the last 30 years.

Still, company vice president Anthony Guho acknowledged few of those previous projects came with the same level of expectations associated with the one it is scheduled to begin working on later this year.

Guho Corp is the general contractor for the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, which will be built in downtown Boise right next to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. The two-story, 5,500-square-foot facility will feature classrooms, exhibits, public meeting space, a training facility, and a state-of-the-art interactive display and has been designed to serve as a beacon of light in times of darkness.

“Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it,” Guho responded when asked about the pressure that comes with being involved in such a prestigious project.

“It’s a hallmark project that’s going to be in an extremely busy part of downtown Boise and is going to have some highprofile visibility. We know a lot of people are watching. It’s pressure, but that’s what we enjoy. We like the hard, complicated projects. That’s part of the challenge and part of the fun.”

Guho said his company was anxious to be involved with building the center after working with officials from the nonprofit on the construction of an outdoor classroom at the same location a few years ago.

“We got to see what they do then and their mission and all the work they do,” he said. “Just seeing the work they do and the impact they have in the community, we’re honored they asked us to come back and help them with this building.”

Construction of the $5.5 million facility is expected to begin later this year and is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2023.

The seeds for the center were originally sown back in 1995 when Boise hosted a traveling exhibit entitled “Anne Frank and the World”. The exhibit attracted more than 50,000 visitors in one month and eventually led to the construction of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in 2002, which receives more than 120,000 visitors annually. The center’s focus then shifted to promoting human dignity and diversity through education. Executive director Dan Prinzing said the new facility will allow the center to host those efforts in one centralized location rather than at numerous sites throughout the community as it must currently do.

The center is named in honor of Bill Wassmuth, a former Catholic priest in Coeur d’Alene who became a spokesperson for the Kootenai County taskforce on human relations and spearheaded efforts to shut down a white nationalist compound in Idaho in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In keeping with its mission to shine light in times of darkness, the center will feature a cross laminated timber (CLT) ceiling that will look as if it’s floating on

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air with LED lighting on the top. The main floor will include offices, workrooms, and additional staff spaces. The second floor will be home to a human rights classroom where students can meet in-person or online, a research center, exhibits, and a catering kitchen.

One of the most notable features of the center will be a state-of-the-art exhibit being built in conjunction with the USC Shoah Foundation, which was created by filmmaker Steven Spielberg to help keep stories of Holocaust survivors and liberators alive. The one-of-a-kind interactive display will allow visitors to the center to ask questions of life-sized video representations of survivors and liberators who will then respond to the questions.

“It literally becomes a one-to-one conversation. It’s just phenomenal technology. It will really help to keep the stories alive,” Prinzing said.

Linking both floors of the building will be a two-story lobby. There will also be a number of original works of art located throughout the center including a glass mobile set of wings made of 500 pieces of glass shaped in the form of wings and a sculpture created by Boise-based artist Benjamin Victor, the only living artist to have three works in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol building, as well as a tribute to late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Prinzing says there will be a couple of notable challenges that will have to be dealt with during construction. The center site is on top of a geothermal line that will have to be shifted to accommodate the building. There is also a water line that will have to be moved before construction begins.

Another challenge, according to Guho, is the small, triangular-shaped footprint of the site and the fact the Anne Frank memorial will still be welcoming members of the public throughout construction.

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erstad, a Boise-based architectural firm. Guho applauded their efforts and how they managed to tie in the human rights center with the Anne Frank memorial and outdoor classroom even though they were all designed at different times.

Although a team of subcontractors for the project was still being assembled as of late June, Guho said he expects most of the subs chosen to be locally based companies his firm has worked with before.

“We’ve got our core group of subs we do a lot of work with and we expect to bring our A team together to deliver a quality project that meets all of the expectations,” he said.

Prinzing said center officials were impressed by the quantity and quality of the construction companies interested in being involved in the project.

Plans are for contractors and subcontractors involved in the construction of the center to be recognized on a door-sized plaque located near the entrance to the building. The idea for it was inspired by a conversation between Prinzing and Guho

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idahosif.org • 208.332.2100 Corp owner Nick Guho who told him such plaques were commonplace when his grandfather was involved in construction.

“As we started talking about it, I said we need to do that too,” Prinzing recalled. “We’re located on a major downtown thoroughfare and it is going to become an iconic building in the valley, not only the work being done but the design. We really want to highlight and pay credit to all those that have made it possible.”

Center officials are in the home stretch of their fundraising efforts for the new facility. As of late June, $4.7 million of the $5.5 million required for the project had already been raised. Money raised for the project has come from a variety of sources including private companies, foundations, and individual donors as part of a capital campaign (wassmuthcenter. org). Everyone who contributes to the campaign will be recognized on a stone plaque near the center’s entrance.

Prinzing said the success of the fundraising campaign is indicative of the community’s support for the project.

“I think what it really speaks to is the value of the center’s work, the presence of who we are not only in the community but as a voice throughout the state. It’s a real value for not only the work being done, but an acknowledgement that the work is really needed and that it is important in this time.” l