A House to Hold the Future
Location: Des Moines U.S. Courthouse
Designer: Ann Hamilton
Material: Limestone
Overview
A House to Hold the Future is a permanent, site-specific installation by artist Ann Hamilton, conceived for the United States Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa. The work draws on a simple but profound premise: that what we carve in stone are the things we mean to pass down. Words drawn from documents and legal cases foundational to the American legal system accrete up and down nine limestone columns, their letterforms emerging in relief from the stone surface — not marks on a material, but part of it. Selected and sequenced with attention to the aspirational ideals of their authors, the fragments weave together into a new composition that visitors encounter as both text and tactile presence, legible to the eye and the hand alike.
The stone is Valders Limestone, a dolomitic Midwestern material chosen for its strength, hardness, and the quality of its surface. The letterforms are carved in Penumbra Flare, a typeface that holds the 2,000-year history of Roman capitals alongside the geometric clarity of Futura. Just as geology grows more dense and layered over time, so does language and law — and the installation makes that parallel felt.
Quarra Stone Scope
Quarra Stone served as the primary fabricator for the installation, working in close collaboration with Ann Hamilton and her studio from early design development through final installation. The work demanded a fabrication process built around both precision and sensitivity — digital modeling of each panel to establish geometry and jointing, panelization developed iteratively to ensure text read continuously across seams, and depth-controlled sandblasting and hand finishing calibrated so the letterforms remained legible as light shifted through the courthouse interior across the hours and seasons. Anchorage systems and installation sequencing were developed in coordination with the structural and architectural teams. Throughout, Quarra Stone’s role was as much technical collaborator as fabricator — holding the material and logistical complexity of the project in service of the work’s intent.
