Dixie State University, in partnership with the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and the Utah Division of Arts & Museum Public Art Program, is requesting artist or artist team qualifications for the creation of site-specific artwork(s) for the Dixie State University Science, Technology and Engineering Building in St. George, Utah.

BUDGET: $340,000

ELIGIBILITY: Professional artists who are US citizens or otherwise legal US residents

DEADLINE: April 24, 2020

Review full RFQ with site images here.

DIXIE UNIVERSITY – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING

The College of Science, Engineering, and Technology offers Bachelor’s degrees, Associate of Arts or Science degrees and Associate degrees in Applied Science. A Dixie State University education provides experience through undergraduate research while preparing students for their career. Courses offered in the Science, Engineering and Technology departments are well planned and designed to give students the best education possible. Classes and laboratories are designed to stimulate and increase students’ desire to learn and succeed. This new building will enable the university to expand its academic offerings in computer, electrical and mechanical engineering along with biology, chemistry, physics, geology, physiology and genetic counseling. Graduates in these programs will go on to fill regional health care and technology workforce shortages. Additionally, the facility will allow Dixie State to create technology, engineering and biotech pipeline programs with Intermountain Healthcare, the University of Utah and local tech industry partners.

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Standing five stories high and consisting of 122,000 square feet of classrooms, laboratories and support spaces, the new Science, Technology & Engineering Building at Dixie State University will help meet the ever increasing demand for state-of-the-art science and engineering facilities required by so many of the majors offered by the university. Disciplines that will be taught in this building include Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Genetics, Geo Sciences, Prototyping, Thermofluids, Mechatronics and Computer Sciences, to name a few.

From the beginning of the project, the various departments belonging to this building have expressed excitement to cohabitate and a desire for increased cross-disciplinary collaboration. One key architectural response to this desire for collaboration was inspired by an oasis within a desert. In a harsh desert environment, an oasis provides shelter, resources, and comfort sought out by all walks of life. An oasis brings many unlikely life forms together to a place of cohabitation where all can enjoy the amenities that the oasis has to offer. Strategically placed throughout the SET building are many shared “oasis” spaces for both students and faculty of all disciplines to enjoy, including a café, a variety of study areas, public roof-top terraces, and student and faculty break rooms. In the main student study areas on each floor these “oases” are marked by a slat-wood ceiling design intended to evoke the feeling of being under a canopy of trees. The spaces where light peeks through tree branches in a canopy was geometricized and represented as voided triangles with carefully selected light fixtures to create an ambiance different from other areas of the building. These main student study areas are located along the main pathway through the building creating a common ground for all disciplines to study, recharge, meet, and interact.

The exterior building materials were selected from a color palette to be “of the desert”. The base of the building is clad in Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) panels, which becomes a visual plinth that the building rests upon. A glass curtain wall system populates the north and south facades, allowing for daylighting into the science labs and views out across campus and to the desert landscape beyond. The south curtainwall is equipped with sunshades to mitigate glare and solar heat gain. The east and west facades are clad with Copper metal panels which are expected to patina to a rich dark brown color in Southern Utah’s arid environment. Copper’s thermal, conductive, geological, chemical and microbial properties seem to give this metal a special relevance and meaning to each discipline in this building, making this building material particularly appropriate for a building that celebrates different forms of knowledge coming together to spark innovation and collaboration.

PUBLIC ART GOALS

The Selection Committee asks that interested artist consider:

• Active Learning / Active Life is the vision for Dixie State University and informs this facility design as well as the learning and teaching in the College of Science, Technology and Engineering. The College is creating a space to design and make. The intent is impact and less as spectator or lecture. This building will be a dense “beehive” of activity with “do space” for students and faculty working in “maker spaces.” The aim is innovation, collaboration and inspiration.
• The science themed and rich materiality of the building design provides many opportunities for the integration of an artist’s interpretation into the architecture and site.
• The Selection Committee is open to artist suggested sites, both interior and exterior, but has identified areas that would likely not be ideal sites for public art: west side exterior, stairwells, glass / windows, or north portion of student lounge. The southern exterior sidewalk / plaza is a fire lane and cannot be obstructed. Lastly, the windows into the laboratories facing the plaza are designed to allowing viewing into and out of the labs and should be considered for any proposals involving those areas.

SELECTION PROCESS

The Selection Committee will review all preliminary material properly submitted. Finalists will be selected from the first phase of applicants and asked to present a working proposal to the Selection Committee on July 16, 2020. Contacts and as much information as possible will be provided to the finalists to assist in research and development of a proposal. An honorarium will be offered to the finalists to help defray the costs associated with development of a proposal and travel. This honorarium will be applied toward the commission amount for the artist(s) awarded the commission. Final selection(s) will be made from the finalists interviewed.

TIMELINE

• February 2020 – Release RFQ
• April 24, 2020 – Deadline for receipt of preliminary materials
• May 14, 2020 – Committee Review
• July 16, 2020 – Finalists presentations
• TBD – Substantial completion of the project

WHAT TO SUBMIT

1. Letter of Interest: Briefly describe your interest in this project and how your work may relate. If you have a concept in mind you may include that information. 5000 Maximum Character Limit
2. Visual support materials: Visual representations of your work in up to ten still images and/or up to six moving image files – for total of 10 samples maximum. (jpg files under 5MB –Video files: MOV, MP4, WMV, 3GP, AVI, ASF, MPG, M2T, MKV, M2TS under 100 MB – Audio files: AIFF, WAV, XMF, MP3 under 10 MB
3. CV/Resume: Upload up to three pages.

The Art Selection Committee reserves the right to withhold the award of a commission or re-release the call for entries.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submit online only through the CaFE system. Faxed or e-mailed applications cannot be accepted.

QUESTIONS? Contact Jim Glenn at 801-245-7271 or jglenn@utah.gov