texas tech university system

Request for Qualifications: Texas Tech University System is looking for an outdoor sculpture (Odessa, TX)

TTUHSC Permian Basin Academic Facility

The Texas Tech University System seeks to commission a professional artist to create site-specific exterior sculpture(s) to be placed outside the new Permian Basin Academic Facility, located at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Permian Basin campus, located in Odessa. TX. Construction of the new facility will be completed by June 2018.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Permian Basin is part of a seven campus regional system that serves the greater Permian Basin area with three schools located on campus providing higher medical education in Health Professions, medicine and nursing. The Permian Basin Academic Facility will include academic space for lecture halls and classrooms, research laboratories, faculty/researcher and staff offices, an education and conference center, and specialized instructional space and associated support spaces. Art in this area should help to “activate” the area by creating an element to draw people in and keep them seated in this area for studying, socializing, etc.

Safety is imperative; durable, low-maintenance materials are recommended to withstand daily foot-traffic of faculty, staff, students, and visitors to the Facility. Ideal submissions may be linear or designed to make the maximum impact in a linear space. This piece should be outdoors and available to the community. More modern and vibrant art is desired. Water features are highly discouraged, but the selected artist will have an opportunity to collaborate with landscape architects for the project.

Among relevant concepts to consider are the heritage of the Permian Basin area, including the ranching and oil history, and also the vastness of the landscape, topography and strata of the area, and the beauty in a flat space. This is a bold part of Texas with big ideas and a land full of color. Any concepts that may be considered polemic or political should be avoided. Also subjects that are considered a Texas stereotype should be avoided. Artists should attempt to create a design that speaks to the diversity that a university such as the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Permian Basin brings to the community.

In order to be considered, submissions must comply with the requirements outlined in this document. Objects that are mass-produced or of standard manufacture are not eligible for consideration.

Location: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Permian Basin, Odessa, TX

Budget: $214,000

Deadline: December 14, 2016 at 3 p.m. (central)

See full RFQ here: http://esbd.cpa.state.tx.us/bid_show.cfm?bidid=129126

Apply online here