Gensler, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners (JLREP) are soliciting qualifications from accomplished artists or artist teams to create a site-specific WMATA public artwork for the new WMATA Regional Headquarters Facility at 2395 Mill Road, Alexandria VA. The building entry facade and lobby spaces have been identified as possible locations for the artwork in order to create the best experience for WMATA employees, visitors, and members of the public.
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Deadline: 12 Jun 2020
The WMATA Eisenhower Avenue building is a 14-story headquarters facility that will consolidate several departments including the authority’s Technology and Engineering groups. It will foster a culture that is safety-focused, customer-centric, and technology-enabled as well as create a rich, immersive employee experience. The building will feel welcoming, open, and accessible. The building’s entry lobby is a light-filled, double-height space wrapping the southwest corner of the building.
Parameters and Goals
The Authority has a history of and expectation for design excellence and, through its Art in Transit Program, has been working to obtain unique, memorable, and engaging site-specific, public artworks. The artists/artist teams shall develop aesthetically attractive public artworks that capture the Authority’s mission and reflect the artistic, cultural and/or historical interests of the surrounding communities. Consideration shall be given to creative uses of materials, massing, scale, form, texture, and detailing. Artworks shall be visually attractive, innovative, and durable. The selected site-specific artworks should impart a sense of pride within the local community and provide a stimulating and attractive environment for the people who will experience the artworks daily.
The artwork selection will follow a two-phase process referred to as Phase 1 and Phase 2. The artist selection panel seeks a pool of applicants with a successful history of public art and collaboration with public agencies and/or design build projects.
Phase 1
Requires artists/artist teams to prepare and submit qualifications as appropriate for the scope of work and qualifications submittal requirements as set forth in this solicitation. An artist selection panel led by WMATA and JLREP, and comprising art and design professionals, will select at least three artists/artist teams as determined by this RFQ’s evaluation criteria.
The selected artists/artist teams will each receive a $1,500 design fee to prepare and submit a site-specific artwork proposal that will comply with the prescribed concepts. These artists/artist teams will then proceed to Phase 2 of the selection process.
Phase 2
WMATA and JLREP will invite the selected artists/artist teams whose qualifications are deemed acceptable to receive detailed contract information for the purpose of submitting site-specific, Phase 2 artwork proposals. WMATA and JLREP expects the proposals to include all premiums required to complete the project on or ahead of the schedule listed in the present RFQ.
As part of the proposal, the artists/artist teams are expected to provide a site-specific design and the estimated costs for fabrication, installation, engineering/architectural coordination, technical, clerical, and other services necessary as well as schedules required for the fabrication and installation of the artwork. The artist/artists team’s experience and professional record should provide convincing evidence of their ability to successfully complete the project as proposed.
The artist selection panel will rank each site-specific artwork based on the evaluation criteria listed in this RFQ and make a recommendation to the WMATA General Manager for approval. JLREP will then enter into negotiations with the top-ranked artists/artist team to finalize the contract award process. If JLREP is unable to reach agreement with the top ranked artists/artist team, they will end negotiations and begin negotiations with the next ranked artists/artist team.
WMATA Public Artwork Budget
The maximum budget for the site-specific art project is not to exceed $250,000 all-inclusive of design (artist fee included), construction, and installation as well as other miscellaneous costs. The budget for artwork as outlined in this call for artists is subject to the availability of funds.
About Gensler
Gensler is one community. Their community is focused on improving the human experience, guided by a vision that’s committed to making a better world and realized through the positive changes they make in people’s lives. When they move forward together, the impact is real. Their incredible global team of 6,000+ people is shaping the future of cities every day. It starts with a vision: to Create a Better World Through the Power of Design. This vision comes to life across expertise in 24 practice areas, client relationships, a network of global and local leaders, and diversity of talent.
About Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) was created by an interstate compact in 1967 to plan, develop, build, finance, and operate a balanced regional transportation system in the national capital area. Metro began building its rail system in 1969, acquired four regional bus systems in 1973, and began operating the first phase of Metrorail in 1976. Today, Metrorail serves 91 stations and has 117 miles of track. Metrobus serves the nation’s capital 24 hours a day, seven days a week with 1,500 buses. Metrorail and Metrobus serve a population of approximately 4 million within a 1,500-square mile jurisdiction. Metro began its paratransit service, MetroAccess, in 1994; it provides about 2.3 million trips per year.
For more information, contact Barton_Bland@gensler.com.