The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s (UNMC) new residence hall is the first on-campus residence hall designed for the needs of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Nestled in the hillside of 39th Street and Dewey Avenue, the building subtly defines the campus edge while remaining true to the forms and materials of the surrounding neighborhood.  

The building incorporates a collaborative floor design with flexible spaces crafted for student engagement. The residential facility will include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, which can house up to 300 UNMC Students. There will be other amenities, like a “grab-and-go” food option with indoor and outdoor seating, as well as first floor meeting and study spaces open to all UNMC students, faculty, and staff, including non-tenants. The new building also provides green space and connective pathways to promote interactions with nature and the surrounding campus life. 

This Request for Qualifications is for an exterior artwork site on the west side of the new Residence Hall. 

A variety of health professions students will call this building home. The Committee’s goal is to create a vibrant environment that welcomes people with an artwork that is refined, yet adds character and unique qualities to the building. The Committee would like the artwork to help the building stand apart from other buildings in Omaha, as a lively location that is clearly where health professions students study, play, relax, and most importantly, call home. Imagine, after a long day of clinical training, biomedical labwork, public health practicums, etc., arriving home to joyful artwork that invites residents and guests to use the other side of their brain. 

 

The artwork does not have to have a literal tie to health professions, and can be abstract and/or non-representational.  The letter of interest should descripte how your work would be a good fit for the building and the people using it, how it would achieve the goals listed in the RFQ, and, if applicable, and connections to health professions. 

 

The artwork site is a portion of the wall on the west side of the building. The artwork can be adhered or installed onto the wall, and can have sculptural or relief qualities. The artwork can not be installed on the ground, or require footings in the ground. The materials should be durable and able to withstand Nebraska wind and weather. Additional details about potential artwork sites are on the  following pages. Artists can use the entirety of wall the allocated. Quality over quantity and adherence to the budget, will be considered. 

The UNMC Campus is home to the Healing Arts Collection: https://healingarts.unmc.edu/permanent-collection/

Project renderings, site plans, as well as full RFQ for this project:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f1iGXMnHGzmz1QlGpMP-1hK2hqJ2AAlj?usp=sharing