Project Description - About Colorado State University and Clark Building 

Founded in 1870 as the Colorado Agricultural College, Colorado State University is now among the nation's leading research universities, with annual research expenditures above $300 million. Located in Fort Collins, Colorado’s land-grant university currently enrolls about 33,000 total students, including 4,000 graduate students and 580 Professional Veterinary Medicine students, and has more than 1,800 faculty members working in eight colleges. More information is available at www.colostate.edu.

Colorado State University (CSU) is one of the nation’s top public Tier 1 Research universities and an institution on the rise. CSU is a higher education destination for working and learning for faculty, staff, and students from across Colorado, the nation, and around the globe. CSU has produced record enrollment in the past decade, built on all-time highs in student inclusivity and student success, experienced record fundraising and research expenditures that keep hitting new highs year-after-year, and our faculty are known nationally and internationally for their groundbreaking research. Among other recognition for research and creative scholarship, CSU was recognized in 2022 as one of 10 top research institutions in the world contributing to solving the COVID pandemic. CSU is thriving, with a five-year average enrollment of more than 33,400 students. The 2024 incoming class of 5,485 students is our second largest ever and included 31% from diverse populations and 23% who were first in their families to attend college. The Fort Collins campus had a total student headcount of 34,218 for 2024-25. 

Built in 1968, the Andrew G. Clark Building, named for a mathematics professor, is an academic workhorse and houses nine departments within the College of Liberal Arts (Sociology, History, Anthropology & Geography, Journalism and Media Communication, Political Science, Economics, Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts, International Studies, Languages, Literatures and Cultures as well as the Department of Psychology in the College of Natural Sciences. The current building is 255,000 square feet, takes up 3.6 acres and is constructed of poured-in-place concrete. It contains several large lecture halls, other classrooms, academic department offices, laboratories, computer labs and the College of Liberal Arts dean’s office. Along with Morgan Library and the Lory Student Center, the Clark Building sits at the heart of Colorado State University’s main campus and is central to its academic mission. 

Clark is the most heavily used academic building on the Fort Collins main campus, serving 70% of undergraduate students in any given year. 99% of students will take at least one class in Clark during their academic career, regardless of major. This renovation and revitalization project will renovate  Clark’s A Wing, and rebuild the B Wing, addressing aging infrastructure and creating spaces that foster interdisciplinary collaborations and community. The revitalized Clark will include new private and shared spaces, the newest technologies in storage and layout for anthropology and history, and spaces for collaborative learning and scholarship.

The revitalization’s goal is to create a collaborative and inclusive design that honors the past and future, celebrates Colorado, and to shift in scale through the building from large down to the human scale. The renovated design matches CSU’s architectural language and blurs the line between old and new. Covered outdoor spaces and exterior terraces were added to create additional gathering spaces and windows were added to bring light in and add transparency to the building. Some other design goals include creating an ease of entry, as well as overall unifying the three building wings to feel like one space rather than three disconnected spaces by increasing wayfinding and visibility between the wings on the interior of the building. Third spaces - spaces for gathering - were added, including group study spaces and a publicly accessible terrace on the fourth level. The central wing of the building, the B wing, will be the hub of the building and the most concentrated area used in the building. Many will likely walk through the B wing entry lobby area to move across campus, and building occupants  will use interior “node” gathering spaces. 

Budget: Up to $280,000

All costs associated with the commissioned public artworks, including, but not limited to, artist fee, insurance, materials, fabrication, transportation, installation, building or site modifications, including lighting, travel to and from the site, per diem expenses, project documentation, contingency to cover unexpected expenses and any other costs related to the project are covered by the budget. Budgets for the specific locations will be provided to the semifinalists.

Opportunities for Public Art

The committee is looking for an artwork or artworks that connect the interior and exterior of the Clark Building by activating locations on both exterior sides and also within the building in either A or B Wing. No artwork will be added to C Wing. Outdoor locations on both on the east and west sides of the building’s exterior and interior locations within the central hub area of Wing B of the building would be the focus for this artwork or artworks. There is also opportunity for small artworks throughout A or B Wings of the building to further create a sense of connection. The committee is open to both a single artist addressing all locations or one or more artists creating artworks.

The committee is also interested in artworks that address what is happening in the building, particularly the College of Liberal Arts’ five primary ideas, which are: 

• How do we make and manage change?
• How do we make meaning of our lives and our world?
• How do we organize ourselves and get along with each other?
• How does the past inform our present and shape our future?
• How do we work toward a thriving planet?

Media of all types will be considered, as well as artworks in a variety of styles. Due to maintenance considerations, artwork incorporating lighting, water, or interactive technology is not of interest for this project. All wall-mounted artwork should meet ADA requirements. Please refer to the site plans and renderings at the end of the full RFQ document (provided by Hord Coplan Macht) to see more information about the potential locations.

 The Selection Committee will also consider the following:

• Artistic excellence 
• Scale, material, form and content
• Safety of materials
• Appropriate relationship to the function of the site
• Resistance to general wear, vandalism, or theft
• Ease of maintenance, minimal and low-cost maintenance

Artists who are residents of the state of Colorado and/or alumni of Colorado State University are encouraged to apply.

Selection Process and Schedule

The Art Selection Committee will review all complete and eligible submissions. A short list of semifinalists will be invited to prepare and present a final proposal in person and be paid an honorarium between $1,000 - 1,500. Final selection(s) will be made from the semifinalists’ proposals. The schedule is as follows:

• Monday, April 28, 2025 11:59 pm MST – Deadline for receipt of submission via CaFÉ™ system
• June 2025  – Selection committee meets to select semifinalists; all applicants notified of application status
• July 2025 – Artist presentations (in person) to the Art Selection Committee

Questions

If you require more information or clarification, please contact Ruth Wilson at 303-880-6671 or ruth.wilson@state.co.us.

Additional Information

Colorado State University website

About the Clark Building revitalization project

Application Requirements

All applications for this project are being accepted through the online platform, CaFÉ™ (www.callforentry.org). No hard copy or emailed submissions will be accepted. The applicant will be asked to submit digital images of art, a résumé, and a brief statement of interest. There is no application fee to apply or to use the CaFÉ™ online application system. If you need assistance in using the CaFÉ™ system, please refer to this Help for Artists webpage. You can also reach out to them via this Contract CaFÉ™ Support form or email cafehelp@wearecreativewest.org.

• Digital Images. In order to be considered for this project, the applicant must electronically submit, via the CaFÉ™ system, no less than six (6) and no more than eight (8) digital images of previously completed artworks. 
•  Resume: Submit a current résumé, via CaFÉ™, that outlines professional accomplishments as an artist.
•  Statement of Interest: A statement of interest of 250 words or less must be submitted via CaFÉ™. It should briefly outline the interest in the specific opportunity. 

Eligibility Criteria

All applicants must be residents of the United States. Artists from all identities, backgrounds, and abilities are welcome to apply. Artists who are residents of the state of Colorado and/or alumni of Colorado State University are encouraged to apply.