UTAH ARTS & MUSEUMS’ PUBLIC ART PROGRAM
Request for Artist’s Qualifications for the Mountainland Technical College - Trades and Technology Building
     
DEADLINE FOR MATERIALS: March 1, 2019

MOUNTAINLAND TECHNICAL COLLEGE
The mission of the Mountainland Technical College (MTECH) is to enhance the employability of individuals through market-driven career and technical education, through the five core areas of: program development, student achievement, faculty and staff support, physical resources, and community outreach.

This is accomplished through competency-based education and training programs, which may be long term, short term, apprenticeship, or custom designed for individual employer needs. Many of the programs are offered in an open-entry, open-exit format providing flexibility for students and employers at low-cost tuition for adults and no-cost tuition for high school students.

Students are assisted in acquiring the basic skills necessary to succeed in these technical training programs. MTECH prepares students to enter, re-enter, upgrade, or advance in the workplace, which contributes to the economic development, and improves the quality of life for Mountainland Region citizens.

HISTORY OF MOUNTAINLAND TECHNICAL COLLEGE
Mountainland Technical College (MTECH) was originally established as Mountainland Applied Technology Center in November 1989 under the guidance of the Mountainland Region Vocational and Technical Education Coordinating Committee (VTECC). In 2001 through state legislation, the College officially became Mountainland Applied Technology College and an affiliate campus of the Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT). In June 2006 MTECH was awarded full accreditation and in 2017 became Mountainland Technical College, a recognized body-corporate and body-politic institution governed by Trustees of the Utah System of Technical Colleges.

MTECH is the fastest growing college within Utah’s Technical College system, offering programs in over 50 career and technical education fields with over 1 million student membership hours.

LEHI, UTAH
Lehi is located 23 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah. The indigenous populations of Utah include the Ute, Southern Paiute, Navajo, Goshute, Northern and Eastern Shoshone. Prior to European settlement, these Nations ranged all across the Great Basin and Inter-mountain West. The area of Lehi was settled by pioneers in 1850. Since that time Lehi has been known by the names of: Sulphur Springs, Snow’s Springs, Dry Creek, and Evansville. The present name of Lehi was adopted when the city was incorporated in 1852. Lehi is Utah’s sixth oldest town and northernmost community in Utah Valley. The first major boom to the city was in 1858 as a result of the establishment of the Utah Expeditionary Force at nearby Camp Floyd, the largest military establishment in the United States at that time. The city’s second economy grew substantially again in the 1890s with the establishment of the
Utah Sugar Company’s first factory at Mulliner’s Mill Pond. The Overland Stage Coach Route, Pony Express Trail, and Transcontinental Telegraph all passed through Lehi during the peak of their use, across the Jordan River via nearby Indian Ford.
 
Lehi is surrounded by Wasatch Mountains to the east and White and Oquirrh Mountains on the west. 

THE NEW FACILITY
Mountainland Technical College is a leader in providing career and technical education. Flexibility of programs and curriculum development is vital to their success in placing students either directly into high-demand occupations or continuing education pathways at another college or university through stackable credentials.

MTECH’s Trades and Technology building will create a new center for trades education in the Mountainland region by housing a variety of industry and technology programs including: Automotive, Diesel, Advanced Manufacturing, Welding, CNC/Machining, and Information Technology. 

MTECH’s main campus is in Lehi, Utah, located at the corner of Ashton Blvd. and 2300 West. The campus is in close proximity to a recent and fast-growing commercial development on the western end of Utah County’s “Silicon Slopes,” where several high-tech companies, both local and international are located.

The Wasatch front’s commuter rail line, Frontrunner, connects Utah County to Salt Lake County, and runs along the southwest corner of the site. As the Wasatch front population continues to grow, this will expose the college to thousands of riders a day.

While MTECH’s new project will harmonize with the campus context, their bold vision seeks to embrace modern technical educational environments and will be inspired by the students, instructors, and industry partners that use the space daily - with equal emphasis on the exterior elements and the interior functions. In this sense, the project is designed from the inside- out - putting the trades and technology programs on display through layers of transparency, lighting, textures and graphics/signage. 

BUILDING DESIGN
The building design embodies versatility through expansive, nearly column-free labs and shops. The building design, with the long axis running east-west is generally arranged with the labs/shops on the south side, and the classrooms on the north side.

Classrooms and lab support spaces are be located on the north side immediately adjacent to the labs. This puts the main interior circulation for the entire building on the furthest north side – connecting new main entries to existing/enhanced pedestrian pathways and parking for the existing campus site. The second level overlaps the first, with the circulation corridor located above the shops to provide views into them from the safety of the higher vantage point. The classroom bar is further divided into smaller volumes with circulation/collaboration spaces for each shop at regular intervals.

NATURAL LIGHT and VIEWS
Historically, shop buildings have limited natural light. Yet natural daylight and views are key elements of a modern technical education building. The building design carefully balances natural daylight and views to the Wasatch mountains, with functional space needs as a priority (and the need to minimize glare). The shops have high clerestory windows along the south façade and are augmented with vision lights in overhead doors. Skylights are implemented near the center of the plan to bring balanced daylight into the deep side of the shops. The main level circulation has tall windows with ample daylight and views to
the main campus building. The multipurpose room and two classrooms at the east end feature framed views of the Wasatch Mountains.

EXTERIOR and INTERIOR MATERIALS
The exterior materials are in harmony with the existing campus palette: Light brown brick veneer, locally-quarried natural stone veneer, standing seam metal roofing (bronze color). This is balanced with “clear” high-performance glazing – which is featured on the north façade. The palette is also inspired by the modern buildings of Silicon slopes (glass and steel). In general, the design of the interior spaces create a welcoming, learning environment, that is bright, inviting, and promotes good health.

COMMITTEE STATEMENT
This facility will be a place where community members can take advantage of the training programs to provide a better quality of life, to further their career development, and to develop a love of lifelong learning. MTECH takes great pride in serving both high school and adult learners - and the faculty, administration, and board have a common goal of enriching the student through quality education. In development of work for this project, artists may consider the union between educational training and economic development – a significant responsibility of the college. Other considerations include the topography, community, and traditions of the Mountainland Region and Utah County.

The Committee has identified potential sites for art placement/involvement to include: Exterior areas on the North side; three large interior surfaces in the north corridor facing the curtain wall; approximate 30’ tall by 10’ wide air space at the curtain wall and entry lobby. The Committee will also be open to discussion of other sites as envisioned by the artist. The Committee may consider commissioning more than one artist.

BUDGET
$202,000 is available for all related expenses of this Public Art commission(s) including (but not limited to) artist fees, fabrication, insurance, shipping, travel, installation, documentation, etc.

ELIGIBILITY
Resident American or legal resident artists / artist teams are eligible for this commission. Utah artists are encouraged to apply. Art selection committee members and immediate families, board members, and employees of Method Studio or Utah Division of Arts and Museums are not eligible for this project.

SUBMISSION OPTIONS, INSTRUCTIONS AND REQUIRED MATERIALS
Interested artists may submit applications online or via USB flash/thumb drives. The deadline is the same for both methods and is not a postmark deadline. Please do not include supplemental materials beyond the requirements listed below. All applications must include the following:
 VIA Call for Entry.org
or
HARD COPY METHOD:
• A PC compatible USB thumb drive labeled with applicant's name containing:
• A letter of interest of not more than three typewritten pages in pdf format. This letter should
include the artist’s reasons for interest in this project in particular. In doing so, the artist should also describe how his/her work and/or experience relates to the project.
• Up to six (6) images maximum of previous site-specific public work. All images must be in JPEG format, 1920 pixels maximum on the longest side, 72 dpi, with compression settings resulting in the best image quality under 2MB file size. The image files should be named so that the list sorts in the order of the image listing.
• A pdf document identifying each image to include title, year, medium, dimensions.
• A professional resume in pdf format.
If the work cannot be documented well with still images a USB thumb/flash drive containing a movie file (of no more than 3 minutes) may be submitted as documentation of artist’s projects. Please note only one media, movie file or images, can be presented to the committee per artist in this preliminary phase.

If the artist wishes the material returned, an addressed and stamped envelope of ample size and postage for return of the flash/thumb drive should be included. Material that is not accompanied by a stamped envelope cannot be returned.

Utah Arts & Museums will not be responsible for applications delayed or lost in transit. While all reasonable care will be taken in the handling of materials, neither the Utah Division of Arts & Museums nor the MTECH Trades & Technology Art Selection Committee will be liable for late, lost or damaged materials or electronic files.
Faxed or e-mailed applications cannot be accepted. The MTECH Trades and Technology Art Selection Committee reserves the right to withhold the award of a commission or rerelease the call for entries.

DEADLINE:
Complete application packages must be RECEIVED on or before
March 1, 2019 by 5 p.m. MDT (THIS IS NOT A POSTMARK DEADLINE)

Non-online applications may be sent by mail, courier, hand delivered or express delivered to:
Utah Public Art Program
RE: MTECH Trades & Technology
300 S Rio Grande
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

SELECTION PROCESS AND SCHEDULE
The Selection Committee will review proposals from which a short list of semi-finalists will be
selected and invited to develop a proposal. The finalist honorarium will be applied toward the
commission amount for the artist(s) awarded the commission. The Committee reserves the option tocommission more than one artist. Final selection(s) will be made from the semi-finalists.

March 1, 2019 - Deadline for receipt of qualifications
March 14, 2019 - Committee reviews applications
May 2, 2019 - Finalist presentations / proposals
July 2020 Building completion

ART SELECTION COMMITTEE
Clay Christensen, MTECH, President
Joseph Demma, MTECH, VP College Relations
Brad DeMond, DFCM Project Manager
Joshua Greene, Method Studio Architects
Becky Hawkins, Method Studio Architects
Blake Hendry, MTECH, Facilities Director
Sam Kellerman, Method Studio Architects
Kirt Michaelis, MTECH, VP Administrative Services
Holly Peterson, MTECH, VP Instruction
Roni Thomas, Public Art Consultant - Community Representative

If you have any questions about this or other projects information is available at: www.utahpublicart.org or contact: Lisa Greenhalgh at 801 245 7270 or lggreenhalgh@utah.gov or Jim Glenn at 801 245 7271 or jglenn@utah.gov

Images courtesy of Method Studio



 

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria

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