The Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Port of Portland in Portland, Oregon, invite artists/teams living in the U.S. to submit qualifications for 1 of 3 permanent public art installations as part of the construction of a Consolidated Rental Car Facility at PDX International Airport. Details regarding project background, sites, eligibility, budgets and selection processes can be found below. Applications will only be accepted on CaFÉ™, and the deadline for submissions  is 11:59 Mountain Standard Time, Wednesday, January 22, 2020. Project installation will occur in late 2021.

The Port of Portland strives to be an organization that values and celebrates everyone’s life experiences, voices and histories and one that offers equitable access to arts and culture experiences. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are our core values. Underrepresented artists are strongly encouraged to apply.

PDX INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
For the seventh year in a row, PDX has been recognized as the best airport in the United States. The airport is ranked high when it comes to customer service based on facilities, accessibility, and security, and food, beverage and retail offerings. Short films at no cost, rotating art exhibits, local restaurants, and liquors are all available while waiting for your next flight. PDX serves nearly 20 million passengers a year.

Future expansion projects will provide facility growth to serve 35 million passengers. There will be updates and upgrades to PDX that will deliver a convenient, comfortable, and unique PDX experience for travelers, tenants, and employees. This includes a multi-million-dollar investment in public art by 2025 for two updated and expanded concourses, a new car rental facility and an expanded main terminal. More information on current and past temporary art exhibits at PDX can be found here.

PARKING ADDITIONS AND CONSOLIDATED RENTAL CAR FACILITY (PACR)
The Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car (PACR) Facility, designed by YGH Architecture, will be a 6-level multi-use building and is expected to open late 2021, if the construction timelines remain on schedule. The project includes additional long-term parking, a consolidated rental car facility, new rental car offices and customer service lobby, and a new parking toll plaza. Levels 1 through 3 of the structure will provide a rental car ready/return area for all of PDX’s existing rental car companies. Levels 4 through 6 of the structure will provide about 2,400 public spaces accessed by the existing long term parking garage. In total, the PACR facility will provide 1.6 million square feet of additional on-campus parking at PDX and office space. 

The Rental Car Center (RCC), immediately to the west of PACR, will be a multi-functional building that houses the customer service lobby for the rental car companies. This lobby will have a very “open” feel with an abundance of natural light and views to the terminal, the short-term parking garage, and surrounding landscaping. Above the customer service lobby, 3 floors will be constructed to house essential airport services for Port Police, the Badging Office, and others. To serve the users of the RCC and PACR, a vehicle turnaround will be located just northeast of the main entrance of the RCC.  

To connect the PDX terminal to the RCC, an On-Grade Connector (OGC) will be located just to the south of the south tunnel. The OGC will contain stairwells, two escalators, and one elevator for passengers, customers, tenants, and employees moving to/from the south tunnel to a walking corridor between the existing parking garages and the RCC. The path between the OGC structure and the RCC will be covered with an elegant roof structure to keep people out of the weather.

PACR ART GOALS
The artwork for all sites described below should be inspired by land and environmental stewardship, a connection to place, and the region’s topography. These goals are intended to help artists assess their interest in the project as well as to aid in the selection of a relevant and compelling approach to each project.

PORT OF PORTLAND ART PROGRAM GOALS
Artists should also keep in mind the general goals for the Port of Portland’s entire art program, including that commissioned permanent artworks

• Represent artists of diverse genders, races, geographic origins, and ethnicities with the purpose of advancing fair and equitable inclusion;
• Reflect the region’s creative and cultural heterogeneity;
• Incorporate a variety of artistic mediums/materials, and aesthetics;
• Be designed specifically for the airport environment and in consideration of specific architectural factors and the general character of PDX as described above;
• Be easily maintained and made of durable materials 

ART SITES
The PACR public art project is comprised of 3 separate opportunities for permanent artworks, each with different budgets dependent on the project's size, location and anticipated material and fabrication needs. Refer to the individual site descriptions and budgets below. The Selection Committee intends to select a different artist or artist team for each site. Site details are available in the link provided at the beginning of this RFQ.

Site 1:  Exterior Sculpture | Shuttle Turnaround.  Area: 12'W x 20/40'L x 45’H Budget:  $250,000
This site is an opportunity for a large scale, signature artwork to enhance a large island in the shuttle bus turnaround where travelers will be picked up or dropped off as they are coming from or going to the RCC. The turnaround is an outdoor space that will be largely covered by elevated roadways for traffic. Lighting for the space is general lighting found in parking lot waiting areas without accent lighting. Electric service will be provided to the site for lighting if desired by the artist. The ground material will be determined in collaboration with the selected artist. No kinetic sculptures will be considered. Ease of maintenance and durability are essential for this site. A link to a video walk-thru of the site can be found here.

No more than 3 finalists will be selected for the proposal and interview phases. Finalists are expected to attend a site visit and orientation session with YGH and the Port of Portland. Each finalist/team will be paid a $2,000 honorarium to develop a proposal that includes a digital rendering of the proposed sculpture illustrating multiple viewpoints, material samples, budget and timeline. Finalists will present their proposals in an interview format with the Art Committee and reimbursed for travel expenses

The commission will be awarded to one artist or artist team with a budget of $250,000, inclusive of all artist design fees and associated travel costs, insurance, fabrication, transportation and installations of artwork on site. Eligibility: Open to artists living in the U.S.

Site 2:  On-Grade Connector Interior Wall 50'L x 10'H (500SF). Budget: $125,000
The art site, which will be seen by thousands of travelers, is the wall adjacent to the escalators and stairs leading to/from the RCC and visible to those passengers coming from the main terminal to reserve/pick up a rental car. The wall can feature either 2D or relief work or a combination of both. Both natural and artificial light is provided at this location with area lighting from the ceiling to be designed by the Port's building contractor. Accent lighting is not planned at this time but may be considered if desired to enhance the artwork. A link to a video walk-thru of the site can be found here.

No more than 3 finalists will be selected to submit proposals for consideration. Each finalist will be paid a $1500 honorarium. The proposal must include conceptual information, an illustration that captures a sense of the direction of the design, the proposed design superimposed on a wall elevation to be provided by the project, material samples (when appropriate), budget and timeline. There will be no required site visit. Video conferencing with the Selection Committee may be required as part of a presentation of the proposal. 

The commission will be awarded to one artist or artist team applicant with a budget of $125,000, inclusive of all artist design fees and associated travel costs, insurance, fabrication, transportation and installation of artwork on site. Eligibility: Open to artists living in the U.S.

Site 3:  Rental Car Center, Customer Service Lobby Interior Wall (approx. 359 SF). Design fee only:  $10,000
Because of its spaciousness, the customer service lobby has been selected for a prominent art site that is inside the facility and immediately to the left upon entering the lobby (see attached PDF). The wall consists of multiple acoustical panels, each measuring approximately 4ft x 8ft. A screenshot of the acoustic panel layout is in the attached PDF. The committee is seeking a design for the entire wall which will then be printed directly onto the acoustical panels by the Port’s building contractor. The selected artist will provide a two-dimensional design as a digital file in a vector-based Adobe Illustrator file. The Port of Portland will retain ownership of the digital file and the artist will retain copyright. 

No more than 3 finalists will be selected to submit a design proposal that includes conceptual information, an illustration that captures a sense of the direction of the design layout, and the proposed design superimposed on a wall elevation provided by the project. Each finalist will be paid a $1000 honorarium. There will be no required site visit. Video conferencing with the Selection Committee may be required as part of a presentation proposal.

The commission will be awarded to one artist or artist team with a design budget of $10,000, inclusive of all artist design fees. Fabrication and installation costs will be covered separately by the construction project. Eligibility: Open to artists living in Oregon, and in Clark and Skamania Counties in Washington State.

SELECTION PROCESS
The Port encourages partnerships among artist/artist teams that reflect our region’s cultural heterogeneity. Prior to the selection phase, a subcommittee comprised of art committee members will review all proposals and narrow the initial pool of RFQ responses for each site to no more than 30 artists/artist teams. The full committee will evaluate the subcommittee’s recommendations during the selection phase. Members of the Art Committee include artists, the architect and Port staff. Additional Port staff will serve as non-voting advisors to the panel.    

EVALUATION CRITERIA 
During the initial selection phase of the process for all sites, applicants will be ranked on a 25-point system using the following evaluation criteria and point distribution:

• Demonstrated quality of art and design in completed projects: 10 point
• Potential to create an impactful artwork for the concourse: 10 point
• Demonstrated experience working with architects, engineers and designers:  5 points 

During the proposal/interview phase for all sites, applicants will be ranked on a 25-point system using the following evaluation criteria and point distribution:

• Demonstrated artistic quality and feasibility of the proposed concept: 10 points
• Mastery of materials and fabrication through own skills or subcontracted fabricators: 5 points
• Potential to work successfully with the project design team:  5 points
• Ease of maintenance and durability of materials: 5 points 

Following the presentations/interviews, the Committee will select a single artist/team for each site who will enter into a Design Phase Contract with the Regional Arts & Culture Council and begin collaborating as needed with the design team of YGH and the Port of Portland. Following approval of the final design by the Art Committee, the artist/team will then enter into a Fabrication Contract with the Port of Portland.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
All applications must be submitted through CaFÉ. Incomplete applications cannot be considered. It is the responsibility of the applicant to complete and submit materials by the deadline:  11:59PM Mountain Time, Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

Applications must include the following:

1. Statement of interest. In 2000 or less characters and spaces, explain why this project is of interest to you. Describe how your previous work addressed sites and similar goals stated for this project. Include descriptions of how you worked with a design team as well as other comments that might help to differentiate you as a candidate for this project. Do not submit a proposal for the commission at this time. Please indicate which site/category you are applying for.
2. Two-page résumé uploaded as a PDF that outlines professional accomplishments and that includes two professional references (name, affiliated organization, email address and phone number) for both individual applicants and teams (2 per team). For team applications, include one PDF that includes a 2-page résumé for each team member.
3. Up to 10 images of past work including details. These images are the primary way the quality of your work is judged. Provide the following information for each visual: title, year produced, dimensions, budget, media and a brief description. Do not embed label information into the jpeg image. Up to 2 videos no longer than 3 minutes each and no larger than 100MB, may be included. If a longer video is submitted, only 3 minutes will be viewed. 

WORKING PROJECT TIMELINE
Application deadline                 11:59PM, Mountain Time, Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Artist selection for interviews    February 2020
Artist (s) site visits for Site 3     March 2020
Completion                               Late 2021

*Dates provided are estimates based upon current knowledge of preliminary project schedules and are only intended to assist artists in determining their own availability to participate. Above dates in no way represent final approved schedules and are subject to change through future iterations of design and construction phases.

QUESTIONS?
Peggy Kendellen, Senior Public Art Manager | Regional Arts & Culture Council | pkendellen@racc.org | 503.823.4196

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria