You are invited to be a workshop participant in developing unique transit shelters along the proposed route of the new Bull City Connector at the Design Workshop to be held on August 14, 2010 (208 Rigsbee St. in Durham).

The Bull City Connector is a new bus route that will initially connect East Durham to Durham's downtown and Duke University with stops at numerous locations in between. The bus service is envisioned as having a higher level of service and amenities for riders. As part of the amenities, it is proposed that unique bus shelters will be created with incorporating public art created by local artists.  The art pieces will speak to the local history and cultural significance of the neighborhoods and districts around each bus shelter.  The shelters will accommodate the art pieces in wind screens and identifying banners at each stop.

During the charrette, teams will be composed of a facilitator from DAD, an artist, and workshop participants. Each team will be assigned two pairs of bus shelters. DAD will research and gather historical and cultural information about the surrounding areas This information will be presented to the individual teams by DAD facilitators during the design process.

The teams will then explore a variety of designs for their bus shelter piece, choose their best design, and refine it throughout the exercise.  Based upon the design ideas developed during the charrette, each artist will present a proposal for the art pieces at each stop.  These design proposals will be presented to the public as part of the promotion of the new Bull City Connector route.  As funding is developed for each of the stops, the artists will work with fabricators to create the art pieces based upon the design they developed in the public charrette. 

Subsequent to the charrette, the artists will design the art pieces, create a mock-up of the design for review, and work with a fabricator to achieve the design.

A Public Art Review Committee comprised of design professionals, representatives from the City of Durham, DATA, Duke University, Durham Arts Council, local business owners, and DAD will review all of the submissions. This committee will interview finalists in Durham, North Carolina and will select the artists based upon qualifications to create the proposed art pieces.

6/29/2010: Request for Qualifications (RFQ) distributed

7/26/2010 at 5pm: Deadline for Electronic Application Materials

7/29/2010: Finalists are notified

8/5/2010: Finalists interviewed in Durham, North Carolina

8/6/2010: Projects awarded

8/14/2010: Design Charrette

9/10/2010: Deadline for Artist's Mock-Ups presented to Committee

For more information, contact Barbara Richter-Norton at barbara@dadinc.org or call (919) 824-7349.

Click here to view and download entire RFQ_6-28.pdf.