RFEI
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
due by or on July 1st, 2004
Team members*:
Portfolio:
CV:
Strategy:
* Employees of the Project Team, Project Advisors, or Jurors, as well as Trustees of the Project Team are not eligible to respond to this RFEI.
GENERAL
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
"BEYOND THE KIOSK"
As a series of innovative, functional and attractive interventions, the Civic Exchange installations will serve as attractors to, and activators of, Lower Manhattan and its public spaces. By way of engaging residents, workers, and visitors, as well as the occasional passerby, with interactive information, the installations for Civic Exchange will animate the public experience of Lower Manhattan.
These installations could provide a physical manifestation to several existing online and print sources of Lower Manhattan related information. They could be freestanding objects or perhaps tied to existing infrastructural elements, such as bridges, bus stops and train station entrances. These installations may include information that will target particular audiences in specific locations, or perhaps, at a slightly larger scale be able to both provide all types of information as well as being interactive.
This project would activate a diverse audience of residents, workers, and visitors. While the goal is to provide information to individuals, either passively or interactively, these installations will also activate a larger public during non-business hours, and be able to provide necessary emergency related information.
The installations as currently conceived will comprise of three components, which together will provide a much needed tool for both disseminating city-related information, and receiving feedback from the public on current developments. Up to the moment information in addition to historical background and future projections for the area, with the ability to respond to certain issues, will constitute its content. As currently imagined, this will consist of variously scaled screens, but the competition is open to suggestion. This will prove to engage an occasional passerby as well as a group of visitors. Two interactive components will allow users to both take away and contribute information. Users might be able to wirelessly download information onto their PDAs/cell phones, and also contribute information that will be shared with other users.
For the Civic Exchange Installations to be as functional as possible they could be programmed to activate different users at different hours/days of the week. Traffic related information could be targeted at commuters during daily rush-hours, while event related information may become the focus on weekends and evenings. In addition, as the public will become more engaged with life in Lower Manhattan, civic "happenings" may be programmed around the installations.
While the Civic Exchange installations are envisioned as a series of activators for prominent outdoor public spaces, their flexibility should allow for them to be adapted for indoor locations.
Outdoors, the Installations could be paired with other downtown initiatives such as free wireless hotspots in open spaces throughout Lower Manhattan. An installation could be located in any or all of these locations to take advantage of the WiFi technology that would enable the (wired) public to receive current information.
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
OPPORTUNITY
Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture (the "Institute") and the Architectural League of New York, in cooperation with the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (the "Project Team"), are seeking Expressions of Interest from exceptional and qualified professionals (the "Respondents") interested in producing a multi-disciplinary design for a prototypical Interactive Public Installation for Civic Exchange (the "Project"), and envisioning it for a site within Battery Park City with the potential for additional sites.
Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI)
This RFEI outlines the opportunity for interested parties and is intended to identify qualified Respondents who have the experience and skills to successfully complete the Project. RFEI submission requirements including a portfolio, a CV, and proposed strategy are listed in the "Submission Criteria" section of this site.
Responses are due by 5 pm, on July 1st, 2004 (not a postmark date), at the Institute at 30 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10010.
Any additional clarifications or information will be posted on this site prior to the July 1st deadline.
First Selection Phase
The Project Team will select up to four finalists from the responses to the RFEI. After selection, each of these teams will be awarded a $10,000 stipend in order to develop their project proposals, for a final submission deadline in September 2004.
Finalists Phase
The finalists will be expected to investigate how contemporary information technology and interactive programming will lead to a project proposal with the capacity to become a live and dynamic presence within the public realm. Three criteria are the programmatic departure point (for more details see "Project Description" and "Submission Criteria"); the Civic Exchange installations will:
BACKGROUND
The Project Team has been awarded the competitive National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) New Public Works program grant in support of a design competition for an Information Project connecting multiple publics to the challenges of rebuilding New York. In addition, the Institute has recently received a matching grant in support of this project from the Stephen A. and Diana L. Goldberg Foundation. This Project will offer the opportunity to propose a design for New York with national implications for the future of information rich urban centers.
Civic groups, cultural and educational institutions, private and public organizations, as well as official governmental entities, have engaged in numerous initiatives for informing the people who live, work, and visit Lower Manhattan about immediate conditions and future improvements downtown. These range from the City of New York's lowermanhattan.info public information campaign, the Port Authority's fence with historic site views around the former World Trade Center site, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) exhibit of alternative designs at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, seven WiFi hotspots developed by the Downtown Alliance and its partners, Wall Street Rising's Downtown Information Center, to streetscape improvements.
There is, however, a critical need to give a physical presence to information exchange- including place-based information, using contemporary technology, that will be both informative, functional, and represent Lower Manhattan as a community that is at the forefront of technological and cultural activity.
Since its inception in the 1960's, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) has been at the forefront of innovative urban design, planning and development. Now, as it completes the 92-acre community of commercial, residential, retail, and park space on New York City's Hudson River, Battery Park City continues to be innovative, from sustainable design to information. The BPCA has agreed, as part of the Project Team, to become the prospective client/host for the development of a prototypical Civic Installation.
BPCA PROTOTYPE
The extraordinary circumstances/events that led to the conceptualization of this Project, and the cooperation between the Institute, the League, and the BPCA, have set the stage for this first phase of implementation of a visionary installation for information exchange in one of New York City's most dynamic neighborhoods.
The Project Team has determined the following criteria and process for carrying out the research, design, and presentation of a prototype for Civic Exchange that will be sited in Battery Park City.
CRITERIA/SPECIFICATIONS
The prototype must address all the following criteria, which designed to encourage the respondents to imagine innovative solutions. The Civic Exchange Installation will:
EVALUATION
RFEI Phase
Evaluation shall be conducted by the Project Team, drawing on the expertise of project advisors, including:
Project Phase
A jury is being chosen by the Project Team to evaluate and select one winning submission from the Finalists. The jury may choose to conduct interviews with all finalists as well as request the names and contact information of references.
Confirmed Jury*:
*Three or more additional Jurors will be selected by the Project Team.
QUESTIONS
Please submit all questions by e-mail to:
Jonathan Cohen-Litant
Competition Manager
jclitant@vanalen.org
PROCESS
Within the limits of an accelerated schedule, in order to achieve the high standards of design and innovation that we strive for, the Project Team wishes to engage exceptional professionals who are also able to draw upon their experience with/within leading educational programs/institutions, with multi-disciplinary partnerships and approaches that will produce innovative and technologically sophisticated solutions.
In this first stage- call for expressions of interest- the Project Team will evaluate proposals and select up to four diverse and qualified teams.
In the second stage, the
finalists will each be awarded a $10K stipend and will be asked to produce
an innovative and implementable solution that will later be presented to the
public (exhibit/publication). One team will be selected by jury and will proceed
to further discussions on implementation of a working prototype, which are
beyond the scope of this RFEI.
SCHEDULE
July 1st, 2004: RFEI deadline
(Responses due by 5 pm at VAI)
July 2004: Project Finalists announced
September 30th 2004: Submissions due
October 2004: Final Selection and Announcement
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional funding received from the Stephen A. and Diana L. Goldberg Foundation.
It is also made possible with the participation of the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority.
