Public Art for Rowan University Engineering Building Exterior

Background.
Rowan University has evolved from its beginning in 1923 as a school with a mission to train teachers for South Jersey classrooms to a comprehensive public research university with a strong regional presence and reputation.
 
The Rowan campus is expected to experience significant growth in the foreseeable future. Several capital improvements and building projects are being planned and developed to support the projected need for additional space.
 
At Rowan, what underlies and drives every decision are four guiding principles that reflect what we value and how we perceive our obligation to serve and lead as a state university:
 
• providing access to increase opportunities for students to benefit from higher education 
• improving affordability to help relieve the burden of student debt and maintain the highest standards of fiscal accountability 
• ensuring quality to deliver education, programs and services of superior quality 
• serving as an economic engine to lead the development of the region, collaborating with public and private partners to benefit all 
 
The College of Engineering
 
 
 
Rowan University is constructing a new addition to Rowan hall, their existing School of Engineering. This addition will allow for the growth of its current program and increase enrollment.
 
 
The New Engineering Building addition enhances the presence of Rowan Hall and begins the process of strategically redefining the western edge of campus, as called for in the University’s master plan. While the new building has its own identity, it integrates seamlessly with Rowan Hall and the surrounding campus.
 
Through its use of compatible exterior materials and window patterns, along with a careful manipulation of massing and scale, Rowan Hall and the new building create a unified and much expanded Engineering Complex. The two facilities are now strongly connected at both the ground level through the landscape and at the third floor by a new glass bridge. The new building also creates unexpected exterior interactive environments - including a roof terrace - while enhancing the existing open spaces around Rowan Hall. These new landscapes sponsor a heightened sense of campus community, make important interaction spaces for the engineering disciplines, and provide much-needed venues for outdoor engineering experiments and demonstrations.
 
With a campus roadway passing directly under the new and transparent link bridge, the New Engineering Building addition works in concert with Rowan Hall to create another iconic gateway entrance to Rowan University.
 
Arts Inclusion
 
Exterior
 
 
Under the bridge, a new pedestrian plaza with outdoor seating is created between the two buildings. The plaza not only links Rowan Hall to the New Engineering Building across the roadway, but also provides a greatly enhanced entrance to the Engineering Complex from campus. Located to be the heart of the Complex for faculty and students, the new building’s glass-enclosed, two-story Learning Commons and Café have direct access to the plaza.  
 
The entrance plaza is the site that has been selected for a sculpture, perhaps kinetic,  as a part of the State of New Jersey's Arts Inclusion Program
 
Budget:                             $80,000
Date for completion:         November 2016          
https://www.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=2553