University of Colorado at Denver
Health Sciences Center
Anschutz Medical Campus

The design and planning framework of the campus emphasizes connectivity and integration reflecting the theme of interdisciplinary education, research and patient care.   The physical campus is organized around a system of open spaces that includes three major commons areas, smaller plazas and open terraces. The buildings forming two of the ‘commons’ areas, the Research Quad and the Education Quad, are connected with a pedestrian walkway along 17th Place.  The total population on this campus is expected to be 35,000 people with an additional 30,000 in off-campus areas.

Cloud Cells
Airworks: George Peters and Melanie Walker; Boulder, Colorado
Budget: $40,000
Installed August, 2008
The artists stated that, “in the design considerations for the north stairway atrium we wanted to activate the airspace and stair landing window creating a soothing environment and allow transparency that would complement the skies we have along the Front Range.” To do this the artists designed cloud forms that would be painted with soft colors and be made using stretched sunscreen so they would be very lightweight and retain a look of fragility. With these forms there would also be an open interpretation of both clouds and cells referring to the interior makeup of the body.  Each cloud cell is approximately 2’ to 3’ high and 7’ to 10’ long.

C-23
Michael Clapper; Denver, Colorado
Budget: $22,500
Installed August, 2008
C-23 is made from 6” diameter steel tubing that will be powder coated antique copper and will have a series of copper colored bands painted onto them in a dot pattern. The colored band patterns on the sculptures will resemble the band patterns seen while looking at the two configurations of the 23rd. chromosome under a microscope.

This pair of abstract steel sculptures will represent humanity using the 23rd. chromosome as inspiration. One sculpture will depict the 23rd in an XY configuration and the other in an XX configuration. Consequently, one would refer to Man and the other to Woman. The artworks are approximately 2’ deep by 3’ to 4’ wide by 12 to 14’ tall and are installed in the Healing Quad.

Humanesence
Rae Douglas; Oakland, California
Budget: $200,000
Installed January, 2009
Rae Douglass created a sculpture in the large oval atrium in the Library. The oval shape is reminiscent of an egg or womb and the library is a rational organizer of information relative to Human Health and the Body. While doing research for his design proposal, Rae remembered an article about the Visible Human Project developed by Vic Spitzer, a professor at the UCDHSC. A frozen cadaver was sliced into sections 1 mm thick and scanned to create a highly detailed and accurate computer model of the entire human body.

The sculpture is based on the body from the coronal and sagittal views. He hand painted actual imagery from the sections on to the faces of thin vertical stainless steel ribbons arrayed in a matrix to form a much larger column. It spans from the floor to the ceiling (25’) to create a monumental sculptural column. The ribbons are ¾” wide and the body image is visible from all angles. Energy efficient florescent lighting was placed at the top of the sculpture to make the body imagery on the diffraction film appear to be self-illuminated. The display creates a visual paradox that speaks to the current challenge of the medical profession.

Origin
Kendra Fleischman; Golden, Colorado
Budget: $17,660
Installed July, 2008
This 4 foot by 4 foot bronze sculpture creates an intimate space on the Anschutz Medical Campus.  The idea of “Origin” is emergence. The figure is pulling and pushing out from the bronze in a struggle to become complete, conscious and whole. The sculpture is installed outside of Education 1B.

Fractured Column
Tim Prentice; Cornwall, Connecticut
Budget $170,000
Installed August, 2008
This kinetic sculpture is suspended in the center of the stairwell of the Education II building.  “A cascade of panels of reflective aluminum will be suspended on a system of swivels and loosely connected in order to respond to the lightest currents of air moving in the space.”  The dimensions are 4 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height. 











Verbe 2
Mel Ristau; Ft. Collins, Colorado
Budget: $40,000
Installed September, 2008
Verbé - Any member of a class of objects that typically express action, state, or a relation between multiple things, and that may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood, or a positive contextual inference.

The work that is designed for the north stairway of Education 1B, is a hierarchal sequence of actions in a shared, group dialog with this linear, vertical space — active dialog being a mainstay of academics. Suspended from 5 drops, each section progresses in size and complexity and is composed of stacked planes of activity. The "Stone" shaped elements that are common in Ristau's work are primarily polished and textured.

Some areas are painted in one of two warm grays. As an alternative, a more colorful dialog is also shown. Fully kinetic, the work presents as a statement of inventive, positive change and discovery — qualities related to constant occurrences of creative and critical thinking — campus wide.




Corpus Callosum
Thomas Sayre; Raleigh, North Carolina
Budget $700,000
Installed April, 2009
This project begins and ends with two 14-foot-diameter spheres serving as “bookends”; one with textured earthcast concrete and the other precise, shiny stainless steel. Between the bookends is a series of outdoor rooms which act as way stations between the education and the research quads on this large medical campus. The outdoor rooms are located at important pedestrian intersections, but also in places which celebrate and give way to the important architectural landmarks.  Each room plays with the forms of the sphere and cube and contains seating, lighting, electricity for laptops and other communication devices, and each creates a defined stopping place. Made from highly refined cast-concrete with ground and polished terrazzo surfaces, each site offers different possibilities for seating and, hence, for different kinds of human interaction. Some seats are more contemplative, some are better for groups. Some seats are playful and others are more serious and calm.