In 2018, the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University broke ground on a new 150,000-square-foot building at the nexus of Duke’s West Campus, Duke Engineering, and Duke Medicine. When the building opens in November 2020, the engineering community will see five floors designed to maximize collaboration. In three research “neighborhoods,” faculty and students will together tackle research focused on human health, the environment, and computing. Flexible teaching spaces and design labs will offer students spaces in which to dream, design, and construct as they devise solutions to real-life problems. Comfortable common areas and a coffee bar will ensure that the engineering community feels at home—even as it strives to change the world.
There will be art throughout the new Pratt—art to delight, inspire, and to remind viewers that solving problems requires creative approaches.
In 2019, Dean of Engineering Ravi Bellamkonda charged Director of Facilities Mitchell Vann to organize a New Building Art Committee to procure art for the building. The committee has worked diligently for the past year to develop a mission statement and guiding principles, and to learn all they could from their Duke colleagues at the Nasher Museum of Art, the Rubenstein Arts Center, Duke University Libraries, Arts & Health @ Duke, and more.
Pratt’s New Building Art Committee is now in a phase of actively seeking to identify and purchase or commission works for the new building.
The committee would like to hear from you if:
If you believe your artwork could find its new home at Pratt, please complete this short survey to introduce yourself to the committee. The survey will close on Dec. 6, 2019. Questions? Please contact Miranda Volborth, senior communications specialist, at miranda.a.volborth@duke.edu.