VERVE
The Public Art for the Diagnostic Medicine Center (“DMC”)
Commissioned by the Colorado Council on the Arts
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
Expressed in 4 main elements of the facility, “Verve” takes an environmental approach to representing Veterinary Sciences. The art was inspired by activities and images associated with the DMC. The unifying theme of this public art design is the capacity for growth.
One of the techniques used in DMC lab work involves analyzing samples by spreading organic material on tissue culture plates. This is called “streaking plates”, and it results in the growth of bacteria or viruses, sometimes in exotic and beautiful formations, in petri dishes. The terrazzo floor design was inspired by these formations. The over-scaling of these images changes the dimensions of the design, suggesting astronomical phenomena. While vastly different in proportion, these natural elements share similar patterns of growth. This dramatic change in scale and the universality of growth patterns led to the design of the interior curtain wall glass. Spinning off of this design on yet another scale are images derived from the activity of electrons in a cloud chamber. These devices reveal growth on a subatomic scale, and are also known as “bubble chambers” because they were inspired by the foaming action in a Nobel-winning scientist’s beer.
The design for the trellis planters is a reworking of the architectural idea of bringing large plantings into the DMC atrium. Emerging from a crescent-shaped floor planter, the trellises add to the representations of growth in the atrium space, and they introduce a new vertical element in the tall narrow space of the DMC atrium.
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