Powhatan Park Public Art RFQ

The City of Alexandria's Public Art Program is commissioning public art for Powhatan Park, a 1.5-acre neighborhood park located between Richmond Highway/Route 1/North Henry Street and North Douglass Street in North East Alexandria. The park features a recently refurbished basketball court, playground and multi-sport hard-surface court, and passive open space. A major renovation of the park is in the planning process, with recommendations for additional improvements including a plaza at the end of Douglas Street, shade structure, game tables, green alley on Douglas Street, and landscape barriers.

The selected artist or artist team will design, fabricate, and install gateway or entrance features at the two primary pedestrian entrances into the park—one at Douglas Street and the other at the southern park entrance along Richmond Highway/Route 1. The artist/team will also develop a design for a noise mitigation artwork, such as a wall or barrier, to provide separation between the proposed playground area and Richmond Highway/Route 1 as part of a future phase. The project budget for phase one may not exceed $100,000, with an additional $10,000 budgeted for phase two design.

The selected artist/team will work with the City to develop plans, participate in community engagement arranged by the City, and meet regularly with City representatives to coordinate project development. Project goals include bringing artwork inspired by site history and context, improving park identity through unifying themes, inspiring and engaging the community, improving appearance from Route 1, and enhancing the park design. Applicants may submit up to 2 applications and must provide 6-8 images as work samples.