DAVIS, Calif., Nov. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A half century ago, a team of young artists, including Wayne Thiebaud and Robert Arneson, arrived at the University of California, Davis, to help build a new art department — and changed the art world.

The university is honoring that legacy today by tapping three innovative architect-contractor teams to compete in the creation of a design for the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art — a planned museum whose vision is as bold as Thiebaud's pop imagery or Arneson's irreverent ceramics.

"Our slate of architects reflects the founding philosophy of the UC Davis art department, built by untested individuals who rose to prominence with the work they made here," said Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. "We are thrilled to name these three visionary teams who will honor our distinction as an international center of innovation and propel us into the future."

The teams that will compete to build the museum near the campus' south entrance are:

• Contractor: Kitchell; design architect: WORKac; executive architect: Westlake Reed Leskosky.
• Contractor: Oliver and Company; design architect: Henning Larsen Architects; executive architect: Gould Evans.
• Contractor: Whiting-Turner; design architect: SO – IL; executive architect: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

"These are innovators who are defining the discourse in architecture today," said Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies. "The competition and the museum embrace the spirit of experimentation that has been an enduring tradition at UC Davis."

In what is believed to be the first design-build competition for an art museum in this country, each team will have four months to create a design and prepare a bid for the museum. Design-build describes a process in which architects, engineers and builders team up on a single contract for new construction.

The charge to the teams is to design a building in which faculty can teach art and from which they can teach architecture. The building is envisioned as a center for instruction that will promote multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and teaching.

The competition will culminate in public presentations and an announcement of the winning design.

• Press kit: Images and information about the design-build team finalists available at: http://photos.ucdavis.edu/albums.php?albumId=213027.
• More general information about the museum: http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10415&preview=yes  

SOURCE University of California, Davis