I’d been teaching first year architectural design at IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) for 5 years. Prior to and during my 5 years teaching at IIT I’d been designing and fabricating furniture for my own use, Crate & Barrel use, and for use by the portion of the general public “lucky” enough to purchase one of my furniture designs online or at select retail locations

I thought some of my former IIT architecture students might be interested in a class where they could/would design and fabricate furniture over the course of a single semester. I emailed IIT architecture students to gauge interest in my idea…

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to design, draw and build a project in a single semester? Now is your chance to find out...Attached please find a description of the class Prof. Pettigrew & Prof. Wetzel are planning on teaching in the spring 2006. We are currently trying to work out the best time to offer this class. Two options are 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. on Monday or 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday. I am e-mailing many of the 4'th & 5'th year students that we have taught in the past, but if you know of any other students (i.e. transfers) that might be interested, please feel free to forward this e-mail. I am anxious to hear back ASAP with any feedback you may have on both class time/day & your possible interest in taking our course. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Prof. Pettigrew”

To my surprise, Noi, Anita, Tim, Dan, Beckie, Annie, and Dominic signed up and Arch 497, Inhabiting the Exquisite Corpse: Furniture, Architecture, and Landscape became a legit IIT Architecture class.

My intention for the class (because I assumed that was what students preferred) was to have students work individually on their designs and for their first presentations, students proposed individual projects. At some point, our 7 students decided to consolidate their ideas and efforts into a single project.

Initial group project proposals were presented in model form and as a full-scale mock-up proposing materials, connections, and the ergonomic forms their meandering benches might take.

A rendering was also made depicting two meandering benches installed in front of Crown Hall on the campus of IIT.

Our semester and project began indoors waiting for winter to end and spring to begin. Eventually student mock-ups moved outdoors. Our project caught the attention of both IIT Facilities and our Architecture Department Dean. Digging and casting concrete footings would not be allowed and although the benches could be installed temporarily in front of Crown Hall, they couldn’t remain beyond the end of the spring semester.

Our team of students devised a system of metal anchors sunk as deep into the ground as the clay soil would permit and just shy of where the underground sprinkler system might be located. Metal anchors and all of the bench components were prefabricated in our IIT Architecture Model Shop and installed during a cold and rainy day the morning of our big IIT Architecture Open House.

During the course of the project, I contacted a number of organizations and companies to gauge their interest in donating materials for our project. Only one organization expressed an interest in making a donation. The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association kindly agreed to donate architectural grade cedar 2x4’s. In exchange and as a thank to the WRCLA we attached a small acrylic plaque to one of the bench legs.

The end of the semester arrived and as promised, we were asked to remove our benches from out front of Crown Hall. I was able to negotiate moving the benches rather than throwing them out which would not have paralleled very well with our class emphasis on the sustainable aspects of using cedar for our benches rather than treated lumber and/or even plastic wood.

Our benches were moved and reinstalled with slightly new configurations in front of the IIT Materials and Metals Building. The Materials and Metals Building would eventually be the new home of a much-expanded IIT Architecture Model Shop which meant that our benches could be enjoyed by students and staff taking a break from their shop activities.

Two years after our bench project had been completed and relocated, I received a call from Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry asking if my students might be interested in designing and building outdoor furniture for their “Smart Home” exhibition. I asked the Museum of Science and Industry when they needed the outdoor furniture and what their budget was. I was told that they needed outdoor furniture immediately and that they had no budget. I told them I had a couple of benches that could be relocated, reconfigured, and refinished for their exhibition. Somehow, I managed to talk a few of the students, who had all graduated by now, into giving up a portion of their weekend to move and reinstall their benches.

The Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home exhibition was extended beyond its original closing date. Our benches became a part of the Smart Home exhibition and remained in use by visitors to the Museum and its Smart Home Exhibition for an additional 2-3 years before eventually being permanently retired.