March 26, 2008

Media Advisory – Architecture Project

Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the installation of a unique architectural class project at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in the main first-floor corridor of Quigley Hall at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Using fishing line, freshmen architecture and interior design students will hang about 85 projects they’ve created. The undertaking is part of the Architecture 122 course taught by Peter B. Smith, assistant architecture professor, and David J. White, associate architecture professor. The spring project has involved students selecting small objects that they drew in perspective, translated to larger scales five to six times their actual size, and then constructed in detail at that scale from corrugated cardboard. The project’s goals include helping students understand the relationship between an object in its physical form and the drawn representations, increasing understanding of scales and then, actually creating designs and scale models.

The sight of all sorts of huge, oversized household objects including gigantic pliers, waffle irons, scissors, staplers, ball peen hammers, and even an eyelash curler and eye will greet Quigley visitors when the students finish the installation. Smith said they chose the project site in part so children in the SIUC Child Development Lab can have fun identifying the huge objects as they walk about.

For more information contact Smith at 618/453-3734.