Industrial Design Creates Play Structure at Auburn’s Art Museum

Students in Jerrod Windham’s third year studio and Tin-Man Lau’s fourth year studio in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design (SIGD) developed a play structure that doubles as an art installation titled “Composition” for the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. The studio classes worked to create designs that were both creative and interactive. After a group visit to the site and discussions with classmates and faculty, student Lea Hicks, who graduated in 2019, thought of building a structure inspired by Piet Mondrian, a 20^th century Dutch artist who created abstract art based on simple geometric shapes. Her classmate Tianrui Chang, who graduated this past spring, helped shape that vision. The students and faculty then worked together on the final design.

Once they had a clear idea of what the structure would look like, Windham and Lau approached long-time SIGD industry partner PlayCore. Tom Norquist, professor of practice in industrial design at Auburn and Senior Vice President at PlayCore, led a team of designers who worked closely with Windham and Lau on the fabrication and installation of the structure. Funding and in-kind resources were provided both by the museum and PlayCore.

Jerrod Windham is Associate Professor, Tin-Man Lau is Graduate Program Officer and Professor, and Tom Norquist is Professor of Practice in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design.