Oct 4th 2014

CoA Students Exhibit Work Created from Storm-Damaged Trees

The City of West Chicago donated, to IIT Architecture Chicago, wood from the more than 200 trees toppled and/or damaged during a storm on July 1st, 2014. West Chicago's Reed-Kepler Park lost nearly 80% of its tree population many of which were over 100 years old.

Paul Pettigrew's Arch 447 Architecture & Furniture students from Spring & Summer 2013 & Spring 2014 teamed up with the City of West Chicago to design and fabricate locally inspired furniture and functional objects utilizing donated wood from the storm damaged trees.

Arch 114 Design Studio 2 faculty & students worked with the idea of "Reduce, Reuse & Recycle" as a material, combining the storm damaged tree wood with dismantled thrift store and salvaged items to create unique compositions that celebrated the strength and beauty of both storm damaged trees and the formerly functional objects salvaged from thrift store shelves, recycling bins and dumpsters.

The West Chicago City Museum is located at 132 Main Street in West Chicago. Museum hours are Wednesday - Saturday 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Admissions is free and open to the general public.