The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design’s investigations into Wood Product Furniture emerged from the inception of the school’s Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Material Innovation. Constructed using mass timber, the building allowed engaging students in the development of furniture for the design studio spaces that were couched in the material knowledge of the building. The research and design of wood product studio furniture for the
Anthony Timberlands Center was developed through two courses – a research seminar and a design studio.

 

Jake Tucci and Alyssa Kuhns led the desk project, supported by a $100,000 contribution from the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund  (a timber, land, and forest products company) and a consultancy with award-winning industrial designer Stephen Burks.

 

Design research and development were initiated within a framework focused on innovative uses of Weyerhaeuser wood products. The challenge was to rethink the application of construction-grade Southern Yellow Pine lumber and engineered wood products for high-end institutional furniture. This task began with design research conducted in a seminar course, which examined ergonomic, programmatic, and material considerations related to studio furniture design. The design studio encouraged students to take the lead in evolving the studio furniture design while gaining insights into the opportunities and limitations of mass-producing wood furniture through hands-on experience. As a result, four prototypes of wood product studio desks were developed. Read their NCBDS paper here.

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One desk design was picked to develop further to be refined by Jake and Alyssa for small-scale production.  Each desk holds four students and thirty-two are being crafted by student assistants in time for moving into the ATC in Fall 2025. Fifteen desks are completed and being tested in design studios while the ATC building's construction is finalized.