Seven ISU students worked through the summer to build a community bench area outside of Troxel Hall.

“Conceptual work on the benches started during the spring semester, while the summer class was more of the development,” said Will Prindle, lecturer in industrial design.

Prindle said the project was passed on to him from Chris Martin, who was teaching a class in furniture fabrication at the time, because it was more of an industrial design project.

The students worked four hours per day, five days per week all summer and continued working even after the class

ended.

“The conceptual design that we had given to us to manufacture, we needed to make changes on … because it wasn’t workable,” said Natalie Buskohl, senior in integrated studio arts.

Buskohl was one of the seven students who worked on the project.

The project was centered on making the benches an area that everyone can use.

“We included everyone that would be affected by the benches. We studied the ideal back size, angles and what is most comfortable,” Prindle said. “We talked about how benches are used in real life.”

The ends of the benches were left open to be available for those who are handicapped.

“We were very happy with the results. The students acted very professionally,” said Rhonda Martin, landscape architect for Facilities Planning and Management.

This was an opportunity for students to get a taste of what it is like to work in the real world. None of the seven students had any experience working on this kind of project before.

“Going over to industrial design really broadened my horizons as to how things are produced in the real world,“ Buskohl said.

The students learned to address issues they would face with in a real job and figure out how to deal with them in a professional manner.

“The pressure was on to do well,” Prindle said. “Failure was not an option, and the students really got that.”

The Troxel Hall bench area will have a ceremony to dedicate the project at

3 p.m. Friday.