More than 70 trees were destroyed by the tornado that hit campus fall 2005, including a scarlet oak tree that held a state record for its kind in size. What might have been a major loss in some people’s eyes turned into an opportunity for six students in a furniture design class.

After the tree fell, Chris Martin, associate professor of art and design and furniture designer, was approached by Nancy Surprenant, landscape architect with facilities planning and management, to use the wood to make benches for Morrill Hall once the renovation was complete. At the beginning of last fall the students became involved.

“I’ve been in Chris Martin’s furniture class for three years, and when the opportunity came about, he asked some guys in the class if they wanted to do it, so we drew sketches and designed models,” said Ben Ryan, fall 2006 graduate in design studies who helped with the project.

Six benches, two desks and a podium were to be made out of the wood from the tree. The students originally came up with six designs and narrowed it down to three, making two benches out of each design.

“Basically we knew where they were going, and we knew that we had to preserve as much of the tree as possible,” Ryan said. “That was the main focal point, the tree. The design wasn’t supposed to be necessarily a showy art piece, but functional.”

One of the benches Ryan built showed the knots and imperfections in the wood, while the other one was “nice and clean cut.”

“It was great to bring in your own design and be part of it from start to end,” he said. “We saw the tree after it fell down on campus, part of the sawing and cutting the wood. It was just a really good experience.”

Those that built the desks and podium though did not have control over their designs.

“Because of short notice, Chris designed the desks and podium,” said Brian Tiedeman, senior in art and design who also helped with the project.

The short notice was because of problems along the way.

“They [those who made the benches] were going to do it as an independent study, but they never got any wood, so everything was pushed back to this semester,” he said. “You have to dry it [the wood] for three or four weeks so it doesn’t crack, and that took a lot longer than we thought because of the size and kind of tree it was.”

Before they reached the step of drying the wood, the project ran into setback.

“One of the biggest problems we had was that we couldn’t saw the trunk of the tree because it was too big,” Ryan said. “We had to use the other parts, and some of it was rotten and there were a lot of knots because it was old, but we made do.”

After finally receiving the wood, it took the designers about two months to build the items, while they worked on other projects. They were pleased with the results.

“I’ve made other things, but not anything for the university,” said Dean Vande Griend, senior in art and design who also helped with the project. “It’s cool that a lot of people will see it.”

Tiedeman and Ryan also hadn’t built anything for the public before.

“I felt honored to be part of the project,” Ryan said. “I think it was a good opportunity for people in the class to build something that is going to be used at Iowa State for years.”

Ryan hopes that Iowa State will continue to do more projects like this one instead of discarding damaged trees.

“I know a lot of trees fall down on Iowa State’s campus all the time, and it is a good opportunity to let us do this,” he said. “It could have been mulch but now it is getting used everyday by people.”

Iowa State does plan to do a similar project this summer. They will be making items for the Memorial Union’s new addition from the trees that were torn down for the addition.