November 9, 2020 MacDonald and Schumann Install at Knoxville Museum of Art

An exhibit by 2019-2020 Tennessee Architecture Fellows Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann is on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art through Nov. 29, 2020.

Their installation, entitled Homegrown, is the culmination of the fellowship research in the College of Architecture and Design. It imagines and demonstrates architectural applications for some of Tennessee’s native and nonnative plant species.

To create the installation, the fellows made use of four walls made out of various bamboos and tree species and used forestry waste to form an exterior room. The exhibit was informed by students’ work in 2019-2020 studios led by MacDonald and Schumann during their time in the college.

The room’s walls were constructed using a novel pneumatic forming system. Using a hybrid workflow, the installation was modeled digitally and then constructed physically using a single reusable inflatable mold.

The project was funded by the college’s fellowship program as well as the University of Tennessee’s student research assistant grant program.

The exhibit is free and open to the public at the Knoxville Museum of Art’s South Garden located at 1050 World’s fair Park Drive. To maintain social distancing, the museum requests visitors reserve visit times.

The fellowship program introduces our students to designers and compelling research. With the knowledge presented by these resources, our students can explore new areas of design to transform the world.

Learn more!

Learn more about the unusual student work in MacDonald and Schumann’s studios.