Building Up Treefort
It all started, like so many great things do, as a sliver of an idea. An even before that idea began germinating, it was sparked by a shared desire to work together on a project for Treefort.
Dwaine carver, assistant professor of architecture for the University of Idaho Boise, wanted to find a way "to intersect the architecture program with Treefort."
Sean Aucutt is head of visual production for Decorfort, the behind the scenes design, construction and decorating crew that hands-builds all of the signs, stages, etc. that give Treefort "that campy, woodsy look." In a normal year, with roughly $20,000 to work with, he and his crew create about 350 structures and signage.
Aucutt said the two had been trying to come up with something they could work on together for a long time — five or six years. the big challenge: "How can we get architecture into Treefort?" Carver said they pondered it over and over. And then, "the stars finally aligned."
And so, graduate students in carver's spring Design Studio put their hands up to make it a Treefort semester. Aucutt sent them a video commercial for Treefort so they could "get the feel of it, the discovery, for Treefort," he said.
Article by Jeanne Huff, Boise Weekly.