Emile Batrouny | Graduation Year: 2021
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emile-b-657098106/

• Executed: 5th Year
• Degree Path: Interior Architecture & Product Design
• Course: Advanced Furniture Design Studio
• Materials:

Thoughtful design allows for simple elements, like furniture pieces, to relate to the location and the history of the building they live in, cultivating lasting emotional bonds for the incidental observer as well as the everyday passerby. In the year this Design Thesis began, McCain Auditorium
was constructing a much-needed addition. As a part of this process, they needed to cut down a set of trees which were milled into large slabs and then kiln dried to be used for custom furniture to be installed in the addition. 5th Year graduate student Emile Batrouny worked with Executive Director of McCain Auditorium Todd Holmberg, the McCain staff, BNIM (the architecture firm), and the McCown & Gordon construction team to define what needed to be designed and how it would be installed.

In the McCain lobby, it became important to develop pieces that would incorporate the existing columns exposed by the addition and that would demarcate the old facade of the building. These columns represent a line between the old and new. Blending old and new is not a straightforward concept to approach, but when achieved correctly can have a great impact on how a space and its history are perceived. Utilizing the unique grain structure and character of each piece of the wood, Batrouny was able to create specific unique texture patterns that respond to the life that the piece of wood, and extension, the tree, has lived.