By SETH SLABAUGH
seths@muncie.gannett.com

(Published Friday, Nov. 20 2009) MUNCIE — As soon as Ball State University students finished installing their reBarn project in Westside Park on Sunday, a group of 10 little kids showed up out of nowhere.

“The kids figured it out,” said Eric Brockmeyer, one of the students. “It was intuitive to them that it was something to climb and sit on. Their parents were more curious as to how they were supposed to use it.”

Measuring 38 feet in length, 18 feet in width and nearly five feet in height, the object is both a sculpture and a large park bench, as well as playground equipment for children.

It is made out of salvaged barn siding from Cambridge City and aluminum panels assembled at all kinds of angles.

“Hopefully, people will assume that it’s OK to climb on,” Brockmeyer said.

He added: “Hopefully, because it is a beautiful object, it will be somewhat respected. We hope people will respect it as an art piece.”

The value of the object, which overlooks White River and the newly constructed White River Greenway trail, has been estimated at $80,000.

Architecture students who designed, assembled and installed the object celebrated its completion at an event on Thursday afternoon.

The finished product slides together with slots, multiple angles, wood glue, aluminum clips, ridges, tongue and groove joints and dovetail joints. It all slides into place, and there is only one way to put it together, like a puzzle.

The students used no nails or screws because they wanted to innovate, test and research.

The project is made of 34 panels of barn siding and five panels of aluminum. The aluminum was included to show that the project is the result of a marriage of old and new technologies, including digital processing, spreadsheets and artistic patterns cut into the aluminum by water jets.

The old barn siding is one-inch-thick boards of poplar, white oak and some beechwood.