As students make their camps in the library during final exam week, they may be tempted to seek shelter from their academic chaos in a new structure that has taken shape in the Neely Gallery.

The Treehouse Project is the creation of students in a science, technology and culture (STaC) senior seminar called "The Natural History of Wood" with Hugh Crawford, associate professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture.

Throughout the seminar, students looked at trees and forests as biological, ecological, technological, cultural, mythic and literary entities. They studied a broad range of nature writing, as well as histories of forestry and building practices.

The students decided to build a tree house to serve as a prompt or provocation to think about trees, forests and small structures in relation to liminal space, sustainable building, children's literature and the popular imagination. In addition to gathering the materials, designing and constructing the house, students produced video interviews, posters, research papers, flash animations and process slide shows representing their broad and varied research.

The treehouse will be on display in the library's Neely Gallery throughout the week of final exams.