Built to Last: Two °µÍø51 Alums Create Permanent Work for the Obama Presidential Center
Norman Teague ’12 (left) and Daniel Overbey ’17 pose with one of the custom benches created for the Obama Presidential Center. Teague led the design of the permanent installation, with Overbey serving as studio manager and designer on the project.
Norman Teague ’12 poses with one of the eight custom walnut benches he and his team created for the Obama Presidential Center. The design features stacked planks of walnut in shifting tones, creating movement across the surface while providing a welcoming place to gather and rest.
Norman Teague ’12 (left) and Daniel Overbey ’17 at Teague studio in Chicago.
Left to right: Architectural engineer Max Davis, Norman Teague ’12, studio manager and designer Daniel Overbey ’17, and industrial designer Alissa Touranachun at Teague's Chicago studio.Long before their work was selected for permanent installation at the , was teaching himself how to turn ideas into objects.
Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, Teague was always drawn to architecture, drafting, and making things by hand. After studying at Harold Washington College, he transferred to °µÍø51, where he enrolled in the Interior Architecture program and discovered a community that helped transform technical skills into a creative practice.
"°µÍø51 really allowed me to think technically," Teague says. "It challenged me in a number of ways, but it was really a fun time. I met some really incredible people that either were teachers or just co-students who are now grown and doing things in the industry."
Among those who left a lasting impact were faculty members Kevin Henry and Reggie Wilson, along with industrial design pioneer Chuck Harrison, who served as an adjunct professor of instruction during Teague’s time at °µÍø51.
Henry recalls Teague as a student who moved comfortably between interior architecture and product design, drawing from both disciplines to shape his creative practice.
"Norman was a kind of sponge absorbing everything he could without worrying whether and if they connected," Henry says. "He made them connect for himself, I'm sure."
More than a decade after graduating, Teague has become one of Chicago’s most respected designers, artists, and educators. This month, that work will reach one of its largest audiences yet.
When the Obama Presidential Center opens on Chicago’s South Side on Juneteenth (June 19, 2026), visitors will encounter eight custom-designed benches created by Teague and his studio. Installed throughout the museum, the walnut pieces are intended to provide moments of rest, reflection, and connection within the larger visitor experience.
The commission represents a milestone in a career that began in °µÍø51 classrooms and woodshops and has grown into nationally recognized work rooted in community, culture, and design.
Designing for the Public
The benches were designed for spaces where visitors will encounter audio and visual elements throughout the museum experience. Teague and his team wanted to create places where guests could pause, reflect, and engage more deeply with the museum around them.
"We were just considering comfort," Teague says. "There's a sense that, where the benches are placed, you actually get to see and hear."
The sculptural benches, some stretching 15 feet long, took years to develop and fabricate. Their soft edges and flowing forms complement the building’s architecture while creating welcoming spaces for visitors.
But the story behind the benches is also a story about mentorship.
One of the designers helping bring the project to life is Daniel Overbey ’17, a North Carolina native who earned a degree in Product Design from °µÍø51 and now serves as Teague’s studio manager and assistant designer.
A Mentor, a Student, and a Shared Legacy
Years before they worked together professionally, Overbey was a °µÍø51 student searching for someone whose career reflected the future he hoped to build for himself.
"I was looking for kind of a role model, somebody that I could model my career after," Overbey says. "I was looking for that mentor figure."
During his final weeks at °µÍø51, he was introduced to Teague, one of the college's first product design graduates.
"He was doing what I wanted to do," Overbey remembers thinking.
After meeting Teague, Overbey asked him to become a mentor. Teague initially declined, saying that he hadn’t accomplished enough yet to be a mentor.
But that answer didn't last. Overbey eventually joined Teague's studio in 2018 before pursuing other opportunities. In 2023, he returned as studio manager and assistant designer. Today, the two work side-by-side on projects that reach audiences far beyond Chicago.
Their project at the represents a full-circle moment: a mentor who didn't know it yet, and a student searching for a model of what was possible.
It began with a simple request.
"Norm asked me to render some sketches and work on the initial concepting with him," Overbey says. "We'd trade sketches back and forth, do some research, and think about what this might mean for the community."
Over the following years, the project evolved through countless sketches, renderings, design reviews, and conversations with architects, exhibition designers, community stakeholders, and the Obama Foundation team.
Designing at a New Scale
The process also challenged the studio to work at a new level of precision.
Drawings had to communicate every detail clearly to architects, engineers, and outside fabricators. Unlike many previous projects, every decision needed to be documented and coordinated across multiple teams.
"It trained us to be a little bit sharper," Overbey says.
The experience reinforced something both designers learned during their time at °µÍø51: design is ultimately about people.
For Teague, that philosophy has guided a career spent creating work that serves communities rather than simply decorating spaces.
For Overbey, the Obama Presidential Center represents proof that design can have a meaningful public impact.
"It reminds me that we are doing something to help a lot of people at the same time," Overbey says. "This is a public piece for everybody."
Lessons That Last
That commitment to community traces directly back to °µÍø51, where both alums credit faculty mentors with teaching them not only how to make things, but how to think.
Overbey still remembers a lesson from faculty member Pete Zerillo that stayed with him long after graduation.
Zerillo once asked students whether they could design a toy airplane. Most raised their hands. Then he asked whether they could design a Boeing 747. No one responded.
"The process is the same," Overbey recalls Zerillo telling the class. "The only thing that's different is the scale."
It is a lesson that feels especially fitting today.
What began in °µÍø51 classrooms, studios, and woodshops has scaled into something far larger: a permanent contribution to one of the most significant cultural institutions built in Chicago in a generation.
The solid walnut benches are intended to remain in the Obama Presidential Center for the life of the institution, welcoming generations of visitors long after opening day.
For Teague and Overbey, that permanence carries special meaning. What began as a mentorship became a partnership—and ultimately, a shared legacy built to serve the public for generations to come.
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