The Butterfly Garden

          The Hyperspace interior design competition challenges groups of students each year to collaborate on a design and put it together in only 5 days. This year, our project was in collaboration with Cannon Design, Kaleida Health, and Cooper Lighting to reenvision the physical therapy room on the pediatric floor of Highpointe Skilled Nursing Facility in Buffalo, NY. Because the rest of the unit was themed around the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and it was explained to us that this is the room where these kids roll, crawl, walk, talk, jump, and so much more for the first time, my team and I knew we had to make a butterfly garden for the little caterpillars to blossom in. As first-place winners of this competition, our design will be built out at the facility. My part in this group as a 3rd-year student was to be the project manager. As such, I completed the majority of the work in Revit, including modeling our biggest features, such as the tree that surrounds a pre-existing column, the hill with steps that house a trampoline, the cocoon corner for sensory play and acoustic deprivation, and the entire design of the tactile mural incorporating the butterfly life-cycle. The creation and editing of the walkthrough video were also my responsibility. As first-place winners, the design I collaborated on with teammates Leeann Perkowski, Theo Heilman, Ashley Talbot, and Halie Lago will be built out at the facility in the near future.