Landscape Architect Articles

LASN Stewardship January 200801-04-08 | News

Metamorphosis of Butterfly Inspires Tree House Design

Gregory Harris, assistant editor

The butterfly garden was designed to be interactive for both the users and be attractive host for butterflies. HDR Inc. research found that there were several plants that were more attractive to the butterflies based on the variety of color and nectar. Plants and grasses used in the garden include: Liriope, "Nu Gold" Lantana, Dianthus, Coneflower, Buddleia, Creeping Flox (white) and "Medley Blue" Salvia.
Photo courtesy of HDR Inc.

The firm HDR, Inc. is an employee-owned architectural, engineering and consulting firm with more than 150 offices worldwide. The company is ranked 19th among Engineering News-record?EUR??,,????'???s 2007 ?EUR??,,????'??Top 500 Design Firms,?EUR??,,????'?? and ranks as the No. 1 healthcare design firm by Modern Healthcare.

When the opportunity arose for the firm to donate its services to a tree house design competition, principals in the company?EUR??,,????'???s Dallas office jumped at the challenge.

?EUR??,,????'??We saw this as an opportunity to share architectural experience with the Dallas area community,?EUR??,,????'?? said Randy Hagens, HDR structural team leader and a design team member. ?EUR??,,????'??Being ADA accessible, the design offers an opportunity for all to enter an elevated structure, bringing them closer to the canopy of the tree while looking down on the colorful plantings on the ground. All visitors experience the fantasy of the design by entering the cocoon and viewing the emerging wings above.?EUR??,,????'??

FlutterBy is an interactive experience that incorporates nature and design. FlutterBy?EUR??,,????'???s cocoon and butterfly wings span almost 60 feet, and the tree house represents the metamorphosis from caterpillar to cocoon into the fluttering by of the butterfly.
?EUR??,,????'??+Photo courtesy of HDR Inc.

HDR?EUR??,,????'???s concept for the ultimate tree house is now a work of art in Dallas. A team of HDR designers recently created the tree house as part of a design competition held by The Dallas Arboretum. HDR?EUR??,,????'???s entry was one of 13 ?EUR??,,????'??Ultimate Tree Houses?EUR??,,????'?? selected for construction on the Dallas Arboretum grounds.

The winning designs were selected from 55 entries by local architects. HDR Architecture?EUR??,,????'???s entry, called ?EUR??,,????'??FlutterBy,?EUR??,,????'?? is a celebration of the metamorphosis from caterpillar, to cocoon, to the emerging of a butterfly.

FlutterBy?EUR??,,????'???s cocoon and butterfly wings span almost 60 feet around a very large tree. As described in The Dallas Arboretum?EUR??,,????'???s visitor guide, FlutterBy ?EUR??,,????'??is an interactive experience that incorporates nature and design. The garden is a delicate arrangement of vibrant annual color that attract the butterfly. A pathway through allows for individual exploration. The large floating wings above provide shade to the structure below.?EUR??,,????'??

Several brainstorming sessions were held to begin the project, eventually producing two designs for two separate entries. Each design depicted conceptual imagery along with a list of potential materials and a rough estimate of construction cost.

?EUR??,,????'??From concept to reality in about 11 weeks, FlutterBy is a project involving deep commitment by the team, very generous material and labor donations, and use of the some of the best readily available architectural and structural design technologies,?EUR??,,????'?? Hagens said .

Hagens noted that the design entry was a two-dimensional presentation depicting a three-dimensional vision. To get there, a three-dimensional model was produced in Sketch-Up and rendered in Photoshop. The original butterfly wing concept is based on a JPEG image of an actual butterfly.

Construction drawings were produced in AutoCAD concurrently with the final FEA work in RAM Advanse. Crist Industries, Inc., a progressive steel fabrication shop, produced the project?EUR??,,????'???s steel components using Tekla Structures software for shop drawings and setting shop tool information.

?EUR??,,????'??A curious technological thread runs through the project from the development of the concept to fabrication,?EUR??,,????'?? Hagens said. ?EUR??,,????'??This is something we certainly did not plan at the outset of the project; however, it occurred because of a commitment to using the best tools available for a given task.

Hagens added that Arboretum visitors gravitated to the FlutterBy project as soon as construction barriers were removed.

?EUR??,,????'??Children and adults alike walked into the body of the project, the cocoon. Grown-ups marveled at the wings above them, and children ran along the paths through the plantings on the ground,?EUR??,,????'?? he said.