Ball State Landscape Architecture Student Designs Weather Shelter for Bus Riders

Ball State University students strive to combine their talent with innovation to make meaningful impacts within their communities. Reese Higginbotham, a landscape architecture student at Ball State's Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning, did just that.

Ms. Higginbotham designed a weather shelter for an Indianapolis bus stop on Ameriplex Way-transforming the bus stop into an appealing and colorful structure that offers some protection during periods of inclement weather, strong winds, bright sunshine, and cold temperatures.

She completed the design for the shelter while working at Damar Services, Inc. Damar provides a range of services to people with developmental, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities. The bus stop is near Damar Services, which has approximately 1,100 employees and up to 148 adults residing in the nearby Damar Village homes. Other people working or living in the community, beyond the Damar campus, also use this bus stop.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to do a design-build project as a 21-year-old student," Ms. Higginbotham said. "Through this experience, and thanks to Damar, I feel a lot more in touch with how designing in the real world goes. This is an experience I couldn't necessarily get in the classroom."

When designing the shelter, safety was a primary consideration for Ms. Higginbotham. She chose materials that wouldn't easily break and opted for vertical slats to prevent climbing hazards. After extensive research and 15 design iterations, she developed a shelter design that met safety standards, was aesthetically appealing, and met the allotted budget. The Damar Foundation funded the construction of the shelter.

The idea for transforming this bus stop into a weather shelter stemmed from an observation made by Damar Services' CEO, Dr. Jim Dalton, who was inspired by something he witnessed last year. On a rainy day, Dr. Dalton saw a person at the bus stop wearing a bag on his head to shield him from the dampness. Ms. Higginbotham was eventually tasked with using her design talents to meet this community need.

Ms. Higginbotham was on hand to watch the installation of the shelter on May 31, 2024. At that time, numerous community members expressed their appreciation for the shelter. One bus rider remarked, "This is so wonderful! I would get so hot here. It looks beautiful and so artistic."

Ms. Higginbotham begins her senior year at Ball State in August 2024. She started working at Damar as an intern three years ago. Now, she works there full-time in the Summer and part-time during the school year.