Putting their skills, imagination and creativity into students came up with an unconventional, kid-focused backyard dream house.

play, OU architecture

Take the word play.Now add the word house. Put them together, and you have playhouse, which conjures up all kinds of memories for adults and stimulates the desire of many a child to have one. One lucky Oklahoma family has the playhouse of playhouses as winners in the Playhouse Parade, a project benefitting the Oklahoma County Court Appointed Special Advocates or CASA.

The eight-member student team from the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture that de­signed the playhouse took the word to heart when it created the whim­sical structure that children of all ages could enjoy.

Students Hunter Read, Bud Hardage, Ryan W illiams, Alma Sandoval, who received credit for the course, and volunteers Trent

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The OU College of Architecture CASA playhouse team members are, standing from left, model shop manager Hunter Roth, student Alma Sandoval, student Haven Hardage, assistant professor Daniel Butko with wife Debra; student Ryan Williams and Abby Butko in play­house, and assistant professor Tony Cricchio and student Jason Tyler. Sitting are students Trent Still and Hunter Read.Still, Aaron Crandall, Jason Tyler and Nicholas Norsworth, under the tutelage of faculty advisor Daniel Butko, designed and built the cedar, cypress and acrylic playhouse during the three-week in­tercession period in May.

“The CASA playhouse project is something that the college has been involved in for three years now,” says Butko, an assistant professor of archi­tecture. “The entire class fo­cused on the designing and building of this playhouse, which gave our students the real experience of designing, obtaining approvals and building something as a team.”

Butko, who teaches materials and architectural acoustics, says he was extremely impressed with his student crew.

“The playhouse project was an incredible learning oppor­tunity for me,” says Sandoval. “I had the least experience, and learned a lot from my peers and professor.”

Adds W illiams, “Getting to design and build something from the ground up was an excellent learning experience, especially

with such a great team. We were fortunate to have everything go so smoothly given the time frame of the project.”

The students wanted to break the preconceived notion of what is a playhouse, desiring to stay away from the traditional miniature house. OU s team instead opted for something designed completely

for playing with climbing areas and hiding spaces.

The result is a twisted, stacked spiral playhouse that allows children to tran­sition from different spaces and levels. Most of the ma­

terials were donated, including red cedar salvaged from the old Parkview Apartments and trees that succumbed during the December 2007 ice storm, as well as cypress and acrylic panels that were layered into the playhouse to allow light.

“Our students took an unconventional approach to the use of these materials to create a structurally sound playhouse,” Butko says. “There is a real beauty with the grains of the materials, which were stacked instead of framed, creating a more architec­tural and interesting structure.”

“CASA is such a heartwarming organization, and we are so glad to be supporting such a great cause.”

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The unusual shape and innovative materials, including cypress and acrylic panels, made the OU playhouse a one-of-a-kind creation. The team of students and volunteers saw the project through from the first brain­storming design sessions to the hammering of the last nail in place.

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ABOVE — Architecture students Hunter Read and Alma Sandoval begin to see the playhouse design take shape.LEFT — No one knows a good playhouse like a child. Abby Butko was more than happy to test the work of her father, assistant pro­fessor of architecture Dan Butko, and his students at every phase.

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The playhouse, with all its beckoning angles, platforms and sliding poles, was as much a learning experience for OU architecture students as it was a dream come true for the children who now enjoy it as their own backyard castle.

A key component of the design was safety for the children who would be playing inside. The height and weight of children who would occupy the space and the total number that might be climbing at any given time were important considerations. In addition, material selected needed to be heavy and durable enough to withstand the harsh elements of Oklahoma weather. The students also had to consider other situations, such as height and size restrictions imposed by homeowners associations.

Constructed in the architecture model shop on campus, the playhouse was moved to Penn Square M all in Oklahoma City, where it was on display to promote the benefit drawing, and fi­nally reassembled at the home of the winning family.

Hunter Roth, model shop manager for the college, describes working on the playhouse with Butko and his students as “a fun time.”

“I worked with them in the design phase through to milling the rough cut cedar into dimensional lumber, using the CNC

router to make a perfect connection, then in­stalling the playhouse in the mall,” he says, noting that the shop has a small sawmill and solar kiln that processes trees into lumber.

“The team had about 90 percent of the idea done by the second day,” Butko says. “The beauty of this project is that as archi­tects we tend to draw by hand or with the computer and therefore the design appears perfect. This project teaches the reality of the ebb and flow inherent in a real design pro­cess, along with understanding how the many pieces of a construct come together. For a lot of the students, it was their first experience at this scale, building something inhabitable although in a miniature size.”

Aside from the creative approach to the de­sign of the playhouse itself, Butko says the team learned the give and take involved in working as a team comprised of many different person­alities. Decisions had to be made quickly to stay on schedule, while incorporating sugges­tions and directions from other faculty advisors who served on the Design Review Committee for the project: Charles Graham, dean of the College of Architecture; Joel Dietrich, interim director of the Division of Architecture; and assistant professors Stephanie Pilat and Tony Cricchio, the latter also working on the project as a faculty supervisor.

While designing and building the playhouse provided students a real-world architectural ex­perience, it also offered a lesson in community.

“It might be hard to imagine college stu­dents being excited about building a kids’ playhouse, but when you see the intricate de­tail, originality and overall craftsmanship of

the 2012 playhouse, you know there was enthusiasm every step of the way,” says Lee Ann Limber, executive director CASA of Oklahoma County, Inc. “The University can take great pride in the leadership of Professor Butko and the talent exhibited by the students who participated. By giving a child in our community the joy of a backyard playhouse, these students are also helping CASA give an abused child a caring adult and bring that child one step closer to a ‘forever home.’ It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Adds Dietrich, “CASA is such a heartwarming organization, and we are so glad to be supporting such a great cause. It’s also a great opportunity for students to see a project from the design concept through a final build.”

Another reward for the team at the end of the project? They all earned As. W

Susan Grossman is a freelan ce writer living in Norman.

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