By Samantha Kupiainen
In 2023, Damar Services, Inc. CEO Jim Dalton noticed someone at a nearby bus stop with a bag over his head, blocking out the rain. That brief encounter inspired Damar to build a weather shelter on the far-southwest part of the organization’s Indianapolis campus, protecting those coming to and from the facility from the elements while waiting for transportation.
Damar has provided services to people with developmental, behavioral and intellectual disabilities for more than 50 years. It offers autism services for children, transitional living and independent living for adults, health services and more.
The designer tasked with bringing the weather shelter to fruition was Reese Higginbotham, a Carmel native and incoming fourth-year landscape design student at Ball State University. Higginbotham started out as an intern at Damar after her freshman year of college, with responsibilities including keeping the buildings running, working on flooring and paint projects and checking over plans. Currently, she works part-time with Damar during the school year and full-time during the summer.
As she designed the shelter, Higginbotham had to ensure it didn’t include materials or elements that could potentially harm its users.
“Since (Damar houses) children and adults with autism here, we decided that we couldn’t really do anything with glass, because that was a safety hazard, as well as we wouldn’t allow there to be horizontal slabs, because they could climb on there,” Higginbotham said. “It’s a busy road, and we have to be super cautious.”
Higginbotham researched designs that had a vertical slant look. After 15 different iterations and modified designs, she and the Damar team decided on a blue and orange shelter.
Higginbotham and Damar staffers have received positive feedback on the shelter since it was installed on May 31.
“Everyone has been pretty excited about it and pretty happy with it,” Higginbotham said. “Someone posted a picture of it from the street in this work social media that we have, and they were talking about how much they liked the look of it and how it will be so helpful for all of the people that come to and from Damar, but it’s also open to the community. We’ve had some members of the community who are bus riders make comments. It seems like everyone is pretty happy to finally have something out there to help protect against the rain and sun.”
