Gies Business is partnering with the Department of Landscape Architecture (DLA) to transform outdoor spaces south of the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) and east of the under-construction Steven S. Wymer Hall into a vibrant garden. The initiative is part of the DLA’s Design Build Studio Project led by Conor O’Shea, an assistant professor in the department.

“The Gies Business Courtyard provides so much space for us to do something big that not only supports over 50 species of native pollinators and insects but also create a difference in a space that will be used and seen by thousands of students and faculty,” said Johanna Gonzalez, a third-year student and one of seven in the DLA studio course. “We encourage everyone to take a moment to stop by to admire the productivity of our pollinators.”

The primary goal of the garden is to attract seven butterfly species commonly found across campus, including the Monarch, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, and the Red Admiral. Each team member researched a specific butterfly native to the region, studying their migration patterns and lifecycles, and then personalized the plant palette to specific varieties needed for them to thrive.

“There has been a real reawakening of the importance of plants coming out of all the time we spent at home during the pandemic,” said O’Shea. “There’s more interest in interacting with nature and Earth, after not having much face-to-face interaction.”

The project’s inspiration came from the reimagining of the Harkness Slope near Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, named for Terry Harkness, a longtime faculty member of the landscape architecture program within the College of Fine & Applied Arts.

This revitalized space caught the eye of Kari Cooperider, senior director of facility management at Gies Business, who was seeking a solution for sparse planters visible from both the BIF Lincoln International Atrium and Wymer Hall.

“We learned how to market our design, going beyond presenting only to people in our field,” said Srina Desai, a master’s student in the program. “Initially, the process included selling our ideas to Gies Business and the University’s Architectural Review Committee and its Facilities & Services department. Now that we’ve been planting, students and faculty have been curious about what we’re doing.”

The team of seven students learned business concepts along the way, from budgeting and logistics to inventory control and installation. They used virtual reality to simulate the design of nearly 4,000 plants before planting them.

“We kept in mind the aesthetics of the garden over time and created a plan with plants that will last over the long term without becoming overgrown,” said Sofia Pajak, a third-year DLA student. “I hope business students and faculty immerse themselves in the gardens and become proponents of building these into urban design. We hope they’ll join us in advocating for more biodiversity and promoting the importance of this field.”