Point of View
Cope’s Living Building is designed to accommodate many points of view. In the education classroom, the south windows are various sizes and built in at various heights.
The smallest visitor can stand (or crawl) in front of the middle-ish window and see the purple flowers, the yellow flowers, the purple strife, and the blue stem grass in the prairie across the green grass dotted with white clover. But, if you’re a bit taller and go just a few feet west in the room, your window shows you big green trees. Oh, look a bunny just hopped by.
Point of view.
Step back to the other side of the room and you can see the sky through the upper windows — is it cloudy, is it raining, is it a blue sky day?
Step out of the Education Room and into the hall — oh, so many big windows; so many points of view. To be certified as a Living Building, a structure must meet specific criteria in the form of petals. There’s a Beauty Petal and a Health and Happiness Petal.
From the Beauty Petal window a person can see vibrant native flowers and plants. Through the window of the Health and Happiness Petal, visitors and staff can feel a sense of serenity and well being as they notice the prairie grass, the tall trees, and the birds as they fly by.
It’s nice to take advantage of many points of view and appreciate what each has to offer. Cope’s Living Building is designed to do just that. Not only does the Living Building offer many points of view, the programs designed by staff offer an amazing variety of points of view. From butterflies to dragonflies and turtles and snakes there’s a point of view — and program — for everybody. Some people like butterflies; some people like snakes. What’s your point of view?
By Judy Buchholz
Visit Indiana’s Only Living Building!
