DELTA Grants LAR 221 Project: An Invitation to Walk in the Park
Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Robin Moore and Professor of Research/ Director of Programs for the Natural Learning Initiative Nilda Cosco partnered with DELTA to revolutionize how they teach biophilic urban design concepts. DELTA created an innovative digital platform that exceeded expectations, featuring an extensive virtual environment and an interactive virtual tour where users — whether students, policymakers, or community members — can explore park spaces asynchronously.
LAR 221: Introduction to Environment and Behavior for Designers is a course generally only offered in the summer and focuses on the exploration of humane, ecologically sound, design alternatives. This course uses the Kids Together Playground as an example of an accessible park in which “everyone can play” because Moore was one of the landscape designers who assisted in planning the playground in 1994. Moore and Cosco are both founders of the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) in 2000.
Learning Goals and DELTA Deliverables
The project addressed three key objectives: creating accessible educational content about urban design principles for diverse audiences, documenting real-world examples of architectural concepts, and developing an interactive virtual environment. This final component uniquely allows users to explore outdoor spaces from both adult and child perspectives while encountering informative design highlights throughout the journey.
The responsibilities for the DELTA Grants initiative were divided according to team members’ areas of expertise. Senior Producer Arthur Earnest took the helm as project lead, while Ben Huckaby served as Lead Interaction Designer/Developer and Jakia Salam as Lead Instructional Designer. Each team member oversaw deliverables that matched their professional strengths.
The Hub
Salam led the development of a WordPress site hosted by the NC State’s College of Design (COD) featuring Moore and Cosco’s publications and serving as a central repository for project deliverables. She collaborated with COD’s Multimedia Specialist Adam Noel and UX/Communication Design Team Lead Matthew Babb to implement this resource hub. The NLI Resource Hub Gallery includes comprehensive search functionality and targets a broader audience such as architects, educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.
Matterport Scans
Under Earnest’s direction, the team created an interactive Matterport virtual tour of the Kids Together Park, featuring 28 hotspots (mattertags) with embedded information and five video narratives by Moore. This scan enables users to explore real-world examples of landscape architecture and urban design concepts through an asynchronous learning experience.
Interactive 3D Virtual Environments
Huckaby managed the process of developing a web-based virtual park replica, incorporating unique perspective-switching between adult and child viewpoints. Using Matterport scans, original plans, and site photos, the team built a dynamic learning tool where students can make design decisions and immediately visualize their impact from multiple perspectives.
Due to the size and complexity of this particular deliverable, Téa Blumer, Matthew Castro, David Tredwell, Stephen Waddell, and Andrew Wiedner were added to contribute their development, artistic, and design skills to assist Huckaby.
The DELTA team’s technical expertise and project management skills enabled them to create these comprehensive resources that now serve both campus and external audiences.
Learn more about DELTA Grants and how to apply.
