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Autism Awareness Playhouse by TDI & Kimley-Horn

When Kimley-Horn’s designers sat down to dream up their playhouse for Dallas CASA’s 2019 Parade of Playhouses, they kept coming back to a theme: inclusion and unity.

“We reviewed all the houses from past years and noticed a lot of themes,” said Kimley-Horn’s Jonathan Campbell. “But we realized we could use the theme of our house as a platform.”

Ultimately, the group settled on an inclusive theme, and the house mirrors the colorful, well-known symbol of autism awareness. Square in shape, with colorful side paneling, the house brings awareness to autism but also an understanding of inclusiveness. The design team hopes it promote understanding.

“We hope it gives all kids the opportunity to interact,” Campbell said. “We want all kids to mix and mingle in the space.”

Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses runs July 12 to 28 at NorthPark Center. With 17 houses on display and available to win by raffle, the event serves as Dallas CASA’s signature awareness event and raises funds to serve children who have suffered abuse or neglect. Dallas CASA’s trained and supervised community volunteers advocate for the best interests of children living in foster care because it’s not safe at home.

For Kimley-Horn, the house has already created greater awareness among staff designers and builders. Many people who worked on the house have friends or family members impacted by autism.

“We discovered almost everyone has been touched by autism,” Campbell said. “Whether it’s a family member with autism or a friend who works with students with autism, we all know someone affected.”

Kimley-Horn designer Alysa Gapinski’s mother teaches middle school students with autism and provided input for the design team. Madison Wavra, a landscape architecture student at Texas A&M interning at Kimley-Horn this summer, consulted a speech pathologist friend who works with students with autism.

The design team took into consideration colors and sensory elements as they designed, with the goal of creating house where all kids could feel comfortable and be active.

“We used cooler colors on the inside of the house so it would not be over-stimulating,” Wavra said. “And we were careful to consider sounds, also to limit sensory overload for sensitive children.”

When it came time for the design team to partner with builder TD Industries, the creative ideas kept coming. TD Industries suggested new and different building materials that bring textural change to the house, including colored Plexiglas, dowel rods that spin, aluminum slats, textured siding and smooth access portals.

“TD really embraced our idea and brought lots of their own ideas and materials,” Campbell said. “This house was a true collaborative team effort.”

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Crest Cadillac / Crest Infiniti’s Mike Brosin, a longtime supporter board member of Dallas CASA, is cooking up a new playhouse for Dallas CASA’s annual Parade of Playhouses. Called Bro’s Diner, the playhouse pays homage to Brosin’s love of cooking and his care and concern for the most vulnerable members of our community.

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) organizations train and supervise community volunteers to serve as advocates for children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect in Dallas and surrounding counties. Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses, which runs June 29 to July 15 at NorthPark Center, features 14 custom-designed and built playhouses donated by local businesses, builders and organizations and available to win by raffle at the end of the event. The event, a key awareness event for Dallas CASA, is presented by Crest Cadillac / Crest Infiniti.

This year’s house is Crest Cadillac / Crest Infiniti’s third for Dallas CASA. They’ve previously donated a Hobbit-inspired house and an automotive garage. “The house has been a labor of love,” said Brosin, whose wife Jana serves as a volunteer advocate. “While it’s been fun to make it a chef’s house honoring my love of cooking and entertaining and being with my family, what this house really represents is my wish that all kids could feel the same sense of love and security and fun at home that I’ve been blessed with.”

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McKinney resident Patrick Jackson wants the playhouse he’s building for Dallas CASA’s 23rd annual Parade of Playhouses to be played with, played on and played under. He’s calling the playhouse “Warped” and hopes his playhouse is fully interactive.

“I dreamed of a place kids will play in, not just hang out in,” he said.

Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses, which runs June 29 to July 15 at NorthPark Center, features custom-designed and built children’s playhouses on display and available to win by raffle. The event raises both funds and awareness for Dallas CASA, a nonprofit that trains and supervises community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children removed from their home.

Jackson’s playhouse features a warped wall, a trampoline play area with a climbing wall, a slack rope course, a two-level tower and a climbing rope and more. He recruited friends and colleagues from the building world to donate materials and supplies, including composite decking with a core of sustainable bamboo and a recyclable outer finish layer.

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Southlake-based general contractor Capstone Classic Construction is taking their skills small. While normally committed to retail, office and medical spaces and industrial and recreational builds, they’re using their skills to create a very special child-sized house.

The group is building a playhouse for Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses, which runs June 29 to July 15 at NorthPark Center. The annual event raises awareness and funds for Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a nonprofit that trains and supervises community volunteers to serve as advocates for abused and neglected children removed from their homes.

Capstone’s house was designed by Christiaan Lujik, who was one of the winners of a playhouse design contest run by longtime Dallas CASA supporter Bob Borson. Lujik, from Cape Town South Africa, designed the “Autumn Cottage,” an adorable cottage complete with a high ceiling with exposed rafters and big windows.

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North Dallas luxury homebuilder Les Owens, founder of LRO Residential, is building his ninth playhouse for Dallas CASA. The playhouses become a team effort each year for Les, his family and all his subcontractors. Owens sets the house on one of his job sites, and his crews take pride in working on it. Owens first became involved with Dallas CASA in 2009, after the birth of his first child.

“I saw how much love and support he was given by our family and the great support system he was going to have growing up,” said Owens, who lives in the Park Cities with his wife and young children. “It made me realize what many kids are missing. I realized with my skills I could build a playhouse and help CASA help kids in the foster system.”

Owens’ playhouses are creative and unique, and he aspires to build a quality product families would be proud to have in their backyards. He’s built a ski lodge, a fire station and a barn. Last year’s Tudor-inspired whimsical cottage featured a curved front door, a copper roof, oak flooring and full electrical.

“Many of my subcontractors and tradesmen work on them each year,” Owens said. “Once they know what the purpose of the house is, they are all in. It’s become something we look forward to each year.”

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Omniplan the architectural firm that designed NorthPark, brought the same modern design with a creative flair to the playhouse they’re building for Dallas CASA as they did to the design of NorthPark. The house, called ArtHouse, was selected from an OMNIPLAN in-house design competition, with architects throughout the firm presenting their best ideas for playhouses. This year, the firm chose ArtHouse as the winning house.

Designed by architects and designers Sam Stribling, Selina Cinecio, David Brewerton and Paloma Rodriguez, the house is designed to be an engaging sculptural piece that encourages kids to use their imaginations. The designers started with the timeless planters at NorthPark, which have attracted generations of children to play on them.

The house features a base with three towers rising from it and opening to the sky, giving children the opportunity for physical and imaginary play through climbing, crawling and discovery. They also wanted the kids to have opportunities for expression and ownership so they incorporated a chalkboard wall and floor storage.

The architects challenged themselves to walk in children’s shoes as they designed the house, thinking about how children play and how big their worlds are. They also worked closely with Austin Commercial, who built the house, to make sure it was safe and sturdy.

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Emily Jones, a third-grader at Coppell’s Town Center Elementary School, was so moved by recent media stories about children sleeping in Child Protective Services offices that she took action. After talking to her teachers and counselors at her school, Emily talked to every third grade class at her school about the issue, explaining why children were coming into protective care and the challenges they might face. She then collected food and toiletry items for children who might have to stay the night in a CPS office. Now, when a child has been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect, they will have some comfort while CPS finds a place for them to stay. Emily, mom Allison and brother Connor delivered the items last week to Dallas CASA, which provides volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children.

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Park Cities-area students have been lending helping hands to Dallas CASA this spring.

Dallas CASA provides volunteers who serve as advocates for abused and neglected children who’ve been removed from their home.

Members of the Acts of Random Kindness Club, including Ava Olivo, collected summer toys, coloring books and markers, so that foster children in protective care will have something to call their own. Club members delivered the items in May.

And then members of Highland Park High School’s long-standing Dallas CASA Club brought a check for $3,100 to the Dallas CASA board meeting Tuesday. The check was presented by members Ben Kroencke and Rosie Johnston with their club sponsor Mindy McMinn, a guidance counselor at the school. Funds raised by the club will allow Dallas CASA to recruit, train and supervise more volunteer advocates.

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John Gibson, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, is the new board chairman at Dallas CASA. The board, comprised of a diverse group of corporate executives, community leaders and philanthropists, advises Dallas CASA, a nonprofit organization that provides trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children in court.

On an average day in Dallas County, more than 2,000 abused and neglected children live in foster care because they cannot safely live at home. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for the best interests of children under the protective care of the courts so they will have safe, permanent homes where they can thrive.

Gibson, the new board chair, has worked for Goldman Sachs for 20 years. In addition to leading the board, he is Dallas CASA’s first board chair to serve as an advocate. He is currently working three open cases for kids who’ve been removed from their homes. A Harvard graduate, Gibson has also served on the Dallas Winds board.

Mike Brosin and Cynthia Comparin have joined the Dallas CASA board as new members.

Brosin, a Dallas resident, is managing partner of Crest Cadillac / Crest Infiniti. Brosin attended Southern Arkansas University and worked his way up through the trenches to managing partner. His wife, Jana Brosin, is a Dallas CASA volunteer.

Comparin, a Dallas resident, is chief executive office of Animato, which she founded in 1997. Formerly president of Alltell’s Enterprise Network Services and vice president and general manager for Nortel’s Network Transformation Services Division, Comparin is very involved in community organizations and mentors disadvantaged high school students. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

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Students from Coppell ISD’s Austin Elementary School recently made wish bracelets to raise money for Dallas CASA. The student group, who called themselves “Baubles to Benefit,” wanted to raise money to help children living in foster care. To do so, they made and sold fashionable bracelets on a cloth string. Twelve students in grades three, four and five created the bracelets. They sold them for $3, raising $105 for Dallas CASA. Teachers Lauren Holcombe, Liz Malone and volunteer Kara Colby guided the students in their endeavor. The group visited Dallas CASA Feb. 18 to hand-deliver their donation and learn more about Dallas CASA.

Dallas CASA provides volunteer advocates to children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. In 2015, 921 volunteer advocates were assigned to 2,680 children in Dallas.