Frisco, Texas, recently celebrated the opening of Kaleidoscope Park, a new public space featuring a dynamic aerial sculpture installation by world-renowned fabric artist Janet Echelman. The 65-foot-tall, 3,400-pound sculpture, “Butterfly Rest Stop,” pays homage to the Monarch butterflies that frequent the area and changes colors based on the time of day.

Our team engineered the installation to withstand Texas weather—ice up to an inch and a half thick and winds up to 115 miles per hour. “It has 44-foot deep foundations, but it’s soft,” said Echelman. “I think that’s the kind of strength that we have here in Texas. It’s resilience, this ability to adapt and change and be strong.”

Appearing monumental in form, two five-petaled sculptural forms composed of soft braided fiber nestle together and float gently in the air. The fabric net—made up of nearly 800,000 knots tied by hand and by loom—took weeks to install as the twine length in the netting makes up almost 90 miles. The flower-inspired sculpture also includes thousands of plant additions throughout the park, including milkweed to sustain pollinators.

Butterfly Rest Stop is inspired by the migration path of the Monarch butterfly, which travels through the Lone Star State in spring and fall. The vibrant artwork is lit at night and changes colors during the day depending on the sun’s orientation. In addition to the artist and SOM, the 5.7-acre park was a collaboration among Dallas-based Austin Commercial, HKS Architects, and landscape architecture firm Office of James Burnett.