Instead of designing some imaginary building, architecture student Hank Butitta decided to do something more tangible for his master's final project: He turned an old school bus into a modern living space.

Butitta bought a bus on Craigslist for $3,000. With about 15 months of work and about $6,000 in improvements, the former student transportation vessel became an innovative home on wheels.

"In architecture school, I was tired of drawing buildings that would never exist, for clients that were imaginary, and with details I didn’t fully understand," Butitta wrote on his website. "I prefer to work with my hands, exploring details thoroughly, and enjoy working/prototyping at full scale."

The bus home is broken into four primary zones: bathroom, kitchen, seating and sleeping. The driver area can be separated from the living space with a sliding door panel; while on the road, it is left open.

Earlier this month, Butitta and some fellow adventurers set out in the bus on a tour of the western U.S., putting the living space to the test.

To read more about the bus and the trip, and to see more photos, go to www.hankboughtabus.com.

To see some other interesting uses for old school buses, see our photo gallery here.