Girl Scout Camp Lakota

2024 Design Awards Merit Recipient

Located roughly 70 miles north of Los Angeles in the Los Padres National Forest, Girl Scout’s Camp Lakota has long been a place that girls from the region have visited to connect with the outdoors and gain an appreciation for nature. The 60-acre camp includes facilities for horseback riding, archery, swimming, hiking, and ropes courses. In 2008, the dining hall burned down in a fire, and the camp was closed. The project replaces the previous building with a new 11,000 square-foot Dining Hall and adds 48 new cabins, each sleeping 8 girls. The A-frame became both a unifying element and a way to define the new buildings with a form simultaneously functional and expressive. The design explores the structural possibilities of these unique five-sided volumes in both the large dining hall and smaller cabins by incorporating a variety of SIPS and Mass Timber components. Both building types use the height of the A-frame for passive cooling, and the dining hall is 100% passively conditioned year-round. The new buildings are an extension of the camp’s mission by offering campers a tangible example of how natural systems can be used in contemporary buildings to reduce the growing demand for natural resources.

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The insertion of a clearly modern typology, or building aesthetic, into nature—done in a way that still brought back the kind of qualities and characteristics of a summer camp in the mountains—was really wonderful. Opulence of experience, but not an opulence of material use. The modular construction was wonderful, and so appropriate for a rural site like this.

//framework for design excellence measures

Measure 1: Design for Integration

For this forested site, our aim was to complement rather than destroy, to have a light touch, even during the construction process. Working with the topography and a tree inventory, we positioned buildings to avoid removing healthy trees. Utilizing shop fabricated, flat packed construction components assembled strategically onsite minimized disruption to natural systems. We floated the cabin floors, allowing stormwater to flow naturally across the earth and greatly reducing excavation and regrading.

Measure 2: Design for Equitable Communities

To determine the needs and goals of the project before the design began, the client undertook a visioning process that involved town halls, market surveys, focus groups, interviews, digital outreach, and discussion at annual organization meetings. This resulted in feedback from thousands of community members within and outside the organization. The resulting recommendations were integrated into the masterplan, programming, and design of the project. There was an emphasis on the desire to attract a diversity of campers who might not otherwise have such opportunities, as well as maintaining both the cultural and natural heritage of the site.

Measure 3: Design for Ecosystems

The project is inherently focused on integration, preservation, and experience of nature. The only large trees felled were at the dining hall, and they were reused as benches for the restrooms. The cabins float above the ground, requiring minimal grading and preserving the site and natural seasonal water patterns. Access to nature and views are paramount interests in the orientation and design of the buildings, and the restrained new landscaping is comprised of plants already found on site.

Measure 4: Design for Water

The project conserves water though the use of metered and low flow fixtures. The new landscaping for the project is limited in area and plant type, emphasizing areas that are capturing stormwater runoff from the dining hall, and requiring no irrigation. Potable water is only used for cooling the kitchen portion of the dining hall, all other areas of the project are naturally ventilated and not mechanically cooled.

Measure 5: Design for Economy

The cabin design was priced for eight different assemblies with the contractor based on details and narratives for options that optimized the walls/roofs, floors, and foundations against the project requirements. This resulted in a smaller and more cost-effective building that still achieved the design intent. Similarly, the dining hall was programed with an open kitchen concept to reduce the area of the building. The dining hall also includes storage for the main furniture and provisions for AV, power, and other amenities so that it can function as a multi-purpose space to meet the owners desired program flexibility beyond food service.

Measure 6: Design for Energy

The building designs emphasize natural ventilation and heavy insulation, which allow for reduced power usage. The cabins are designed to require almost no power, with one of the villages (group of 6 cabins) not being connected to the electrical grid at all. The cabins utilized Structurally Insulated Panel construction, which provides substantially better insulation values than is required by code, along with reducing thermal bridging. The dining area leverages a radiant floor to provide efficient heating where it is needed, at human level. Samples of these components were retained by the client as educational materials in their camping program.

Measure 7: Design for Well-Being

• The project material selection was informed by a chemicals of concern list.
• A portion of the windows in all building types are operable, allowing for highly adaptable natural ventilation and climate control. These windows are also designed to emphasize views into the surrounding national forest and up to the stars at night. They also allow substantial natural lighting into the spaces but are oriented to avoid excessive heat.
• The dining hall was lined with acoustic perforated panels, to reduce the sound levels when fully occupied to comfortable levels.

Measure 8: Design for Resources

Mass timber was used in the floor of the cabins to significantly reduce the amount of concrete required for the project by floating the cabins on four footings. This resulted in a 29% reduction in project embodied carbon over the alternate of using slab on grad construction (EC3 tool). The use of optimized panelized construction reduced material waste in the structural systems and cabin assembly.

The buildings were carefully situated to reduce the number of trees required to be cut down. When a tree had to be removed, it was reused on site for milled benches at the restrooms.

Measure 9: Design for Change

• Much of the campground is designed to maintain comfort without power, utilizing high insulation values and natural cooling. The buildings are insulated beyond what is required by code, and all of the new buildings on site have user controllable natural ventilation.
• The dining hall is a flexible space. The main dining area is an open plan with high ceilings and open seating, capable of being used for a wide range of purposes.
• The project is also designed to accommodate local risks, such as wildfire though use of approved materials, design strategies, and operational requirements.

Measure 10: Design for Discovery

Much of the project has exposed construction, allowing the campers and staff to see how things were constructed. Supplemental material samples were provided for more unique systems such as Structurally Insulated Panels, Mass Plywood Panels, and radiant heated flooring, which are intended to be used by the owner as educational tools. The uniqueness of the project has also served as a launchpad for professional conversation. Presented at multiple venues externally and internal to the design team, the experience with materiality and panelized construction has informed more recent work.