Completion Date:     6/30/2015

Square Footage:      150

Building Use:           Alternative Lodging to Camping

Location:                 variable (mobile)/Spring Lake Campground

Project Description:

This was a project led by the submitting architect and carried out at a University by students of architecture for the California State Parks system as well as the Sonoma County Parks.

In an effort to modernize the experience of staying overnight at California State Park cabins, the Parks Forward Commission invited architecture students to design new cabins to be placed at campgrounds throughout the state. The commission, an independent initiative designed to address the cultural, financial, and operational challenges facing California State Parks, revealed the designs at the State Fair in Sacramento and the LA County Fair in Pomona. Designs were aimed at appealing to a wider range of park users, specifically targeting millennials. The project aimed to generate funds to be reinvested in participating parks, and creates more awareness of positive changes taking place in the parks. Students were asked to balance issues of culture, sustainability, mobility, and construction. They answered with structures that could be easily prefabricated and relocated, with simple construction techniques and materials. They are low maintenance, fire resistant, ADA compliant, and able to be customized in terms of geometry/layout/materials. The Wedge Cabin, a slope-roofed wood building, is a modern take on the traditional cabin. It was built on a chassis in a factory in four days and shipped on a truck to multiple locations. The possibility for variations in materials and configurations are endless.

After the success of the initial prototype which was displayed at the Califorania State Fair and LA County Fair, we were approached by Spring Lake Campground in Sonoma who requested three cabins for their campground in Santa Rosa. Students worked to adapt the design for site specific considerations and included a larger variety of interior layouts and added back decks to all units. The students developed the site design for 3 cabin camping sites, including one ADA site. The customization aimed to maximize functionality and aesthetics in the existing campground. For example- cabin placement and window locations such that large oaks shade the cabin in the mid/late afternoon to lessen heat gain with windows located strategically to provide privacy and good morning and daytime lighting (since these cabins will not have electrical lighting).

C.O.T.E. | Committee on the Environment

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