One of the United States' older nature-based day camps has undergone a significant facilities makeover to enhance its mission to provide safe experiences that allow children to grow into active and respectful community members through exploration of the natural world.

The focal point of the $1.1 million makeover is the rehabilitation, adaptive re-use and expansion of a 5,000-square-foot timber-framed barn, formerly housing farm animals and now serving as the program center for the Kalamazoo Nature Center Camp.

The camp had been housed in a renovated residence at the edge of the Kalamazoo Nature Center and adjacent to a noisy road. Rehabilitating the existing barn structure, located in the heart of the 1,100-acre nature center, allowed the design team from architecture and planning firm from Lord Aeck Sargent (LAS) to experience cost savings by reusing an available existing structure located where campers would be immersed in nature. LAS led the design effort for the new Kalamazoo Nature Camp facilities.

The barn is surrounded by a wooded area forming the new 23-acre area dedicated to the New Camp Program. The New Camp is surrounded by the 1,100 acres of the Kalamazoo Nature Center (KNC) and is actively used by the campers. The barn is now called the Timber-Frame Barn and houses the camp administrative office, catering kitchen, meeting and storage spaces, restrooms and an art studio/ecology lab to allow campers, ages 3-18, hands-on nature study experiences.

Located on a slope, the Timber-Frame Barn has two unconnected levels, with the front entry leading to the upper level and the back entry leading to the lower level. LAS designed additions on the front and back sides of the barn.

Since KNC Camp’s purpose is to inspire people, and especially kids to care for the environment through experiences that lead them to understand their connection to the natural world, the design for the existing barn rehabilitation and the additions, incorporates a host of green products and strategies. Some of these include natural cross-ventilation, daylighting, radiant heating and the use of recycled and local natural materials.

The front addition on the upper level includes a new porch pavilion and a camper welcome center, which span the length of the old barn. The pavilion entry is constructed with an exposed, environmentally friendly, glue-laminated structure to extend the aesthetic of the timber frame barn in a contemporary way. The new addition is clad in composite siding made from a durable recycled wood and cement matrix, and the base of the supporting columns making the front entry is clad in local river rock, reinforcing its connection to the local surroundings.

The 727-square-foot upper level front addition houses the camp’s welcome center and includes the camp director’s office, a catering kitchen, a barrier-free restroom and a shower. The main upper level of the existing barn was re-surfaced with a topping concrete to provide a weather protection for the level below and a new durable surface for the large open area to conduct nature-based arts and crafts and rainy-day gatherings for the entire camp population, a significant enhancement to the camp facilities. Since the upper level is not mechanically conditioned space, LAS designed large operable wood-frame windows to replace the small ones located on the sides of the old barn, facilitating natural cross- ventilation so that the space is comfortably habitable in spring, summer and fall. Clerestory windows added at the gabled ends enable the upper level to be completely daylit during most times.

On the back of the upper level, LAS added large new windows and doors to the old barn providing access to a new covered wood deck of nearly 700-square-foot, giving campers an outdoor space where they can continue their programs during inclement weather.

The Timber-Frame Barn’s lower level, used primarily as an art studio/ecology lab, was conditioned for year-round use with high-performance spray-foam insulation and a new energy-efficient radiant slab heating system. The heated flooring enhances thermal comfort for year-round use by school and adult programs after the typical camp season. Laboratory casework, salvaged from a nearby high school, now serves as arts and crafts equipment storage. Other lower level spaces in the existing section of the barn include a meeting room for staff and two storage rooms for art and lab supplies.

The lower level addition, located directly beneath the wood deck, contains two new ADA-compliant bathrooms with dual flush toilets and low-flow faucets to conserve water. Both are daylit with high clerestory windows as well.

The now-7,000-square-foot barn rehabilitation and additions form a new heart of the camp, with a range of new structures to support the camp’s mission and program. These include an outdoor amphitheater and stage, group activity pavilions, a natural playground for free play, with a wooden water tower play feature, composting garden, a unique 250-foot-long Slip ‘N Slide, changing areas, windmill, low ropes course, archery range, and trail network.

The group activity pavilions include three rustic picnic shelters and a fire ring, conceptualized by LAS and constructed by local artisans using natural materials. The open-air amphitheater, also constructed of wood, is used daily for camp gatherings. The shelters, pavilions and wood fencing were constructed using wood taken from on-site. The wood was milled from Black Locust, which was being removed as an invasive species and is very rot resistant.

The natural playground, called Nature’s Playground, was developed by The Johnson Hill Land Ethics Studio, which collaborated with the camp master planning effort and served as the project’s landscape architect. The wooden water tower play feature was designed by Byce & Associates, which served as architect of record and consulting engineer for the project.

When KNC Camp is not in session, the Timber-Frame Barn has other uses. It is currently being used five days a week by a class of 11th and 12th graders interested in conservation and natural resources. The class is constructing its own new site, and when it’s completed and the class moves, the Timber-Frame Barn will become the home of Annie’s BIG Nature Lesson, a study trip for elementary age classes that spans five consecutive days at the KNC. From October through the month of May, ABNL students will use the comfortable heated/cooled lower level of the barn as classroom space when not having outdoor instruction.

The Kalamazoo Nature Center Camp project team included:
• Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich. office) – co-master planner; design architect
• The Johnson Hill Land Ethics Studio (Ann Arbor) – co-master planner; landscape architect
• Byce & Associates (Kalamazoo, Mich.) – architect of record; consulting engineer (structural, civil and MEP/FP)
• Miller-Davis Company (Kalamazoo, Mich.) – construction manager

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