As a part of the YMCA of Greater New York, the Huguenot camp shares the Y’s mission to empower youth, improve health and build community. As a summer camp and outdoor education center, they serve not only New Yorkers but also children, families and schools from all over the northeast and around the world.
Empowering kids at camp
Sleepaway camp can be an opportunity for children to forge new friendships, become more independent and learn life-long skills. For many children in disadvantaged situations, these camps can have a massive impact on their lives. Often, camps offering opportunities for underserved populations have limited budgets, limited time and limited resources. We wanted to help one of these camps to improve their cabin design and work to reduce construction costs as much as possible.
What they do
5
Design team members
+
400
Hours contributed
+
250
Children benefitting
+
32
Counselors benefitting
How we're helping
The site contains three existing camps each located around their own lake. We are working at two camps: Camp McAllister (with campers aged from 7-11) and Camp Talcott (ages 11-14).
We first analyzed the existing cabins to find out what worked well and what didn’t. Ultimately, we came up with a very simple and flexible design that could easily be scaled up for future growth. We designed a single floor plan for all the cabins then modified the three-dimensionality of the exterior to match the architectural character of each camp.
The cabins would be conceived as dark metal sided sheds with warmly colored natural wood interiors. Polycarbonate panels and wooden louvers would provide light and air. The cabins would be sited on mostly level ground to allow the lake-facing wrap-around porches to be directly accessed from grade. These covered outdoor porches would serve the critical need for rainy day activity spaces.
We hope to build on this ongoing project and our relationship to do more projects in the coming years.
Photo: NYC YMCA Camp, ycamps.ymcanyc.org