"Camp Design: Master Planning Basics" Series
“A master plan interprets, through maps, drawings,
and written descriptions, a way to use and develop land and physical facilities
in relation to each other. It relates
the needs of men, women, and children to land and facilities. It is never static. It should be restudied at each new stage of
development, and reviewed when redevelopment is considered.” – Julian H.
Salomon
With a thorough
understanding of your camp’s existing
resources and the programming
goals you want to accomplish, you can begin to directly delve into the
master plan itself. As explained in
previous posts in this series, up until this point, most of the research and
exploration can be completed by camp staff or volunteers. But now, this juncture is the time to involve
a professional planning consultant.
A master plan is composed
of a series of interrelated plans. At
minimum, the complete master plan will include the following:
- Proposed
Facilities Schedule
This
document is a narrative that outlines the facilities schedule developed during
the baseline evaluation. It defines
direction for which buildings to keep, renovate, construct, or phase out.
- Existing
Conditions Plan
Created
primarily during the baseline evaluation, this document is used as a reference
throughout the planning process to compare against proposed changes.
- Land
Use Plan
The
land use plan segments the property into a series of zones or areas which
designate the intended use for each acre of the site. Common types of zones denoted on a land use
plan are: development area, managed woodlands, managed open fields,
preservation lands, agricultural lands, and surface water or wetlands. This investigation helps to define exactly
how much land is available for development.
- Site
Plan Concepts
Conceptual
plans are big-picture, abstract representations of the proposed uses for the developed
site. Areas of the site, such as staff
housing, program buildings, or waterfront access, are denoted using simple
shapes and colors. The intentional lack
of detail at this stage enables several alternatives to be quickly developed
and considered.
The
most interactive and collaborative way to approach concept plans is to host a
day-long design charrette. A charrette
is a work session that brings the planning consultants and camp planning teams
together, uniting them with tracing paper, markers, and site plans. Charrettes enable input and feedback while
building a strong relationship between all team members, and they typically
result in a number of creative alternatives for the camp. The final concept plan will summarize the best
ideas into one comprehensive map.
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Master Plan Concepts, with Final
Concept Plan at Right
Flying Horse Farms Camp, |
- Preliminary
Master Plan
Once
the concept plan is approved, the planning consultants will add detail to
create a preliminary master plan.
Specific building sizes and shapes will be defined, as well as the
locations of roads and outdoor features.
This document serves as a more defined working document to use moving
forward.
- Field
Investigation
This
critical step involves the design team returning to the site to verify all
measurements and exact locations. It is
helpful if the camp planning team accompanies the design team on this visit, as
new discussions and clarifications may be required.
- Final
Master Plan
The
end product combines the input from the charrette and revisions from the site
visit into a full-color document in digital format, able to be printed at any
size or scale. For more examples of master plans developed by Domokur Architects, explore our photo gallery.
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Final Master Plan
Flying Horse Farms Camp, |
- Opinion
of Probable Construction Costs
Usually
developed in detailed spreadsheet form, the opinion of probable construction
costs is an estimate that seeks to establish a perspective for the overall
construction costs associated with the master plan. It addresses both hard costs (related
directly to construction, such as materials and labor) and soft costs (such as
professional fees and permits).
Typically hard costs account for about 80 percent of the total
development cost, while soft costs account for about 20 percent.
- Phasing
Plan
This
companion to the opinion of probable construction costs begins to move the
master plan into implementation. It
visually maps out the various proposed phases of construction, color-coding
areas for demolition, renovation, or construction across a given time period.
Equipped with program goals,
a baseline
evaluation, and a vision for your camp’s future expressed tangibly in a
master plan, you can move on to the most exciting step: implementation.
Note: This series is based on Greg Copeland’s book
“Camp Design
