ADS 560: DESIGNING OUTSIDE
STUDIO RMNP KU SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN, AND URBAN PLANNING
SUMMER 2016
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
MORAINE PARK AMENITIES • Picnic table
• Ranger station
• Fire ring with grate
• Pay phone
• Drinking water
• Shuttle bus service
• Food storage locker • Amphitheater
THE AGENDA
HISTORY—MORAINE PARK
Road trip to Colorado
Moraine Park Campground (8,160 feet) is located in Colorado’s awe-inspiring
Arrive at Moraine Park
Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), near the Beaver Meadows Entrance on
Set-Up Camp
Highway 36. It is situated on the north side of Moraine Park, offering beautiful
Review Class Syllabus
views of the park and all of the surrounding mountains. From lush valleys to craggy peaks reaching elevations over 14,000 feet, visitors
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are provided opportunities for countless breathtaking experiences and adven-
Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner: On your own; Late night s’mores!
tures. Scenic driving, hiking, fishing, and wildlife viewing are popular activities in the park.
STUDIO RMNP
• Vault toilets
• Dump station
• Flush toilets
• Trash collection
• Shower stall facility
• Firewood vendor
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
MILLS LAKE INFO Trail Location:
Glacier Gorge
Round trip Length:
5.3 Miles
Trail head Elevation:
9240 Feet
Total Elevation Gain:
780 Feet
Avg. Elev. Gain / Mile: 295 Feet Highest Elevation:
THE AGENDA
HISTORY—MILLS LAKE
Group Hike to Mills Lake
The lake is named after Enos Mills, the man commonly referred to as the “father of Rocky Mountain National Park.” Mills became the area’s first naturalist, and made great contributions to the field that would eventually lead to the profession
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of interpretive park rangers. He also established a guide service that led tourists
Breakfast: Baked Goods, Yogurt, and Fruit
to the summit of Longs Peak. At the age of 15 he made his first ascent of Longs
Lunch: Packed Lunches
nearly 300 times as a guide.
Peak, and over the course of his life would make the trip 40 times by himself, and
Dinner: Hot Dogs, Salad, and Chips
STUDIO RMNP
9940 Feet
Trail Difficulty Rating: 6.84 (moderate)
SUNDAY, JUNE 26
PROMPT—LIGHT AND SHADOW CHANGES Travel to a single location. Observe and document the shadows cast from a living thing at two different times of the day (document this event at the very same location if possible). Pay attention to the patterns and edges cast from your subject, and how those shadows change with the time of day. When completed share your image(s), drawing(s), video(s), sketch(es) etc., and the story behind it with the group at dinner, on our facebook group, and on instagram under the hashtag #kudesignoutside.
PROMPT—TELL A STORY Today you are challenged to go somewhere in the park you have never been. Walk, hike, run, traverse, or climb to a new spot for you. Find something that was left behind. It could have been dropped, lost, stolen, hidden, misplaced, forgotten, or it could have fallen, or been windblown. Look at the object, note it’s inherent qualities and the context around it. Document it through any visual or verbal outlet of your choice.
PROMPT—MUIR IS MORE Naturalist John Muir said that whenever he met a new plant, “I would sit down beside it for a minute or a day, to make its acquaintance, hear what it had to tell. I asked the boulders where they had been and whither they were going.” Today, find a grouping of vegetation and observe as many stages of its lifecycle as possible (from bud, to plant, to bloom, to death). Document the plant through any means that communicates the stages of development.
PROMPT—MONSTER HUNT Go to a place that is relatively quiet, dark, remote, off the beaten path…the woods…(be safe
THE AGENDA Explore the RMNP Travelogue Project: Brainstorm
though). Keep your eyes open for things that lurk in the wild and document any signs of the unex-
HISTORY—ART EN PLEIN AIR
plainable while you are there: footprints, claw marks, other signs that something else shares or has shared the woods with you. Let your imagination run wild, and use what you find to build a story—
“En plein air” is a phrase used to describe the act of painting outside. It can also
a scenario of what happened there. Who was it? What was it? Our mind naturally wants to draw associations, create closure between disconnected or unlike thing…complete the narrative.
be described as an activity where a person partakes in an outdoor adventure. In the mid-19th century, the box easel was invented. Near the same time, tubed
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paints were also developed. These inventions allowed artists to more comfortably
Breakfast: Eggs, Sausage, and Biscuits
take their creative abilities outside into the natural environment.
Lunch: Packed Lunches
Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Pierre-August Renoir were advocates in the 19th century of the en plein method.
Dinner: Spaghetti and Salad
PROMPT—GET TO KNOW THE PARK Go to three different locations today. Run, hike, scramble, crawl, climb, sit, swing or arrive there by some physical means. You choose the distance and places. Once there sketch, photograph, write, paint, draw, collage, build, model, or some other creative way react to the location. The focus is to connect observation with action or as Enos Mills did “dreaming and doing.” Mills would actively seek “encounters” with nature and using his observations and fact finding he would strive for “poetic interpretation.”
STUDIO RMNP
MONDAY, JUNE 27 WILDERNESS, WILDLIFE, AND WONDER Every half hour, a short film about the park is played at the Beaver Meadows Visitors Center. It is called Rocky Mountain National Park: Wilderness, Wildlife, Wonder. The film was completed in 2015 by FallRiver Productions as the centennial film for RMNP. It is a must-see film capturing all four seasons in the park, park ranger interviews, and a plethora of nature and wildlife scenes.
THE AGENDA
BEAVER MEADOWS VISITORS CENTER
Travelogue Project: Present Ideas
The busiest and most famous visitor center in RMNP is Beaver Meadows. Located
Explore and Design
just before the southeast entrance to the park on Highway 36. Built in 1967, in true Frank Lloyd Wright style, the building fits well into its natural surroundings both in
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color and design. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Breakfast: Cereal Bar and Fruit
At this center, you can watch a short video on the park (every half hour), interact
Lunch: Packed Lunches
will real park rangers, and see little ones join the Junior Ranger Program. There’s even a gift shop filled with all things RMNP that your heart could desire.
Dinner: On your own!
STUDIO RMNP
TUESDAY, JUNE 28 PLACES TO SEE •
The Stanley Hotel
•
Downtown—Moraine & Elkhorn Avenue
•
Mountain Blown Glass
•
Estes Park Aerial Tramway
•
Red Rose Rock Shop
•
Estes Park Memorial Observatory
•
Estes Valley Library
PLACES TO TRY
THE AGENDA
HISTORY—ESTES PARK
Explore and Design
Estes Park, Colorado was founded in 1859 by Joel Estes, a cattle rancher, and
Travelogue Project: Present Progress
explorer from Missouri. In 1884, Enos Mills moved from Kansas to Estes Park. In 1909, Mills became a naturalist and conservationist who devoted his life to
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preserving nearly a thousand square miles of the area. The land he preserved
Breakfast: Cereal Bar and Fruit
became Rocky Mountain National Park.
Lunch: Packed Lunches Dinner: Tacos, Salad, Chips and Salsa
Since RMNP’s dedication in 1915, Estes Park has been the headquarters for RMNP. The small town has a current population of 5,858, and has become a summer destination for nature enthusiasts.
STUDIO RMNP
•
Baba’s Burgers & Gyros
•
Penelope’s World Famous Burgers & Fries
•
Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant
•
Mocha Angelo’s
•
Coffee on the Rocks
•
Kind Coffee
•
Munchin’ House
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29
THE LOCH INFO Trail Location:
Glacier Gorge
Round trip Length:
5.7 Miles
Trail head Elevation:
9240 Feet
Total Elevation Gain:
1040 Feet
Avg. Elev. Gain / Mile: 367 Feet Highest Elevation:
THE AGENDA
HISTORY—GLACIER GORGE
Explore and Design
Glacier Gorge (14259 ft.) is a beautiful valley south of Bear Lake in RMNP. The
Travelogue Project: Do Good Work!
views of the peaks are stunning, and the forest is in good condition. This area of RMNP is filled with sites to see. There are four waterfalls, eight lakes, and seven
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peaks. The Lakes in the area are open to catch-and-keep fishing, which is good
Breakfast: Egg Casseroles
news because the lakes are teeming with trout.
Lunch: Packed Lunches Dinner: On your own!
You can see all that Glacier Gorge has to offer by exploring its 9.6 mile trail. Make sure to bring your lunch and snacks, because the entire trek can take up to 6 hours long.
STUDIO RMNP
10,190 Feet
Trail Difficulty Rating: 7.74 (moderate)
THURSDAY, JUNE 30 TRAV • E • LOGUE (noun): a movie, book, illustrated lecture or visual response about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.
THE AGENDA
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Travelogue Project: Finish Up
“I’m imagining them going and experiencing an area of the park as a pure en-
Final Presentations in McLaren Hall
joyer/visitor, then sketching/writing/documenting their experience and including visual responses. I’d also appreciate as many photos/images/visuals as possible,
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as that will really help our image collection. They could even take multiple days
Breakfast: Assorted Breakfast Burritos
for each area, if they’d like to hike one or more trails. Sort of like travel journalism.
Lunch: Packed Lunches
mixed with text. I think those could be interesting pieces to share on our site and
Dinner: Pizza and Salad
else) for any other uses or exhibition.”— Miles Barger, Ranger and Visual Specialist
Those entries could include illustrations, designs, photos, and videos, all inter-
social media, and then we’d have the art (both used in the articles and anything
STUDIO RMNP
SUMMER 2016
THE DESIGN TEAM Back row to Front row (L to R): Nikki Haskell, Hope Simmons, Jillian May, Brittney Beckham, Alex Womack Amelia Hernandez, Liz Hixon, Parker Doole, Jeremy Shellhorn, Michael Hornsby, Taylor McQueary Madison Hartquist, Lauren Hakmiller, Piper Holt, Deven Knapp, Lauren Muth Courtney Varney, Courtney Bohnert, Elaine Booth, Kevin Baynham
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”—John Muir
STUDIO RMNP KU SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN, AND URBAN PLANNING