DESIGNING OUTSIDE STUDIO SUMMER 2016

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

MEAL PLAN

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