IGNITE
Spring 2022 | San Jacinto Girl Scouts Council | Galveston Island TX
Project Team: Michael Anowey, Andrew Brandt, Joesph Chandler, Heather Corcoran, Alvaro, Favela-Ramos, Gabriel Friedstadt, Judy Labib, Curtis Lechner, Kassandra Lee, Taylor Luehr, Hannah Oppelt, Andre Rezaie, Maxwell Vela
Students worked with the San Jacinto Girl Scouts Council of the Houston Area to develop long-term design strategies for their newly-acquired 7-acre site on Galveston Island. They began by developing a master plan and future proposed built structure designs that would be implemented over a 10-year period. Their work needed to be mindful of the Gulf Coast’s unique ecology while encouraging and enhancing outdoor interaction for the girls in ways that increase their knowledge, appreciation and respect of local ecologies.
The long term goal for the Girl Scouts was to restore the former cattle grazing land to a more native coastal prairie. To help accomplish this the students proposed discovery trails in what would become different coastal biomes—coastal prairie (grasses and wildflowers areas), wetlands, and live oak mottes. Students developed native grass and wildflower proposals that would be planted by the scouts. The wetlands would be developed around about a third of the property that held water much of the year. So, the design not only included walking discovery trails but raised boardwalks to span over the wet areas. The live oak mottes were developed along the western boundary to shield the property from nearby houses. The master plan proposed several new structures—observation platforms, an outdoor field station, bird hide, camping areas—that would be developed over the 10-year period.
As part of the immediate planning students were to design and build one of these structures, a new gathering place comprised of a new fire circle and certified Monarch Butterfly Waystation. Towards the main road, the Girl Scouts had a new 24-bed bunkhouse under construction at the time of the design, so the master plan proposed siting the new fire circle with that in mind. The fire circle area needed to accommodate 30 girls for gathering, merit badge recognition, “bridging” ceremonies, skits, and outdoor cooking around the fire pit. Using topography information provided by the City of Galveston, students selected a slightly higher area that was dry throughout the year. Since the structure was to sit in an open prairie, the students proposed a series of screens to create a feel of enclosure. These screens of terra-cotta-tinted concrete block turned on edge helped create an outdoor” living room.” It had limited views out but still allowed breezes in that would be welcome in warmer weather. Once the students began constructing these concrete block screens, they realized the openings would be ideal cubby-holes for placing things Girl Scouts found in their nature explorations—sea shells, grasses, animal bones and feathers. One of the screens was of plasma-cut steel and located toward the bunkhouse so the glow from the fire circle could be sparkle through it at night. This screen’s design illustrated local flora, fauna and star constellations readily seen on site. Using these illustrations, students developed a printed identification game the Girl Scouts could use as a way to name what they saw in their explorations. The project is centered around the fire pit, which, like one corner of the benches, is built of cast-in-place concrete with a steel insert surrounding the fire area, complete with grille for cooking. The new site is planned to open by the fall of 2022.