Wade Nolan

Camp Desoto, located in Mentone, Alabama has been in continuous operation every summer since 1925.  They host two sessions of 225 girls between the ages of 8 and 18 each summer. The multipurpose open air “Gym” building serves as the main venue for beginning and ending the day together, worship services on Sunday morning, kickball games and theater performances. The design team goals focused on making a building to replace the existing 80 year-old gym and retaining 80 years of history, character and place with the new structure.   The new gym is carefully sited and was constructed to protect and save existing trees.  Trees that were removed were dropped, peeled, dried and reused for the main structural columns for the new building. The custom structural trusses were designed in Rhinoceros using Grasshopper to rapidly explore many different variations of geometry.