5 IDEAS BEHIND RIVER DESIGN CAMP:


1) Urban Design, Edges & The River Economy




The river is a complex system of interacting desires and functions requiring students to mediate potential conflicts.  For example, individual BRIDGES, must be built high enough over the river for the masts of individual BOATS to pass under as they flow down river with the current.


2) Making Our Own Building Materials



Like a musical ensemble featuring soloists, the river is designed to strike a balance between SELF and GROUP EXPRESSION. Most days of camp include collective production of group materials including clay bricks, colorful homemade paper for walls, roofs etc.


3) Plans and Plots


 


Each student receives shallow wooden box along the water called a PLOT.  By first creating a  paper PLAN, students design pathways, walls, foundations, sandy areas & grassy gardens. Students must then decide how much to interact with neighbors. For example, should pathways connect neighboring plots?  A fence between plots?  Overall VILLAGE PLANS are reviewed by the whole class during CRITIQUES.



4) Three Villages



Each group of six plots makes a VILLAGE.  Each village is on a level PLATEAU and the water pours through waterfalls down into the village below.  The tallest kids inhabit the highest village.


5) A Tale of Two Rivers




The outdoor “play river” is designed to be set up and dismantled daily by the kids.  It is more kinetic and splashier.  The indoor “art river” is more controlled but has rain that is adjustable by kids in intensity during storms and an ocean at the bottom that is available for free play for even the youngest child.