Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center
The Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center is located halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo on a 200-acre site that was formerly the T. Ben Johnston Boy Scout Camp. It is a unique YMCA facility because it is the first entirely new YMCA camp to be built in the United States in 50 years.
The YMCA’s goal was to create a state-of-the-art facility that could be used as a model for future camps. The site, steeply sloped and heavily forested with over a mile of shoreline on Sherman Lake, was to be disturbed as little as possible so that entering the Camp would create a feeling of entering a sanctuary away from the rest of the world.
The design team worked through an intensive charrette process to create a design that combines the new buildings with sensitive site layout, which provides complete separation between vehicles and pedestrians.The use of constructed wetlands for sanitary treatment provides one of the many opportunities for environmental education along the Outdoor Center’s system of barrier free trails.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Master Planning
Schematic Design
Design Development
Construction Documents
Construction Administration
SUB CONSULTANTS
Slocum Architects
Civil Engineers, Inc.
Gordon P. Rogers, AIA
