ARCHITECTURE | HONOR 

Entry Name: Girl Scouts Camp Prairie Schooner
Firm: el dorado inc
Project Location: Kansas City, MO
Owner: Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Central Missouri
Photographer: Mike Sinclair

Camp Prairie Schooner sits high on the bluffs of the Little Blue River about 19 miles south east of downtown Kansas City. With 176 wooded acres, the camp feels like wilderness in the heart of the metropolitan area. Prairie Schooner features a dining hall, five permanent units, two buildings for troop use, a 40-foot rappel tower, archery range, swimming pool and zipline. This wooded site has creeks, hills, and a nature trail that circles the property. el dorado was hired to design a new trail center that functions as a troop house, a modern restroom and shower facility. Our approach identified the assets of the camp, and then leveraged those assets to build on the programmatic expectations of the project. This was achieved by locating the new trail center adjacent to an existing dining hall that already serves as the camp center. The new building is positioned to provide a continuous drop off zone along northern face that directs the girls toward a courtyard space which service as the entry to both the dining hall and the trail center.