By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Any camper who’s ever used the public shower at a state campground knows how unwelcoming and spooky the building can feel. Grand Rapids-based Integrated Architecture recently developed a ‘green’ prototype for a new style of shower building that is camper-friendly, safe, and has private shower rooms.
Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources hired the firm to create a flexible design that could be adaptable from location to location, scaled up or down to accommodate greater or fewer users, and constructed from materials readily available in the region.
The first completed building rang up at $740,000 and was installed at Grand Haven State Park. The facility includes four 7-foot by 12-foot private shower rooms, eight family shower rooms with private restrooms and men’s and women’s restrooms.
The restrooms are in the building’s core; the shower rooms are located on either end and are accessible by private exterior doors. Each shower room has a privacy lock, a dressing area with a flip-down bench and clothes hooks, and is handicap accessible.
“Clerestory windows with polycarbonate glazing allow an abundance of diffused daylight inside the building,” says Randy Pease, senior project designer. “The electric lights are energy-saving fluorescents, and each room has occupancy sensors so lights are never left on.”
A one-kilowatt solar array on the roof supplements the electricity needs. The DNR plans to set up a metering system as an educational tool to allow users to see how much energy the photovoltaic cells produce and how much the building uses.
D & K Engineered Construction handled the construction.
Source: Randy Pease, Integrated Architecture (photo and rendering courtesy of Integrated Architecture)
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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