Girl Scout Camp Lakota

Architects of Camp Lakota, a 57-acre getaway for the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, took a fresh approach to traditional A-frame timber design. The dining hall and six restroom buildings were built with light-frame wood construction, and glulam beams were used to create the dining hall’s expansive open space. Each of the 24 cabins was efficiently assembled from a flat-packed kit that included a type of cross-laminated timber (CLT) made from structural composite lumber and wood structural insulated panels (SIPs). Prefabrication simplified material transport and reduced on-site construction waste; crews were able to assemble up to a cabin a day. The cabins are elevated above ground on the CLT panels, which helped meet wildfire requirements. The decision to use mass timber also provided a 29 percent reduction in embodied carbon over the concrete slab-on-grade alternative. Designers focused on minimizing energy use in this remote location, in part through their choice of CLT and SIPs.