Situated on Lake Ossipee, Camp Calumet was founded in the 1920’s as a summer camp for boys. Now a year-round facility, operated by tile New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Camp serves over 10,000 people annually as a place for retreats, conferences, and family events in addition to it’s summer camp tradition.

Richard Alvord Architects led the master planning project that reconceptualized the camp as a series of nodes around which various groups organize around. In this way, the camp can now host multiple groups without ever interfering with each other. Through an inclusive programming stage, we developed a series of schemes for the camp finally bringing consensus to this chosen plan.

With the New plans in hand, Richard Alvord Architects then helped to petition the New England Lutheran Community for building funds through a Capital Campaign. Providing first hand account of our design, along with clear images and detailed plans for the project, the Capital Campaign proved a success. A number of projects were undertaken soon after, while others were tabled for future expansion. The slide show above includes all buildings in the Master Plan, while the text below describes plans for those buildings not yet built. The Camp Calumet page under Community describes completed buildings and displays more photos.

Beach Cabana

The Beach Cabana includes toilet and clothes changing facilities, outdoor foot washing, storage for beach safety equipment, and storage for beach barbecues including refrigerator/freezer, ice machine, and shelves. A covered area at the front of the building provides shelter for fifty people in case of sudden downpours.

The building is woodframed with cedar clapboard siding, insulated concrete slab on grade, with air ventilation through vents at either end of the thirty-year asphalt shingle roof. Because the building is only used in summer, no heat is provided.

Daycamp

Calumets guest are largely from the six New England States to which it serves. During the 1990’s the Camp relized that they could provide a service to the local community through a day camp program for the local youth. That program currently runs summers only in a large tent.

The Day Camp building is designed to be a year round home for activities for those youth. The program is lead largely like a daycare program with a variety of activities for children during the course of a day but requiring easy visual monitoring during those activities. The building is designed to respond to this need with the inclusion of a large central activity area with smaller activities and private program spaces to the sides.

The building is to be located at the edge of the Family Camping Field near a convenient drop off place for automobiles. Knowing the microclimate of the site being somewhat warmer than other areas on the campus the building is designed to mitigate the adverse affects of the natural heat. The central space roof is supported with scissors trusses with a clerestory with operable glass to catch breezes and remove naturally rising heat.Additionally the axis of the building is set on the prevailing wind pattern providing large openings of windows to allow for free flow of natural air currents through the major space.

The image of the building is intended to be that of a vernacular New England Style.

Family Village

The Family Village is part of the Capital Campaign launched by the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of New England’c Calumet Lutheran Camp and Conference Center. The site planning design of the village is intended to foster a sense of place for the identity of the family Village within the 180 Acre multi facetted community which is Calumet. Within the village place there are also connections between each house and its neighbor as well as its five cabin cluster and its association with the community meeting building.

The vehicular access to each cabin is from a loop roadway around the compound so that the village is foot travel only. Additionally, care was taken in the placement of each cabin to save existing vegetation. All new plantings are to be from indigenous stock on site.

The village is designed to accommodate families year round as guest to the facility. In addition it is intended to be used for special needs guests, youth groups, single parents, elder hostle. With this in mind five of the cabins are fully handicap accessible. The remaining cabins are handicap freindly with all of the first floor spaces accessible.

There are five one story cabins with a capasity of 8 persons maximum. There are five two story cabins: two with 10 person bunk room second floors, two with second floor bedrooms capasity of 8 and one with a kitchen for year round staff possition.

The community building houses central electrical service, housekeeping storage, community laundry room, accessible toilet rooms, coat room and telephone room. There is a 50 person meeting room with a vaulted ceiling adjacent to the porch covered front entry. A passive childrens play area with adult seating area is planned adjacent to the meeting room.

Lakeside Lodge

Calumet decided to “winterize” two of its original buildings, each containing three guest cabins, located about 100′ from the lake. This is accomplished by joining the cabin buildings into one building via with a new link which contains a spacious meeting room. Facing the camp, the cabins each open onto a new porch which is screened in summer and glassed in winter. New doors opening directly onto the porch as well as to an entry vestibule. In winter, only the vestibule entry doors will be used, preserving heat on the porch. Facing the lake, each cabin has its own outdoor entry deck and stair.

Formerly in a separate building, communal toilets are now enclosed within the new structure, with womens’ toilets added. Two of the cabins have toilet rooms attached to tile preference of some winter guests.

Leadership House

The new Leadership House serves two purposes: in summer, it houses the CIT and Leadership Service Program, two coed programs for teenagers; during the remainder of the year, the building is used for small and large youth group retreats. The building includes two large meeting rooms, each with adjacent outdoor deck, cathedral ceiling, and heavy masonry stone fireplace, evoking the charm of a rustic lodge. A coffee bar is also provided in each meeting room. On either side of these centrally located gathering spaces are boy’s and girls’ living quarters, with larger areas reserved for the CIT program. Leaders have their own rooms nearby.

The building is woodframed with cedar clapboard siding, insulated concrete slab on grade, with thermal windows for plentiful ventilation. A fuel-efficient heating system is provided.

Pavilion

An unusual feature of Camp Calumet is the beloved “outdoor chapel”—a ring of log benches in the woods for summer services that seats 300. During the remaining seasons and in inclement weather there is no single space large enough for the services. An indoor Chapel was desired that could hold 300 people year-round and 450 in the summer.

The new Chapel is a pavilion of wood, granite, and concrete, open to the air in the summer and during colder months protected by a glass enclosure. While providing shelter and including the traditional elements of a Christian church, the building promotes the sense of being between heaven and earth that is usually only experienced out of doors.