The CALDERA
Backcountry Ski Patrol + Operation Center
42° N Latitude | Elevation + 9,500 FT
2010 Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship Competition
Finalist
The primary act of architecture is to enclose, to make shelter within the infinity of nature.
In an act of human confrontation, the Backcountry Ski Patrol + Operation Center will emerge from the weathered mountainous landscape like a man-made Caldera.
No man is ever alone, for life is a shared endeavor, especially in extreme sporting. At the heart of the Center is a communal courtyard that welcomes guests and encourages interaction. During summer, it becomes an outdoor event space for lectures, films and education; During winter months, the terraced seating becomes a ski chute, funneling skiers down the slopes. Wrapping the courtyard is each programmatic element [operations, emergency, avalanche control + vehicles], linked through a shared pathway to foster communication and staff involvement.
Inspired by the process of physical weathering, the Center shall be built of basalt rock fragments, collected from the surrounding mountains and utilized in 2’ thick Gabion walls. The Gabion walls help reduce the need for cast-in-place concrete foundations, labor, logistics, cost and create high-mass thermal wall. The structural system is made of off-the-shelf components – Smart Framed FSC certified light wood framing to simplify construction and be built within a brief 4 month window. Longer spans [for vehicles] are a steel braced frame, made of small, efficient, light weight steel members with simple bolted connections for rapid construction.
The building’s fragmented form works to maximize winter solar exposure and to block the prevailing winds. The solar exposure is captured and re-purposed with a Photovoltaic wind screen, domestic Solar hot-water system and the courtyard’s dual-skin glazed wall turns radiation into heated conditioned air. The Photovoltaics offset the diesel + electric energy required to run Ski Patrol vehicles, while the Domestic Solar hot water is used to humidify the dry air through drip lines within the dual-skin glass space. The interiors are animated with abandoned, broken and donated skis from the rescued skiers and former Ski Patrol staff.
Competition Background
The Fellowship is an open competition for young architectural graduates from the University of Oregon, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo & Cal Poly Pomona. It is a 4 day competition, where the competition brief is posted at 5PM the first evening and boards are to be uploaded 4 days later. Out of 90 registrants, I placed 3rd.
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