Current Projects
Speaking on Camp Master Planning @ The Christian Camp & Conference Association National Confrence
Last week the National Conference for the Christian Camp & Conference Association invited me and Martha Snyder, of Idyllwild Pines Camp and Conference Center, to give a presentation Camp Master Planning. And get this, it’s in San Diego, California from December 3-6th. Yup, that’s right. This Portland girl’s 31st Birthday just might be sunny and warm for the first time in 31 years!
Martha, and I are very excited to share the story of Idyllwild Pines’ master planning makeover. Idyllwild has gone through a huge shift in the past three years and it shows in their mission, in their staff, in their programming, in their facilities, in their fund raising success… It shows all the way down to the reviews from returning campers. We love sharing this story and the lessons we learned along the way about dreaming big, creating a vision and then a plan and then taking action one little step at a time.
I am particularly excited because the National Conference has asked us to make our presentation interactive. There are so many lessons we could help camp leaders apply to their own camps in this session. The question is where to begin. What is the most important skill for managing your camp facilities and natural assets so that they best support your mission?
I think it’s getting a new set of designer eyes. Having the ability to step out of your camp bubble and see it from new angles allows you to understand the big picture of how your camp works by letting go of the daily details of running camp.
How do we teach people to see camp through the eyes of a designer? It may involve a lesson in drawing site assesment diagrams. It definitely involves a campfire skit!
Want to hear our story? Want some new designer eyes?
Come to to San Diego this December! And bring some Birthday Cake.
Posted in Design Process, Jaime's Favorites
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Multnomah Falls Plant of the Day #15 Goats Beard
Goats Beard – Aruncus sylvester
This was my absolute favorite plant last year. It’s a gorgeous addition behind your favorite perennials or infront of larger evergreen shrubs. Goats Beard has a great spring green color that makes you want to sing when it first pops. But then doesn’t every sign of spring in Orgeon?
The blooms are white tufts that stay all summer to catch the breeze and keep their interest as they dry out in the fall. I like it best planted in groups of five or more. Its like having little fluffy white clouds in your garden, floating right at your knees.
Where: You’ll find Goats Beard tucked in the planter to the far right as you face the Lodge.
Posted in Built Work, Design Process, Planting ideas
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Multnomah Falls Lodge & Entrance Planting Plan
We are incredibly excited about our newest project: a planting design for the entry planters at Multnomah Falls Lodge!
Multnomah Falls & Lodge Existing Planters
The current planting beds in front of the lodge are in decline and require aggressive maintenance to keep views open to the lodge, maintenance that doesn’t leave the plants looking their best.
In the new planting plan we are including a beautiful collection of native flora that will frame the views to the lodge and offer beautiful colors and textures year round.
We’ve just about completed the design phase and are getting ready for planting this coming spring! Stay tuned for updates.
Oh, and don’t worry! The waterfall is staying right where it is.
Posted in Design Details, Design Process, Planting ideas
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Demistifying the Doodle
A doodle is the very first step in turning an idea into a design.
We sketch and doodle all the time as we develop designs here at Kahoots. But I’ll never forget the intimidation factor that drawing used to have for me. I was so sure there was a right and a wrong way to do it. For some people, the idea of drawing can be just as scary as public speaking.
I’ve believed for a while now that we all come by drawing naturally, and not just designers and artists, everybody. I’m not talking about drawing like Michelangelo, that takes years of training of course! What I am talking about is the kind of sketching or doodling that allows us to express the ideas in our head and then change and evolve them.
In design classes that I’ve taught I’ve seen sixth graders learn to use drawing as a tool for critical thinking at the same level that first year college design students do. The kind of drawing that you might do in a class or in a meeting or that my mom does when she is chatting on the phone. I remember being mesmerized by her repeating swirls and dots that filled the note pad by our phone in the kitchen. According to Sunni Brown, that phone doodling meant that my Mom was giving her fullest attention to the dear friend on the other end of the line.
Do you find yourself intimidated by the thought of drawing, of putting your ideas on paper? I love the research that Sunni Brown presents in this Ted talk proving that even you are a natural born Doodler!
Posted in Design Process
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Jaime English is the founder of Kahoots. She has worked with GreenWorks, an award-winning firm in Portland, and The Atelier Dreiseitl in Germany.