Whenever I wind up at a large scale campground -- like Camp Nerdly or, more recently, at Camp Quest -- I started thinking that the camp is the default human habitation.
Generally, these have:
-- Some central building, with a bunch of comforts and amenities. If there's a Big-ass kitchen, it is here. This is usually big enough to hold everyone, though not necessarily comfortably.
-- groups of cabins. These are usually small, and only good as places to sleep. If that.
-- bathrooms scattered, usually with groups of cabins and the central building.
-- other out buildings, such as craft lodges, pools, archery huts, etc. Basically, places to manage training and recreation in specialized buildings.
-- a parking lot,
-- no fucking cell signal at all.
This one to two hundred habitation informs a lot of how I think about fantasy armies, necromancers, and cities.
As I do so, I realize that I'm essentially planning how to build out a campsite, with such things as:
-- a central building, often dedicated to the local government/deity.
-- groups of barracks or other sleeping arrangements
-- privies
-- training and recreation, the same fucking thing
-- roads, which these serve to guard and maintain
I feel like I need exposure to other basic units of putting people together outside of cities. Cities I've seen -- loads and loads! -- but communities that exist outside of a city? Essentially just camp sites.
So: Got any ideas?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Communal living situations? Amish communities and kibbutzes?
ReplyDeleteArmy bases
ReplyDeleteRed Cross hospitals & Relief sites
Burning Man
Large multiday outdoor concerts
Archaeology digsites
Refugee camps
Internment camps
Wilderness/hunting/safari lodges
Company "towns" centered on mines/timber/fishing/oil
Colleges (especially those not in cities). My college was like this. Campus map: houghton.edu - www.houghton.edu/am-site/media/campus-mappdf.pdf
ReplyDeleteoh, Jule Ann Wakeman! Thank you for the map. That is most useful!
ReplyDeleteI love a good map, but also I found this:
ReplyDeleteemergency.unhcr.org - UNHCR|Emergency Handbook
Some pulls:
Standard space per person: 45 sq m. This is ~485 square feet.
A minimum surface area of 45 Sqm per person including household gardening space should be allocated.
30 Sqm per person will be necessary for roads, foot paths, educational facilities, sanitation, security, firebreaks, administration, water storage, distribution points, markets, storage of relief items and, of course, plots for shelter.
It excludes however, any land for significant agricultural activities or livestock. The remaining 15 Sqm per person is allocated to household gardens attached to the family plot which should be included in the site plan from the outset.
Basically: You need minimum of 45 sqm per person for emergency use.
So: For a settlement for long-term use, you probably want ~100 square meters per person.
ReplyDeleteI went to the University of Oklahoma, which is buitl like a brick:
ReplyDeletei.pinimg.com
no wonder I think everything is squares and rectangles, and am still surprised by rivers.
My father has moved to the Philippines, and on their "compound" (for lack of a better word) they have several buildings. They've built progressively more structures on their land over time, so the way they have lived has evolved as they continued to build new buildings:
ReplyDeleteCurrent state of their compound is:
- Stand-alone kitchen/dining building, set apart from living spaces
- Several bedroom/bathroom suites, arranged rather like a motel, with a small patio between each pair of rooms. One of the rooms is a 'master suite' of sorts, the size of two 'units' where one unit is bedroom/bathroom, the second unit is family room and private dining room. My father, his wife, any visitors and the kids hanging out stay in these rooms. When I visit, I have "my" room to stay in.
- 2-story traditional Filipino house, where the staff my dad and his wife employ live there. These are also relatives, so there's aunties, cousins, nephews, etc. that live in that building.
- A 2-story outdoor bar/dining area, used for entertaining, or breakfasting in the cooler morning time.
- A new 'real house' that's a 2-story modern structure that my father and his wife will eventually move into from the suite they're staying in now. It has a traditional Western layout, with kitchen/dining/livingroom on the main level, and sleeping rooms upstairs.
- A small chapel and what has become their pet cemetary. They hold occasional services on religious holidays there, and have hosted weddings there.
- A purely ornamental building that is a replica of the Golden Pavilion in Japan, including a water feature (fountain and pond). The night guard hangs out there, as does one of the other staff workers bunks there. It's like a clubhouse or cabin, without running water or other amenities.
- There is some landscaping, and a paved path down to the beach from a couple of the structures. There's a tall wall around the entire property, and a high double gate that is opened and closed manually by a staff member when folks enter/exit the compound.
Wow, Lex Larson! That's a bunch. How many people?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols There's typically There's typically anywhere from 6-8 adults and 1-3 kids, not including visitors.
ReplyDelete