Firm Receives Top Industry Honors for Its Innovative Design of Upscale RV & Camp Cabins Park

DEC 06, 2017 -  R&A Architecture + Design, an enterprising firm known for its fresh architectural perspective and innovative approach to design, has broken ground on The Camps at Coos Bay Lagoon, an upscale RV camp and cabins park in coastal Coos Bay, OR. Completion is scheduled for April 2018. With offices in Portland, OR, and Culver City, CA, R&A currently has several small- and large-scale hospitality projects in development across West Hollywood, Napa Valley, Utah, and China, as well as creative office interiors in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Sydney, and London.

R&A Architecture + Design’s Principals, from left to right, Christian Robert, AIA, Shawn Gehle, and Benjamin Anderson, Assoc. AIA, apply an innovative design approach to the award-winning Camps at Coos Bay Lagoon. 

The project was honored this year as the Popular Choice Winner in the Unbuilt Hospitality category by the globally recognized Architizer A+Awards, the largest international awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the year’s best architecture and products. Its mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life.

“In transforming this waterfront property, we worked diligently to preserve the natural beauty of the site, allowing for the kinds of experiences that make the area a sought-after travel destination,” says Co-Founding Principal Christian Robert, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP. “By leveraging the site’s constraints, we were able to design a project that is respectful of its surroundings while remaining beneficial to the client.”

Designed in collaboration with NBP Capital, The Camps at Coos Bay Lagoon overlooks more than a mile of private beachfront in Coos Bay, OR, and is separated from the nearby township by a dense coastal forest. The 180 camping sites are organized to recall the natural riparian past of marsh islands separated by numerous streams flowing into Coos Bay Lagoon. Situated between the camp and the waterfront is the new wood-and-glass clubhouse, designed to offer year-round and inclement weather uses via an indoor pool, recreation rooms, meeting spaces, and entertainment areas for visitors. Its outdoor terraces and decks provide spaces to enjoy the natural beauty of the bay. Modeled on an archipelago, the individual camp sites are linked by numerous walking trails leading to the beachfront and water activities. Uninterrupted parking areas have been turned into private camping areas with landscaped green spaces, offering outdoor play and game areas.

The central clubhouse pavilion is V-shaped in plan, and is fragmented into smaller, repeated elements recalling the local vernacular of seaside huts. Roofs slope upward in two directions to meet the sky, while directing the eye to the center of the building where a passageway connects the various interior spaces and an elevated deck allows for scenic views. Large windows and full-height expanses of diagonally wood-braced glass capture expansive views in all directions.

R&A Architecture + Design is a young, energetic firm focused on creative solutions in multiple scales and typologies, including commercial, hospitality, residential, and mixed-use. Since its inception, the firm has grown rapidly from a studio of five to more than 35. The firm embraces intensive research to deliver fresh, new thinking at every point of the design process. It values how curiosity feeds creativity, and how creative approaches yield innovative answers. Founded in 2013 by two award-winning Principals, Christian Robert, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, and Benjamin Anderson, Assoc. AIA, and joined by Principal Shawn Gehle in 2017, R&A globally leverages a broad portfolio of experience in transformative architecture and interiors projects. 

Affiliates:
Client: NBP Capital, LLC
Associate Architect: McSwain & Woods Architects, LLP
Structural Engineer: Nishkian Dean Structural Engineers
Civil Engineer: Pacific Community Design
Soils Engineer: Strata Design, LLC



Contacts: 

Taylor & Company, 
310.247.1099
Donna Peters
Email Contact

Taylor & Company
310.247.1099
Julie D. Taylor
Email Contact