Kayla Quinn: Assignment 2

The Crawford Notch state park is located among the White Mountain ranges.  The “notch” is actually referring to the small slit of valley surrounded by the immense amount of mountains along the Appalachian Trail. Usually explored in the later season the Crawford notch experiences hot summers, cold and snowy winters, and wet muddy springs and autumns’.  It is 5,775 acres of hiking, camping, fishing, wildlife viewing, and waterfalls. Its open from April to December and is used from children to elderly couples. A wide range of people come to take a relaxing day off and become immersed in nature.

Amber Qasir: Assignment 2

The Crawford Notch, located in the Appalachian Mountain range, offers a unique hiking experience for those that venture to it. There are a number of settlements and locations for people to stay if they choose to visit this iconic scenic location, including the AMC Highland Center. While a lot of the campsites are much more rustic and natural, with log cabins, the Highland Center is much larger and commercial, with considerations that are not available at other locations. While a majority of the people who go to the Crawford Notch are seasoned hikers, perhaps having traveled the entire Appalachian trail, there are also those that are visiting casually, such as families with children.

Over winter break, I went to California with my family, where we traveled through the Sierra Nevada and visited national parks such as the Yosemite National Park and the Sequoia National Park. Our intent in going was not to hike, but merely to see the natural landscapes. Despite this, there was still a considerable amount of hiking that we had done in order to further explore the area. I had noticed while we were there that a considerable number of people were there for hiking, but they quickly ventured off into the wilderness as opposed to staying closer to places with more people.

This kind of information is helpful to inform details in the bath house design and aesthetics because it allows me to understand the mindset and way of thinking that both hikers will have as well as that of the more casual visitors. There are common points for both groups of people, but there is also a fundamental difference in attitude and practice between them as well. For example, when designing the area for the hikers' lodging, it would be acceptable to think of it differently than you would a more conventional lodging setup. Similarly, the actual bath house should reflect the natural setting and emphasize the nature of the site, as that is the point of common interest between both groups, hikers and non-hikers.

Assignment 2: Crawford Notch: Madhura Kharche

The Crawford Path is one of the most well-known hiking paths in North America. The AMC Highland Center lodge provides accommodations for hikers and other visitors and is located in close proximity to the Saco Lake and Mt.Washington. 

A young hiker looking at the AMC Highland Lodge over Saco Lake

The Crawford notch is a continuous valley between the White mountains near New Hampshire. The Saco river originates at the Saco Lake and flows through this notch.

Crawford notch and Saco river

This image of the Crawford notch reminds me of my hike on the Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand. The trail overlooked a similar "notch" like valley between the Southern Alps. 

A river joining the Tasmanian Sea: View from Franz Joseph - Fox Glacier, NZ

My fellow hikers

Besides individual skill, hiking also requires team building and group effort. Trail names help hikers get to know one another on an informal level. These are names usually adopted by or given to hikers. Some examples of trail names include “The Wild Turkey,” “Bamaman,” “Way Seeker,” “Mountain Dew” and “Bird Man.”

Saco Lake and Elephant Head 

These observations could potentially inform my design proposal for the bathhouse project in a way that acknowledges the habits and cultures of these visitors. For example, the mudroom could have lockers with a board where people could write their trail names on. The slope of the site around the lake and the path could be replicated into the design, which then becomes an extension of the site, rather than merely a building sitting on a beautiful location.

Polynesian spa in Rotorua, NZ

Canoeing in Saco Lake

People canoeing in the lake could probably have access to the bath house. Distant views of the mountains and lake could dictate the positioning of windows and public spaces.

 

A Google image of a spa I visited after my hike

View from the spa

Chandler Archbell: Assignment 2

Hiking is an activity suited to people of various abilities and interests.  Some hikers enjoy leisurely strolls along safe, well maintained paths while other more extreme hikers must be prepared for whatever nature throws at them.  No matter what, hiking is an opportunity to step away from everyday life and experience the essence of this rugged, wild thing we call nature.  The White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire is home to many hiking trails, waterfalls, fishing areas, and breathtaking views of mountains that hikers of all abilities can enjoy.  The Crawford Path, cleared in 1819, is the oldest continually used and maintained hiking path in the US.  Just across from the beginning of this path is the AMC Highland Center lodge, which offers various accommodations from private rooms to hostel-style bunk rooms.  This lodge has a family feel: they serve family-style dinners and have lots of shared rooms for people to meet.  Walking into this friendly atmosphere the perfect end to a long day of experiencing nature.

The beautiful Highland Center

Family-style dinners allow guests to interact

Hiking trails appropriate for all ages

Assignment 2: Garrett Rauck

The Appalachian Mountain Club was founded in 1875 by MIT Professor Edward Charles Pickering. As of 2005, the group consisted of 90,000 members who share and express a love for the outdoors by mixing outdoor recreation (hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, bicycling, etc.) with environmental activism.

One unique resource that the Mountain Club provides is a series of Huts used by hikers for lodging. These huts are strategically placed along the Appalachian Trail, creating a system of pit-stops for trekkers. Saco Lake sits directly on the Appalachian Trail, between the Zealand Falls Hut (5 mi to the west) and Mizpah Spring Hut (2 mi to the east). There is a definite opportunity for the Bath House (now that it must accommodate some lodging) to act as another stepping stone within this system. The Highland Center Lodge currently acts as the lodging resource at Saco Lake; however, it differs significantly from the series of huts in that it is much less primitive, more like a hotel for tourists looking to take day hikes and participate in local tours. The huts seem to be more like rustic hostiles, more catered towards the die-hard environmentalist thru-hiker. Though the huts provide such amenities as home-cooked dinner and breakfast, they provide only the necessities, including a water-less toilet. In addition, the huts seem to promote a social culture, much like that of a hostile. It provides a platform for people of diverse backgrounds to unite for an evening of recuperation while bonding over the sweat and grind as well as the beauty and satisfaction of the Appalachian Trail hike. The bath house assignment lends itself to the same type of interaction and culture.

Nahyung Kim: Assignment 2

Crawford Notch is a valley that lies between the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The notch allows for the undisturbed views to the mountains, cliffs, and the Saco Lake. The AMC Highland Center, a lodge at the notch is accessible by car and by train. It is considered one of the premier lodges according to the AMC’s White Mountain Guide and allows access to different types and levels of activities in the surrounding area. These activities range from some serious hiking and climbing to little activities for kids and family. The lodge is very useful and interesting in that it serves a wide variety of activities and people. It has suite rooms and bunk rooms; it is wheelchair accessible. People can enjoy skiing to swimming to playing golf all in that valley.

Crawford Path, with its starting point right across from the lodge, is the oldest maintained hiking trail in the US that leads up to Mt. Washington, which is the highest peak in New England.

Crawford Notch is characterized by its wide range of experience it can offer and by its historical nature. The path and the lodge all started from the 1800s. The bath house will be a strikingly new addition to this valley, and I think both aesthetically and experientially, we, as designers, could decide whether we want it to be a continuation of this history or a start of something different. I think both of these design intents can and should be pursued without disturbing the nature, the atmosphere, the tradition, and the culture that the preexisting elements hold. 

  

Carter Nelson: Assignment 2

The Crawford Notch and Saco Lake areas are inhabited by two groups of people. There is a historical railway that connects the Crawford Notch and Boston, MA and caters to people from the city who wish to spend a weekend or a a day in recreation, rest, and relaxation as a sort of retreat to the fast paced lifestyle of the city. Those patrons expect to stay in this sort of environment:

http://realisticcookingideas.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/amc-highland-center-crawford-notch-15.jpg

The other group of people who are patrons of the Crawford Notch and Saco Lake areas are those that are hiking along the trail and are finishing their multi-month journey. These people have relinquished the creature comforts they would otherwise be used to. The lodge and comfortable spaces like it could either be an uncomfortable contrast to spaces such as this...


http://www.backpacker.com/media/originals/AppalachianTrailHarpersFerrytoGathlandStatePark55935.jpeg

...or it could serve as a relief to those sorts of conditions. In the new lodge portion of the assignment we will have to find a sort of balance for the patrons and the sort of experiences they are expecting or would enjoy as being appropriate to the condition towards which they have an affinity for. The architecture must provide all the creature comforts one would expect in a bath and lodging unit but be simple, rustic, and appropriate to the sort of shelters and processes a hiker is used to. This implies a difference in both aesthetic and functional realization in the lodge and in the bath.

Mark Terra-Salomão | Assignment 2: Crawford Notch Culture

Because I like to mess stuff up, and because I've been to the Crawford Notch area before, and because it's boring to say something someone has already said (and said well), I want to show the ways in which the Crawford Notch culture is not about roughing it on the AT. Disclaimer: I do not actually believe the White Mountains should be about commercialization. But, as a New Englander, I find it my duty to inform you that is what many people do believe.

We heard a lot about how in addition to the Subarus at the AMC Highland Center Lodge, there are BMWs. But even before there were automobiles, Crawford Notch had some swank guests. And there is somewhere not too far away where there are Bentleys. Let me explain:

The Crawford family was certainly responsible for the Crawford Trail and the Crawford Notch being called Crawford Notch, which is pretty cool. They were some of the first people to climb Mount Washington (the real one in New Hampshire, not that silly hill in Pittsburgh), to help other people climb Mount Washington, and to house and feed settlers to the area well into the nineteenth century. At the same time, they were apparently horrible businesspeople. For example, Thomas Crawford began building a hotel called Notch House to the west of Elephant Head in 1850. He "overextended himself financially" and had to sell the place before it was even finished. Some dude called Ebenezer Eastman bought it, and then Joseph Gibbs bought it in 1859, and then finally Asa Barron bought it in 1870. Now, this Barron guy took his last name really seriously (ignoring the extra "r"), and apparently, he was really good at business. That, and the fact that after the railroad came in in 1875, all Barron had to do was sit back and hire other people to shovel money into his bank account. Crawford House Hotel was a huge success, until it was shuttered 100 years later in 1975 and burned in 1977.

Here's how fancy Crawford House was:

Alas, the bigger they are, the longer they burn. RIP.

But despair not! Just 3.5 miles up Highway 302 in Bretton Woods (even the name of the town is swank) sits the beautiful Mount Washington Hotel.

The Mount Washington Hotel carries on the legacy and history of the "grand" Victorian hotels with gusto. I have been to the Mount Washington with my great-aunt and -uncle many years ago. In the front driveway, valets hand-washed Bentleys and Ferraris. Everyone was on the porch sipping ice teas. It's what I imagine all you guys from Long Island live like every day.

Even God is pleased.

And there are other grand hotels still out there: the Mountain View Grand Resort in Whitefield, the Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle, and others. Rich people can still enjoy the mountains without actually having to get to them on their feet. Hiking is for, like, peasants. It's all about the Gucci spa, you guys.

See these sites for more info:
http://whitemountainhistory.org/The_Crawford_Family.html
http://whitemountainhistory.org/Crawford_Notch.html
http://whitemountainhistory.org/Crawford_House.html
http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/highland/index.cfm
http://brettonwoods.com/
http://www.mountainviewgrand.com/

Ana Mernik Assignment 2

People that enjoy hiking the Appalachian Trail have a choice of either traveling to the Highland Center or staying at the Crawford Notch path. Those who choose to stay at the Highland get to enjoy the privileges of a home-cooked meal and warm bed while admiring the surrounding nature and participating in group activities such as rock climbing at Frankenstein Cliffs or playing in the Ripley Falls. The place is intended for people who wish to have guidance while exploring the trail, or people traveling with big families with children. The cost for rooms is $80 to $150 per night, and the lodge is advertised as "the perfect escape."

On the other hand, Crawford Notch State Park offers natural camping sites for $20 per night, and embraces nature as it is: dangerous, cold, and far from perfect. People who embark on the long journey of hiking the mountains are typically young nature enthusiasts or those in great shape to battle the nature. During the off-season the camp is closed (meaning the park isn't staffed, the comfort stations are not available, and the gates are closed) so proper knowledge, skill, and equipment are necessary for not only a fun time, but survival.

Knowing the difference between the people who visit the trail, how far they've come, what they expect to see while there, and to what degree they wish to immerse themselves into nature, would be important for designing a bath house in the respective locations.

Liz Dolinar: Crawford Notch Culture

Crawford Notch is part of the White Mountain Range on the Appalachian Trail. Hikers here range from families and casual day-hikers to avid hikers who have made their way up the AT. Knowing about the diverse group of outdoorsmen (and women) who utilize the Crawford Path can contribute to the design proposal for the bath house. Understanding the particular needs of hikers, both seasoned and amateur, can inform decisions such as organization of the facility and how hikers approach/use the bath house. Also, understanding the raw beauty and power of the landscape can impact the aesthetic approach to this project.

Websites:
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail
http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/highland/
http://whitemountainhistory.org/Crawford_Notch.html