The Chiasmus Archery and Paintball Range
(2015)
Photos Courtesy of Henry McCoy
MedCamps Executive Director Caleb Seney:
The Chiasmus was the first project constructed to impact how we do an activity. Prior to its construction Archery and marksmanship was done in an open field with a folding table, targes, long bows, and Red Rider BB guns. It was not a productive or engaging activity for campers in wheelchairs, and it was a frustrating and hot experience for our staff. Arch335 took all of that into account. They transformed the activity into one of our camper’s favorite things to do at camp.
The students designed a bow stand that holds a compound bow in place and allows some of our most physically challenged campers to draw an arrow back and let it fly, reaping the reward of the arrow hitting its target. The range allowed us to do away with bb gun marksmanship and added a targeted paintball range with pinwheels that change tone and spin when struck by a paintball. The experience is enjoyed by everyone now and rewards the participant with an explosion of color, sound and spinning pinwheels.
The Chiasmus Range took a traditional camp activity and made it extremely rewarding to all our campers and enjoyable for our staff.
Tech Professor Brad Deal
: This project was especially significant because it resulted in the first master plan to guide decisions at Camp Alabama for years to come. Alongside our usual use of reclaimed steel, the team deconstructed thousands of linear feet of oak pallets to create soffit screens for the underside of the roof. Although the task was painstaking and initially met with some hesitation from the students, they persevered, and the final result was beautiful. Kendell Webb stood out as a particularly dedicated student on this project, and her experience eventually led her to return as a co-instructor in the 2025 studio.
Program Summary:
An accessible outdoor shooting range with specific arrangements for archery and paintball marksmanship at a summer camp for children with a variety of special needs.
Program Statement:
This project was designed for a summer camp for children with special needs to enable them to experience the challenge and exhilaration of archery and paintball marksmanship. The design embraces the realization that paintball is fast paced, loud and exciting while archery is slower paced, quieter and more contemplative. An organizational strategy for these elements was drawn from an ancient Hebrew poetry structure derived from the Greek letter “X”. The opposing vectors of this poetry structure serve to crisscross and overlap ideas rather than syllables. And at the center of the X exists a unifying, higher order element between the unique vectors. Inspired by this arrangement, the plan took on the general shape of an X, creating two lines of shooting stations and targets with each side arranged to reflect the nature of their sport. And at the center a space was created for campers to gather and share their excitement before and to tell their stories after. The project features custom designed shooting stations that hold and counterweight youth sized compound bows making the sport of archery accessible to those who cannot hold and draw the bow in the traditional manner. Also significant effort was given to utilizing reclaimed materials. The soffit cladding consists of over 5000 linear feet of 1x2s from repurposed shipping pallets, and the majority of the steel in the project was donated as scrap material from various nearby oil and natural gas well sites.
Project Team:
Professors
: Robert Brooks, Brad Deal
Students
: Erin Baker, Bikash Baraily, Bradley Burkart, Lauren Caswell, Nikki Crane, Casey Fair, Trent Harrison, Nathan Jordan, Ashley Kettenring, Andrew Lopez, Sean McGowan, Alaina Proctor, Matthew Roberts, Kendell Webb
Recognition
: 2016 AIA I look up Film Challenge Grand Prize & People’s Choice Award:ARCH 335: Rebuilding MedCamps
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