Vamonoos' Clubhouse

Overview

Early in the process of forming Vamonoos, we decided that having a mobile classroom would greatly enhance our programs. Not only does it provide a comfortable space to protect our campers from the natural elements, but it also gives us with the freedom to expand our classroom in ways brick and mortar classrooms can’t. For example, if we want to learn about the Science of Flight, why not move our classroom to the National Mall and build/fly kites. The mobile classroom allows us the flexibility to provide a hands-on learning experience.

We identified the following areas needing solutions so that a mobile classroom would be useful to our programs:

Basic necessities, such as comfortable temperatures and a bathroom, must be met; while being completely off-grid

Since the mobile classroom was going to be moved constantly, we determined that we could not rely on plugging in for power and water. Solar energy and water tanks were our solution.

We need power even when it is not sunny outside

It would be nice if everyday was sunny without a cloud in the sky, but as we know, this is not the case. So we had to plan for the days where our solar panels would not be producing energy. We determined that a battery bank was necessary, with enough storage to last a day or two. Additionally, we selected all of the electrical components (AC/Heat, light fixtures, water pump, etc.) based on their energy consumption... the less energy used the better.

We wanted the children to feel like they were part of the environment

We imagined ourselves inside a mobile classroom and quickly realized that it could become claustrophobic. In order to make the classroom feel spacious and part of the environment, we decided that large windows were needed.

Concept

Our original plan was to renovate a camper to be our mobile classroom. However, due to the materials used to build campers, we realized that cutting large holes for the windows would make it structurally unsound. Without the windows, the campers would feel like they were in a large tin can... we considered this to be unacceptable. Below are pictures of the original concept design.