Girl Scout Nature Center
Camp Agnes Arnold, a 1,000 acre camp located in a forested area of Conroe, Texas north of Houston provides facilities for lodging, canoeing, fishing, hiking and biking. The camp is dedicated to preserving the forest and educating Girl Scouts about the ecological aspects of the site. With several miles of nature trails dispersed throughout the camp’s boundaries, the new Nature Center provides a facility that consolidates the various ecological and educational outreach programs that exist at the camp. All the structural and framing lumber for the project was harvested from the site, with trees carefully selected for removal from the camp grounds. The structure includes space for nature oriented exhibitions, indoor and outdoor instructional spaces, lab and support work space, and naturalists’ quarters. The outdoor spaces include a large wood deck used for teaching and gathering, small tiered amphitheater seating, and wide decks for casual seating for the scouts. While at Ray+Hollington Architects, Kerry Goelzer served as project manager for the Nature Center project.