Elements of Structure: Kennecott Yacht Club and Sailing School

The Kennecott Yacht Club and Sailing School is a series of boathouses placed along the water's edge of the Chesapeake Bay. The yacht club includes marina facilities, a clubhouse and a sailing school. The program is divided among five structures placed along the dock, culminating in a lookout tower. The structures are variations of each other. The boathouses provide dry storage and natural ventilation for dinghies, keelboats and other small craft boats. A glass curtain wall encloses the structure of the final boathouse to provide a conditioned space for clubhouse activities.

The design of the boathouses is developed from the structure of the various buildings. The pavilion structures are based on a common repeated geometrical order, which triangulates and equalizes the forces. The structure acts as a determinant of form for each boathouse. The columns, trusses and walls are separate elements of the structure meeting at pin connections and ball joints. The rigid frame within the layered roof is the essential element which ties together all the parts and provides stability to the structure.