The outdoor theatre was constructed in 2004 as a design-build project by students from the UBC School of Architecture. The theatre, located in UBC’s Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Maple Ridge BC, is built at the Loon Lake camp and serves the numerous groups who attend camps and workshops over the summer.
Outdoor theatre lighting plan.
The theatre is built on a slope overlooking the lake. It consists of seating ‘rafts’ (a seating arrangement that allow groups to cluster together) that are partly embedded into the ground. The wilderness theatre is designed to be wheelchair accessible, and includes a firepit for evening gatherings. A gabion retaining wall separates the theatre from the road above, giving the theatre a sense of enclosure and providing the necessary space for a truck turn-around adjacent to the road.
The theatre was constructed from non-makret raw cedar harvested and milled in the research forest.