GENERAL DESIGN PROBLEMS 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



The areas used for campgrounds and for picnic 

 areas range from tlie lieavy timber with a very 

 great fire hazard to the open mountain coun- 

 try of the east where oftentimes there is little 

 or no hazard. In all of these areas the camp 

 stove or fireplace should be designed, first, 

 for practical use and, second, appropriate 

 design in keeping with the natural forest sur- 

 roundings. Sometimes it is imperative that the 

 high chimney type (pi. XII) be used in order to 

 avoid abnormal fire hazard. These massive 

 stoves with high chimneys are strongly discour- 

 aged because of their unattractive appearance 

 when placed in the natural forest landscape. 



The opinion prevails that there is no such 

 thing as an attractive and an appropriate 

 camp stove or fireplace, especially when in- 

 troduced into the natural forest. Many persons 

 feel that such features are entirely artificial 

 and must be accepted as a part of the practical 

 solution of the recreation problem. They insist 

 that the design should be for maximum utility, 

 and no effort should be made to develop a de- 

 sign which might be appropriate to the natural 

 forest surroundings, inasmuch as no design 

 can overcome the artificial character of this 

 feature. Careful study of this problem of de- 

 sign leads to the conclusion that very much 

 more appropriate and attractive results can be 

 produced if the camp stove or fireplace is de- 

 signed to be appropriate to the surrounding 

 natural forest landscape. 



The general practice is that of adopting only 

 one type of design for the units on an individual 

 forest camp or picnic area. It seems to the 

 author that such a procedure, literally followed, 

 tends toward monotony and a lack of interest, 

 which otherwise might be avoided through the 

 adoption of more than one type of camp stove 

 or fireplace on a single area especially the 

 larger areas. It seems advisable in some in- 

 stances to introduce an occasional camp stove 

 type together with the very definite fireplace 

 type. 



The design of any camp stove or fireplace 

 should embody the elements of simplicity. It 

 must be remembered that if the more elaborate 

 types of designs are used, then the resulting 

 details of construction will be proportionately 

 more complicated and the relative expense 

 and work of constructing these units will be 

 increased. These units should be simple in 

 design and primarily for utilitarian purposes. 



In some instances, a variety of mass design 

 can be produced by introducing a "batter" in 

 the side walls to overcome a contrast between 

 the horizontal ground level and the more or less 

 vertical surface of the side walls. This result is 

 seldom successfully accomplished in an effec- 

 tive way because the fireplace is normally low, 

 and unless the "battering" of the side walls is 

 exceedingly well done, the effect is not apt to 

 be pleasing. There is always the danger of 

 attempting to procure an informal effect by 

 increasing the "batter" on the side wall, some- 

 times to the extent that the base of the stone 

 work, especially on the higher types of camp 

 stoves, causes inconvenience in the use of the 

 stove because the person doing the cooking 

 cannot get sufficiently close to the stove. No one 

 standard of design is the most practical or the 

 most desirable. There are a number of ways to 

 design these units, both in mass proportion and 

 in detail, and it is the variety of design which 

 creates interest and avoids monotony. 



In order to reduce the height of the camp 

 stove or fireplace, especially the chimney type, 

 and the type with the raised hearth, it is some- 

 times desirable to do some grading around the 

 sides and back of the stove or fireplace unit as 

 shown in plate VI and plate X. If there is avail- 

 able a location on a slight slope, the fireplace 

 or stove may be set into the slope. 



FACTORS WHICH AFFECT DESIGN 

 AND METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION 



There are important factors which directly 

 affect the design and methods of construction 

 for camp stoves and fireplaces. 



