The heart of most summer camps is the dining hall, where the community gathers at least three times a day: it’s where the “bug juice” (fruit punch) is served, songs are sung, and nightly skits are performed.

These rituals and more have a new home at the YMCA Camp Kanata, in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where architect Andre Johnson has designed an airy lakeside facility that sits comfortably among traditional neighboring wood cabins. It also adds a distinctly modern form to the 150-acre campus catering to campers ages 6–15. “We tried to simplify it and make it clean,” said Johnson, whose Raleigh-based firm, Andre Johnson Architects—a 2021 RECORD Design Vanguard—has designed a range of contextually sensitive projects across the Tar Heel State.