MOHONK PRESERVE VISITOR CENTER
Gardiner, NY
The Trapps Gateway Center on the Mohonk Preserve serves as an administrative center and visitor orientation experience for New York State’s largest member-supported nature preserve. After leading the award-winning sustainable design of the Visitor Center and its exhibits in 1998, SKOLNICK was invited back in 2013 to develop an Interpretive Master Plan as part of the Preserve’s 50th Anniversary initiatives to enhance public engagement with nature.
Client
The Mohonk Preserve
Services
Master Planning
Architectural Design
Exhibit Design
Graphic Design
Interior Design
Size
12,400 sf
Awards
Building with Trees Award of Excellence, 1999
Excellence in Sustainable Design Award, 2004
EXPANDED OFFERINGS
The 2013 Interpretive Master Plan identified a number of enhancements and upgrades to both the Visitor Center and the surrounding grounds including a 3,200 sf exhibit expansion, a large meeting room overlooking the landscape, and more administrative offices.
CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE
To support the 50th Anniversary initiatives to enhance public engagement with nature, SKOLNICK’s plan called for an updated exhibition embodying the mission of the Mohonk Preserve with a new immersive media orientation experience, digitally enhanced topographic model of the Preserve, and a designated Children’s Corner.
“Paul Alter, Lee Skolnick, and their team provide a unique approach to architectural visioning that starts with gaining a deep understanding of the client’s identity and helps the client, through much thoughtful front-end dialogue and visioning, to ultimately realize a structure that melds mission with space, and form with function.
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