The Trapps Gateway Center, on the Mohonk Preserve, is an Orientation and Administration Center for New York State’s largest member-supported nature preserve. In 1998, the Visitor Center and its exhibits were designed by SKOLNICK. The building design has won wide recognition for its sustainable design. To celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2013, the Preserve launched several initiatives to enhance the way it engages the public with nature. To achieve this objective, the services of SKOLNICK were retained once again to develop an Interpretive Master Plan identifying a variety of enhancements and upgrades to the existing Visitor Center, as well as to the surrounding grounds. These enhancements included a 3,200 sf expansion of the Center to accommodate additional exhibition spaces, a large meeting room overlooking the landscape as well as more administrative offices.
The Interpretive Master Plan also called for a complete rethinking of the Visitor Center’s interpretive experiences, including design and construction of a new immersive media Orientation Experience, an exhibition that embodies the Preserve’s mission, a redesigned visitor services area, an upgraded and digitally enhanced topographic model of the Preserve, and a Children’s Corner. These enhancements were completed in the fall of 2013.
