Starr Whitehouse and nARCHITECTS to design
$26 million transformative development for Teatown

Ossining, NY According to Teatown Lake Reservation, a nonprofit environmental education center and nature preserve, a 22,000 s/f, $26 million transformative development will break ground in October 2025. With Starr Whitehouse as the landscape architect for the project, the development will create an accessible and ecologically enhanced pedestrian campus with reconfigured access and operations. As the focal point of the redevelopment, Teatown will debut a new 5,400 s/f education center, designed by award-winning nARCHITECTS, that will feature teaching and education spaces in its interior, exterior deck, and green roof.

“For more than 60 years, Teatown has been one of the Hudson Valley’s most cherished community resources and environmental education center, providing the region with our team’s expert knowledge in land protection and conservation. Visitors can also experience 15 miles of bucolic hiking trails open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk, a two-acre island refuge for more than 230 species of native wildflowers, wildlife exhibits, science and stewardship projects, nature classes and camps, and so much more,” said Kevin Carter, Teatown Lake Reservation’s executive director. “As we look towards the future and inspiring the next generations of environmental stewards, we are thrilled to announce our partnership with nARCHITECTS to create a more accessible and pedestrian-friendly campus and to debut a new Education Center – where students from elementary to graduate school, as well as members of the community, will learn ways to protect our environment and advance conservation.”

Inspired by the foliage of Teatown’s 1,000 acres, the upcoming education center will create a new focal point and amenity resource for the reconfigured campus. In the shape of a leaf, this one-story building will provide teaching and educational spaces in the interior, along the deck, and on the green roof. Built with Accoya wood, a high-performing and sustainable material, the Education Center will be wrapped by a ramp to guide visitors from the forest floor to the roof deck, immersing visitors in Teatown’s natural landscape, while revealing expansive views of the campus, lake and beyond.

In addition, the campus will also be anchored by a renovated historic Nature Center, housed within a 15,000 s/f, 1920s Tudor-style building that once served the original estate as stables. The three-story building will accommodate gallery spaces, a nature store, offices, and an animal care center that will be the new home to Teatown’s existing animal ambassadors, who are all non-releasable wildlife including porcupines, rabbits, owls, crows and vultures.

In addition to the education center and renovated nature center, the campus will be enhanced with a new pavilion and maintenance building.

“The people at Teatown Lake Reservation and their exciting mission make for a dream client and project for nARCHITECTS – one that is very much aligned with our convictions. We look forward to leading the transformation of their campus into an immersive, accessible, and pedestrian-friendly space that intertwines education with nature, and history with future opportunity,” said Eric Bunge, FAIA, co-founding partner, nARCHITECTS.