OUTWARD BOUND NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
Garrison, New York

Outward Bound relocated their National Headquarters to a former estate located on the Hudson River. We provided interior design, architectural, and landscape architectural services for the non-profit and completed a series of projects for them over a period of years.

For the interior, we designed an open workstation, a kit of parts of maple frames and desktops that includes bookshelf storage and linen paneled pin-up space. The workstations' open form provides some privacy while encouraging interaction and collegiality among employees. They work well in the existing rooms of the mansion, which vary greatly in size. The units were built by cabinetmakers in Boston, trucked to Garrison, and assembled onsite in two days.

We also designed the building's office layout, specified interior finishes, and designed an exhibition space for the lobby that would introduce visitors to Outward Bound's program offerings. Later projects include working with a mechanical engineer to provide an air conditioning retrofit and a concept design for the renovation of a carriage barn into an activity center for inner-city youth programs.

The new design resulted in an improved entry drive, a 30-car gravel parking lot, and stone entry paths built around the house. The landscape master plan includes the design of a path system for public visitors, a catalog of major canopy trees, and the creation of view corridors to the river. Two steel property gates and a rustic cedar information kiosk for visitors to the property are designed and constructed.

Locally, we designed a bird blind and boardwalk on the tidal marshes of Thompson Island, Outward Bound's location in Boston Harbor, which were built by a group of teenagers participating in a youth summer program.