Green Lakes Environmental Education Center project receives design award

MANLIUS, N.Y. — Beardsley Architects + Engineers recently announced that the Environmental Education Center at Green Lakes State Park in the town of Manlius has been selected by AIA Central New York to receive a 2021 AIA CNY Award of Merit in the Adaptive Re-Use / Historic Preservation category. 

The awards program celebrates the design excellence of architects throughout Central New York and honors the client and design teams that work together to create and enhance the built environment, according to a Beardsley Architects + Engineers news release. 

Originally constructed in 1942, the historic boathouse at Green Lakes State Park is “an iconic structure to anyone who has visited the beach at the north end of Green Lake,” Beardsley said. The building had been in use since its construction but lacked an adequate foundation due to poor soils. The New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation selected Beardsley to design the restoration and conversion of the building into a new environmental education center. As a registered historic structure, renovations also required coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office.

To create the new environmental education center and alleviate structural issues, the existing structure was dismantled and re-built on an entirely new foundation system. Special care was given to preserving as much of the building as possible, the release stated. Following relocation, the building was restored and renovated to provide four-season usage. The central exhibit space, anchored by preserved stone columns, includes educational kiosks and displays about Green Lakes State Park’s unique meromictic lakes, wildlife and habitats, and history. 

The building also includes restrooms, a small kitchenette, offices for park educators, and storage space on the main floor and in the full basement. An outdoor education space was created for use by park educators for school groups or other interpretive presentations. A small boat rental building was also relocated and renovated for continued use. Visitors can now enjoy the lakefront boardwalk or launch their kayak or canoe from new docks that connect to the boardwalk.

An interpretive center like this one did not previously exist at Green Lakes State Park and has allowed park educators to expand and enhance their programming, Beardsley said. The interior and exterior spaces provide a range of learning opportunities to students and the public through the use of interactive displays within the exhibit space as well as outdoor signage along the boardwalk. In addition, opportunities for school groups to visit the park have expanded, particularly through the “Connect-Kids-to-Parks Field Trip” grant program.