This piece of our garden has been in our master plan from the beginning, but we never imagined we could build our entire park in just three short years.  

  

We are constructing a multipurpose outdoor classroom, shade pavilion and event space. This "flexible theater" design features built-in bench seating for 75 individuals underneath the cover of shade sails. The built-in seating has two rows of tiered bleacher-like benches that face the center of the labyrinth. 

 
 

Adding a shaded space reduces exposure to harmful UV rays and protects guests from the elements. It also increases the gardening area that the public can harvest from throughout the season. We have leveraged funding from multiple sources and almost have everything we need to complete the project. The construction of the pavilion’s base was completed in the fall of 2020 thanks to help from multiple community-minded organizations. 

 
 

Support for this project comes from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation’s Design Access Legacy Funds, The East Hill Foundation, The Western New York Foundation’s Small Grant Program, and Rochester Design Firm, Clark Patterson Lee. The foundations have supported planning and funds for supplies needed to grade the back of the lot such that the area is leveled flat with labyrinth. After the lot was graded, a group of volunteers and board members installed the 1,000 retaining wall blocks to form the benches that became the base of our new outdoor classroom. 

 
 

Nate Piscitelli, Wellsville native, has been collaborating on the design and execution of the space since he was a student of Architecture at Alfred State College. Now, Piscitelli works at Clark Patterson Lee (CPL) in Rochester, NY. The company has happily taken on this new pavilion as a community project. A special team at CPL has been working with our organization to create structural and grading plans. 

 
 

Second-year students in the Heavy Equipment Operations program in the Building Trades Department at Alfred State College and Professor Brian Adams helped to spearhead the current build. In 2018, a different cohort helped to grade the lot for the labyrinth’s construction as a Civic Engagement endeavor. Earlier in 2020, students in the same program were gearing up to excavate the lot. Almost a week before construction began, the COVID-19 pandemic spread to New York and Alfred State Students resumed classes virtually after their spring break in March. Thankfully, the Building Trades Department has stayed committed to the GreenSpace. Students in the Fall semester of 2020 worked with us once again to help our vision come to life.