Samuel H. Scripps Theatre Center at Hudson Valley Shakespeare

Since its first season in 1987, HVS’s productions have been staged in a seasonal tent at Boscobel House and Gardens overlooking the Hudson River. The new design on a nearby site remains open to the elements but elevates the overall theatrical experience for both actors and visitors through improved rehearsal, performance, and amenity spaces; expanded accessibility for more diverse audiences; and technical additions that open up new opportunities for HVS productions. The landscape design replaces the site’s water-intensive former golf course with restored native grasses and wetlands that support biodiversity and decrease resource use.

Conceived as a single, fluid gesture—like the wing of a bird—the design encompasses the theater’s disparate functions, vastly improving circulation between spaces and across the site and enabling a wider range of cultural and community programming. Supported by exposed timber A-frame columns, the building’s natural material palette and curved shade structure help the design blend into the rolling landscape. Positioning nature at the forefront of the theater’s creative work, the stage’s proscenium arch serves as both an entrance for patrons and actors, and a natural backdrop for the company’s open-air performances. Picnic lawns on the hill around the theater encourage visitors to gather before and after shows to enjoy sweeping views.

Natural ventilation and solar shading around the roof’s perimeter help passively cool the building. They work in tandem with the project’s other green strategies, including low-carbon mass timber, photovoltaic panels, rainwater harvesting and reuse, and increased biodiversity, to target LEED Platinum—the first such certification for an purpose-built open-air US theater. Through its care for the environment, and the planet more broadly, the design aims to ensure the company’s productions and the diversity of the natural world remain center stage for many seasons to come.