Composting and Processing Facilities

Centerbrook is working with the Wolf Conservation Center, a non-profit organization that advocates for wolves through education and research, to design enhancements to its 26-acre refuge in Westchester County, New York.

The WCC’s steeply sloped woodlands are home to more than 30 Mexican gray wolves and red wolves, as well as its “ambassador” wolves, Alawa, Nikai, and Silas, with whom visitors can interact in a controlled environment. Its staff of scientists and naturalists educate more than 18,000 people annually on site through photo sessions, field trips, summer camps, special events, and its popular overnight adventure experience. The WCC’s robust social media presence extends their programs to a dedicated audience worldwide.

Centerbrook conceived new structures and site improvements that support the WCC’s education and conservation mission. A new composting facility with an offset ridge beam mimics the howling head of WCC’s most famous wolf, Atka. It is clad in a vertical slat rainscreen whose varied pattern recalls the fur pattern of a wolf’s muzzle and head. The two-story structure minimally impacts the land by integrating a composting system in its lower level. A nearby, similarly clad structure serves as a processing facility for deer meat that comprise the bulk of the wolf's diet. Centerbrook also conceived “pup pods” as rustic overnight accommodations for visitors as they listen to the wolves howling under a full moon.