Visitors come to experience the pond because of its inspirational associations with American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau and the flowering of American literature as well as the birthplace of the modern conservation movement. The Reservation is at the same time a heavily visited recreational facility, offering opportunities for hiking, swimming, boating and fishing, attracting 500,000+ visitors annually. The new visitor center is interwoven with the landscape, and is intentionally humble and unpretentious as it maintains an emphasis on the pond, heightening the experience of the user. The new building is a wood structure with a large deck facing the pond. An extended deck / trellis system intertwines with the connecting landscape. The building helps organize the flow of people on the site without being domineering, and it orients and reorients to the pond without being too much of a presence. The design prioritized nature over man-made, integrating architecture and landscape both formally and metaphorically. The visitor center opens to embrace the site and promotes further connections between the building interior and landscape beyond. The design concept involves demolishing the existing headquarters building and comfort station while reusing the existing basement for storage and new mechanical systems for the new visitor center. The new building is laid out on a 3,870 square foot single level with a large lobby / exhibit space and adjoining conference room that can be opened to form an even larger space. The interior opens directly to a partially covered 3,400 square foot accessible wood deck, providing a new platform to view the pond. Back-of-house spaces align along a simple corridor and include a series of offices and a small eating area. Evan Mathison, founding principal of MMA, managed the study and early design as well as the production of the fundraising materials, while working for another firm.