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Desai Chia Architecture Designs Chatham Pond Pavilion as Upstate New York Wildlife-Viewing Station

architecture-design · 2026-10-20

Desai Chia Architecture, a studio based in the United States, has completed the Chatham Pond Pavilion on private land in Upstate New York. The structure serves as a station for observing wildlife, and its plan is composed of intersecting circles — a geometry the designers derived from the ripples that spread across the surface of water. Photographs and drawings of the project were released alongside the announcement, documenting the pavilion's circular forms and its siting beside the pond. The project is residential-adjacent in nature: it sits on privately held property rather than on public parkland, and no commissioning client, completion date, or budget has been disclosed in the published material. Its program is narrow and specific — a single-purpose viewing shelter rather than a visitor center or exhibition building. The design places the pond itself at the center of the architectural concept, with the overlapping round volumes framing views outward toward the water and the animals that gather there. Desai Chia Architecture is the New York-based practice credited with the work, and the project is filed under the studio's portfolio of built commissions. The pavilion adds to a growing field of small-scale architectural interventions built for nature observation, in which modest footprints and site-specific geometry take precedence over programmatic complexity.

Key facts

  • The Chatham Pond Pavilion was designed by Desai Chia Architecture.
  • The pavilion is a wildlife-viewing station on a private property in Upstate New York.
  • Its plan is made up of intersecting circles.
  • The circular geometry was informed by rippling water.
  • Photographs and drawings of the project were published.
  • Desai Chia Architecture is a US-based studio.
  • The structure is dedicated to observing wildlife around the pond.
  • The project is a small-scale, single-purpose shelter rather than a public facility.

Entities

Institutions

  • Desai Chia Architecture
  • Dezeen

Locations

  • Upstate New York
  • New York
  • United States

Sources