COURTESY / SAUNDERS ARCHITECTURE
A rendering shows the Saunders Architecture design of the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, which is nearing completion.
Updated: August 19, 2024
Constructed with mass timber, visitor center for Katahdin monument nears completion
Photo / Courtesy, James Florio
The Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters hosted a “first look” over the weekend at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument’s Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, whose interior is shown here.
The Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters hosted a “first look” Aug. 17-18 at the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, a visitors center for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.
The station, in the final stages of construction, is 7,900 square feet and two levels. It sits on a 23-acre site atop Lookout Mountain, which is about 15 miles east of Katahdin, Maine's highest peak.
Tekαkαpimək, pronounced “deh gah-gah bee mook,” is a Penobscot word for “as far as one can see.”
The national monument is located within the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. The land and waters are intertwined with Penobscot culture, ceremonies, oral traditions, language, history and indigenous stewardship, continuing a relationship that has gone back more than 11,000 years.
Katahdin is also a culturally significant place where connecting watersheds provide important travel routes for the he Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Penobscot Nation — which comprise the Wabanaki Nations.
The project minimizes the use of steel and concrete, while maximizing the application of forest products and mass timber, including 165 custom-built structural laminated columns.
The building is designed to operate as a thermal battery off the electrical power grid with mainly passive utilities — including a 36.75-kilowatt remote solar array for electrical service and a propane generator for backup.
In addition to shading and ventilation design details, a thermal mass floor system will provide passive heating in cold months in conjunction with a type of passive solar structure called a trombe wall.
Tekαkαpimək is expected to contribute to the Katahdin region’s burgeoning four-season recreation economy and to support the ongoing revitalization of local communities.
The center features artistry and exhibits created by Wabanaki artists and "knowledge-keepers." All Wabanaki cultural knowledge and intellectual property shared within the project are owned by the Wabanaki Nations.
The development process
Design work for the center began in 2019. Architectural, landscape and exhibition designs resulted from a collaboration among Elliotsville Foundation; representatives of the Wabanaki Nations; Saunders Architecture; Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture, in Cambridge, Mass.: Brooklyn, N.Y., design studio WeShouldDoItAll; Minneapolis heritage tourism consultant Tuhura Communications; Portland art advisor Erin Hutton Projects and the National Park Service.
Wright-Ryan Construction in Portland is the construction manager.
The station is one result of a $35 million fundraising campaign for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, led by Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters.
Tekαkαpimək will be donated to the American people and operated by the National Park Service. Lead philanthropic support came from Elliotsville Foundation, the Roxanne Quimby Foundation, Burt’s Bees, National Park Foundation, L.L.Bean, NorthLight Foundation, and an anonymous supporter, among many other contributors.
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument was created by presidential proclamation on Aug. 24, 2016. The 87,500 acres of land were donated to the United States by Burt’s Bees founder Roxanne Quimby to mark the centennial of the National Park Service.
In 2020, the monument was recognized for its dark skies and is the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary on the U.S. eastern seaboard.
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