Tekαkαpimək Visitor Contact Station

Penobscot County, Maine

Situated in the present and traditional homeland of the Penobscot Nation, Tekαkαpimək Visitor Contact Station is a stunning 7,900 square-foot building and 23-acre landscape atop Lookout Mountain in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

Early site plan study sketch exploring circuit trails and views.

A central mountaintop ridge is preserved and acts to separate the visitor arrival and parking experience to the east from the Contact Station to the west. The plan intentionally allows the visitor to pause and connect with nature after a long car journey before entering the contact station experience.

03118 N93 — The Lookout opens views east to the day’s first light. A gathering circle marked by a double-curve motif, representing the four Wabanaki tribes, is set below and away from the road. Locally sourced granite seat blocks are shaped and organized as an expression of the Penobscot River rapids nearby.

As Far as One Can See

Tekαkαpimək — pronounced deh gah-gah bee mook, Penobscot for “as far as one can see” — arose from a partnership between a Wabanaki Advisory Board and Elliotsville Foundation, in consultation with National Park Service. Tekαkαpimək is a work of collaborative design and construction, intentionally imbued with Wabanaki knowledge.

Wabanaki Sensibilities

Architectural and landscape designs resulted from a process between Elliotsville Foundation, representatives of the Mi’kmaq Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe; Saunders Architecture, Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture, WeShouldDoItAll, and National Park Service (NPS). A multitude of thoughts, cultural narratives, and ideas have formed a collective lens with Wabanaki sensibilities, helping orient the interior, landscape and exhibit design of the Contact Station, as epicenter of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.