In remote Northern Maine, Norway-based Saunders Architecture has designed Tekkpimk Contact Station, a new visitor center that will serve the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, a nearly 90,000-acre nature preserve that was donated to the National Park Service by Roxanne Quimby, a cofounder of Burts Bees. Saunders Architects collaborated with the Wabanaki Tribe, a local Indigenous community, and New Englandbased landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand on the design of the visitor center, delivering a series of dramatic cantilevered forms that respond to the natural slope of the site and were constructed using carbon-sequestering timber. The Tekkpimk Contact Station will serve as a public entry point to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. (James Florio)Perched atop Lookout Mountain, one of the parks many natural peaks, the center offers sweeping views of the Penobscot River and Mount Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine. These stunning views are what afforded the project its name, Tekkpimk (pronounced deh gah-gah bee mook), which translates to as far as one can see in the Penobscot language. The Penobscot tribe, a member of the larger Wabanki Nation, has inhabited the region for more than 11,000 years. Out of respect for the National Monuments Indigenous history, the design team and client worked closely with the Wabanaki Advisory Board to develop a scheme for the visitor center that would center the groups identity and unique cultural perspective. This included specific input into the massing and layout of the structure. To provide a physical sense of the design prior to construction, the architects staked out a life-sized floor plan of the building on the site. From this exercise, as well as other discussions, a series of beveled corners were implemented to better situate the wings of the building, each of which looks out toward a different direction.We wrote off all of the work that had gone before, said Todd Saunders, founder of Saunders Architecture. For if we were really serious that this project was to be a partnership and not an imposition, a genuine product of and celebration of Wabanaki culture both then and now, we needed to start again, to learn to carry only what was needed, wanted, and wished for.An exhibition within the building was designed with input from local Indigenous groups. (James Florio)Inside, an exhibition illustrates the ecological features of the park. It was carefully constructed to present this information from a Wabanaki perspective. Project elements and exhibition content related to the Wabanaki, including its intellectual property and cultural knowledge, is owned outright by the Nation.Jennifer Neptune of the Penobscot tribe, who wrote the displays text, said of the exhibition, I hope that Wabanaki tribal members are able to see themselves reflected in the exhibits and be proud of who they are and the culture that our ancestors saved for us. I hope that all visitors come away with a deeper understanding, respect, and relationship to these woods and waters and to the places they call home, she added.Locally sourced cedar shingles wrap the exterior envelope. (James Florio)Tekkpimk Contact Station is designed to meet extremely rigorous sustainability standards. The building is almost entirely composed of timber, from its Maine cedar shingle cladding to the large Douglas fir glulam columns that comprise its structure. Situated on a slope, the center is upheld by rock anchors in the hillside, allowing the timber corridors to cantilever over the site. In addition, the building operates completely off-grid, relying on solar and thermal power for its energy needs. Passive design strategies were implemented throughout the project to lower energy use, including radiant floor heating, a Trombe wall heat capture system, a reduced glazing ratio through the use of selective punched windows, and an air-source heat pump.All of the materials used in the sites landscape and trail design were repurposed from the construction of the building. For example, rip rap removed from demolitions on the site were used to build trails and displaced soil was redistributed nearby.Tekkpimk Contact Stationis highly efficient in terms of energy use and embodied carbon. (James Florio)Elliotsville Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the center, anticipates that the completion of the project will bring renewed economic investment to the region by attracting tourists to the National Monument. By involving the Wabanaki Advisory Board, the organization has taken important steps to make sure that the groups centuries-old culture and history is not forgotten and is rather a focal point within the park.