Situated in the present and traditional homeland of the Penobscot Nation, Tekαkαpimək Contact Station is a stunning 7,900 square-foot building and 23-acre landscape atop Lookout Mountain in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine. This session celebrates the intercultural and interdisciplinary process that shaped its architecture, galleries, and landscape.
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 the National Park Service. Tekαkαpimək is a work of collaborative design and construction, intentionally imbued with Wabanaki knowledge.
Design team members will reflect on Tekαkαpimək’s realization. In 2019, Elliotsville Foundation, which gifted monument lands to the United States, engaged members of the Wabanaki Confederacy - Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe (Sipayik and Motahkomikuk), and Penobscot Nation. A feedback session about an initial architectural concept burgeoned into five years of exchanging ideas and stories. The project integrates new commissioned works by Wabanaki writers and artists throughout; and its construction served as an opportunity for upskilling local trades and apprentices. Tekαkαpimək’s bold architecture and landscape reflect trust built among native and non-native communities, deepening the creative process and lifting collective success.
Learning Objectives
- Appreciate the interplay of nature and heritage in shaping visitor experiences for institutions whose missions are strongly rooted to place.
- Articulate the particular care Indigenous communities deserve and require as participants in cultural projects with a mission, program offerings, or visitor experience on native lands. Identify timing and techniques that contributed to project success, while also acknowledging and evaluating missteps.
- Initiate opportunities for stakeholders outside of an institution's leadership and staff to contribute to a shared future, not only through feedback and engagement but by means of self-expression, co-creation, and communal care. Discuss when and how to engage communities impacted by projects during the planning and design phase.
- Empower institutions and design teams to create projects that leverage community strengths, grow capacities, catalyze skills, inspire innovations, and encourage new leaders to step forward.
- Value decolonized action, highlighting the importance of sharing power in a genuine partnership that leads to benefit-sharing with indigenous communities.
