The Kenaitze Indian Tribe recently opened the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht Campus (Kenai River People’s Learning Place), a new education center in Kenai, Alaska. The 67,000 sf facility supports core programs and community engagement.
The building is composed of two wings connected by a central indoor plaza. The education wing has classrooms and meeting spaces for the Tribe’s Early Learning preschool, K-12 Yaghanen Youth Language and Culture Program, Community Education and Career Training, and the Dena’ina Language Institute.
The second wing supports school and community activities, featuring a multipurpose room with a second-floor running track. A gathering space can house up to 300 people in banquet-style seating and is used by the tribe for tribal events, meetings, athletics, and other large events. There is also a cultural room for tribal demonstrations.
The campus is designed as a safe place where children can achieve educational milestones while embracing the traditions of the Dena’ina culture. The design responds to local, cultural, and tribal values with each detail providing teaching opportunities beyond the classroom:
- Reclaimed wood is repurposed from the community’s historic cannery, which emphasizes the Tribe’s longstanding fishing traditions.
- A 16-foot diameter tribal seal is embedded in the lobby floor, while a 20-foot diameter rendering of the Tribe’s Traditional Values Wheel is embedded in the multipurpose room floor.
- The building exterior features a custom copper color aluminum panel pattern that simulates salmon skin, a resource central to the Tribe’s identity. The curved design of this element references a circular sense of community.
- Landscape and playground areas were designed to teach children about the natural environment.
To create a warm and nurturing experience, the design emphasized a palette of natural materials throughout the light-filled space. Since overstimulation can result from the use of a strong color scheme, designers selected a balanced combination of accents and natural finishes and textures.
The Kenaitze Indian Tribe was federally recognized as a sovereign, independent nation in 1971 under the Indian Reorganization Act. Today, the tribe has more than 1,800 members who live across the Kenai Peninsula and beyond. It employs about 350 full-time and part-time employees.
On the Building Team:
Owner and/or developer: Stantec
Design architect: Stantec
Architect of record: Stantec
MEP engineer: Stantec
Structural engineer: Stantec
General contractor/construction manager: Blazy Construction Inc.
Related Stories
University Buildings | May 5, 2023
New health sciences center at St. John’s University will feature geothermal heating, cooling
The recently topped off St. Vincent Health Sciences Center at St. John’s University in New York City will feature impressive green features including geothermal heating and cooling along with an array of rooftop solar panels. The geothermal field consists of 66 wells drilled 499 feet below ground which will help to heat and cool the 70,000 sf structure.
Mass Timber | May 1, 2023
SOM designs mass timber climate solutions center on Governors Island, anchored by Stony Brook University
Governors Island in New York Harbor will be home to a new climate-solutions center called The New York Climate Exchange. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), The Exchange will develop and deploy solutions to the global climate crisis while also acting as a regional hub for the green economy. New York’s Stony Brook University will serve as the center’s anchor institution.
University Buildings | Apr 24, 2023
Solving complicated research questions in interdisciplinary facilities
University and life science project owners should consider the value of more collaborative building methods, close collaboration with end users, and the benefits of partners who can leverage sector-specific knowledge to their advantage.
Green | Apr 21, 2023
Top 10 green building projects for 2023
The Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex in Boston and the Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis are among the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards honorees for 2023.
K-12 Schools | Apr 18, 2023
ASHRAE offers indoor air quality guide for schools
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has released a guide for educators, administrators, and school districts on indoor air quality. The guide can be used as a tool to discuss options to improve indoor air quality based on existing HVAC equipment, regional objectives, and available funding.
K-12 Schools | Apr 13, 2023
Creating a sense of place with multipurpose K-12 school buildings
Multipurpose buildings serve multiple program and functional requirements. The issue with many of these spaces is that they tend not to do any one thing well.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2023
Watch: Trends in urban design for 2023, with James Corner Field Operations
Isabel Castilla, a Principal Designer with the landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, discusses recent changes in clients' priorities about urban design, with a focus on her firm's recent projects.
Market Data | Apr 11, 2023
Construction crane count reaches all-time high in Q1 2023
Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Denver top the list of U.S/Canadian cities with the greatest number of fixed cranes on construction sites, according to Rider Levett Bucknall's RLB Crane Index for North America for Q1 2023.
University Buildings | Apr 11, 2023
Supersizing higher education: Tracking the rise of mega buildings on university campuses
Mega buildings on higher education campuses aren’t unusual. But what has been different lately is the sheer number of supersized projects that have been in the works over the last 12–15 months.
Contractors | Apr 10, 2023
What makes prefabrication work? Factors every construction project should consider
There are many factors requiring careful consideration when determining whether a project is a good fit for prefabrication. JE Dunn’s Brian Burkett breaks down the most important considerations.
