Indigenous culture has been marginalized due to technology immigration, gentrification and ecological problems. Historically, Monson sits along the flourishing penobscot river system. However, the construction of dams, and the development of western wood and aluminum industry has endangered the practice of wabanaki birchbark canoe. Aspired to celebrate the losing craftsmanship, the Indigenous Canoe Museum study the vernacular architecture type in New England and transform the research into a laminated wood structural dialogue.

The Indigenous Canoe Museum consists of three buildings gently sitting along the landscape. The museum, hosting preservation labs and researchers, the craft school, inviting artists and indigenous people showing their craftsmanship, and the orientation center, a seasonal recreational building enriching the activities in summer, sit at different elevations to embrace the generous view of the site. The landscape design incorporates a linear lake that collects rain water and melted snow to provide a humid environment for preservation.

Emphasizing the display of the canoe at different scales and positions, the three buildings embrace a sectional relationship of human and architecture. Therefore, three large quarter scale sectional models are made to explore the relationship of structure in three buildings, the relationship of visitors and canoes, and the relationship of architecture and landscape. As shown in the model, delicate wood shading and clerestory creates subtle lighting conditions that satisfy the preservation of the canoe; large laminated timber arch enormous open space that displays the canoes without hindrance; the repetition of material, structure and construction techniques become a dialogue on the landscape.

The space itself becomes a metaphor for the indigenous canoe making: the resilience and endurance of wood as a material, the inseparable relationship of skin and structure, and the spiritual connection between human and nature.