Recently our team traveled to the town of Bar Harbor Maine to raise a very large, and very complex, timber frame Welcome Center for Acadia National Park.
Often called the Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic Coast, Acadia National Park protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the United States, an abundance of habitats, and a rich cultural heritage. At 4 million visits a year, it is also one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the United States.
Home to some of the most stunning landscapes and diverse wildlife on the Eastern Seaboard, Acadia National Park is open to explore year-round. Situated on the coast of Maine, the majority of the park’s 47,000 acres sprawls on Mount Desert Island, though portions of the park are on the Schoodic Peninsula and Isle au Haut.
“The cathedral-like Welcome Center space will operate similarly to a bus station, with public bathrooms, extensive bench seating, and visitor resources,” explained Owen MacDonald from New Energy Works engineering team. “Separate from the large main building there are two small additional timber features, a bus stop shelter area, and an information kiosk space.”
This fast-moving project was one of the biggest to ever come through our Farmington, New York shop, featuring a number of 42-foot long 12x12 Douglas fir timbers, and glulam “eyebrow” curved beams that were 24 inches thick.
“From an engineering standpoint, the truss structure of this project is very complex. This building is not a typical timber frame in terms of scale, or its dynamic truss work which required a significant number of steel rods and supports hidden in the timbers to make it all work,” Owen continued. “Shout out to Nick Foley from our team for being out on site and making sure things were run safely and efficiently during a challenging and fast paced raising, as well as Jason, Mike, and the rest of the raising team for doing such a great job on such a large project.”
Learn more about Acadia National Park:
The park is located roughly 160 miles from Portland, Maine, and about 50 miles from Bangor, Maine. The town of Bar Harbor, located on Mount Desert Island, shares borders with the park and is a popular home base for those visiting the park.
Acadia National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Project Partners:
General Contractor: Nickerson & O’Day, Inc.
Architect: AECOM
