Kenaitze Education Center – Kenai, AK
The 67,000-square-foot building, includes education and other community spaces. The building is laid out in two wings connected by an interior 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.
The building’s entry, plaza, and library facade were built with reclaimed wood salvaged from a 100-year-old local fish cannery. Blazy Construction and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe then worked in collaboration to inventory how much wood could be salvaged from the structure, tailoring the design and detailing to incorporate wood based on product availability during the design process. 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.
Blazy’s Role: Construction Manager / General Contractor
Construction Cost: $26,346,110
Construction Period: – September ’20 – April ‘22
Delivery Method: CM/GC
Owner: Kenaitze Indian Tribe
A/E Firms: Stantec Architects