Teton Geo Center – Museum & Discovery Hub

Located in Driggs, Idaho – the “quiet” side of the Teton Mountains — the Teton Geo Center represents a new concept in place-based visitor centers.

“Geo” or Geotourism is National Geographic’s “best practice” tourism model. It requires sustaining (or even enhancing) the character of a place, including its culture, environment and heritage and the well-being of its residents.

This is one of the first visitor centers in the world to be designed from the ground up with these tenets as guiding principles. Studio Tectonic provided the design and content development (including writing) for approximately 3,000 square feet of space: the public centerpiece of the City of Driggs municipal building. Architectural design was provided by Plan One Architects.

Client

Teton Geo Center

Location

Driggs, ID

Community-Led

Studio Tectonic led the design process with a community-curated methodology. We guided more than two-dozen community curators, who divided into content subject-area teams. Each team was responsible for research, gathering assets, and initial drafts of content. We worked with museums and collectors throughout the region to add artifacts. Studio Tectonic provided a design and visioning process that taught the fledgling museum/visitor-center staff and volunteers how to develop the content after we developed the initial framework and project direction.

This is all based on the idea of “geotourism” which blends people, history, place, experiences, material culture into an approach that’s environmentally and cultural sustainable and builds on community synergies. The design team worked with National Geographic to develop their approach to geotourism into a built space (first of its kind).