Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 6, 1 June 2014 — DESIGNING HAWAIIAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DESIGNING HAWAIIAN

By Lurline Wailana McGregor i I n the past people talked about * * a Hawaiian sense of plaee in their building designs, but no one knew what that really meant," says Rob Iopa, president of WCIT Architecture. "The designs usually amounted to an indoor-outdoor eonneehon or a traditional thatched-roof shape. We think about sense of plaee totally differently, where history and culture become part of the design and the building becomes a member of the community." Since starting up in 2000, Iopa and his firm already have mueh to show for how they have incorporated their "sense of plaee" philosophy into design. One

of their most recent notable projects is Hale'ōlelo, the $21 million, two-story complex housing Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. The building name honors the school's namesake, Chiefess Ruth Ke'elikōlani, who spoke only in 'ōlelo Hawai'i from her hale pili in Kailua, Kona, named Hale'ōlelo, whieh she

stood in front of whenever she made significant 'ōlelo, or proclamation decrees, to her people. In 1881, Ke'elikōlani famously interceded with Pele to stop a lava llow from covering Hilo. To illustrate this story in the building's design, a sloping garden was built in the shape of the lava llow coming down from Maunaloa, and red paving at

the foot of the garden represents Princess Ruth's red scarf, whieh she threw down to stop the flow. The building's orientation reinforces the relationship between Ma Uka (mountain) and Ma Kai (oeean), symbolizing also that knowledge is passed down from kūpuna (elders) to haumāna (students) and then on to the greater community. Every detail of the structure is significant to the purpose of the building and the land and culture surrounding it. Iopa is the guiding vision of WCIT, whieh just launched a publishing arm (see sidebar). Bom and raised in Hilo and a graduate of Waiakea High School, he never cared for school. He liked his meehanieal drawing class - in spite of failing it - and told his

grandma he wanted to be an architect. He went on to junior college and college in California, returning home with a bachelor's degree in architecture. He was about to start working for a small firm in Hilo, "building garage additions," as he says, when the company suddenly downsized. He moved to Honolulu to work for an architectural resort development company, and, at

www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

EC0N0MIG SELFSUFFICIENCY

Kevin Cockett, President of Cockett Communications, Rob lopa, President of WCIT, and Maila Ka'aihue, Director of Community Planning of WCIT in their flowing multi-functional workplace at 725 Kapiolani Boulevard. - Photo: Helson Gaspar

The WCIT Architecture group strive to infuse Hawaiian culture in their designs. - Courtesy of WCIĪ

age 25, found himself assigned to building a resort in Kuala Lumpur, where the world's tallest buildings were being built. "I started questioning why a Western firm was being hired to build Malaysian architecture and

to express other people's culture," Iopa recounts of his experience. The Asian recession sent himhaek home and he started exploring what it is to be Hawaiian and how to express that through architecture. Two projects, the Kūhiō Beach Park renovation and the renovation of the Aloha Tower parking lot took Iopa into the community, where he sat in facilitated conversations between the community and the architects. "It took me out of sitting in my room and drawing and was as exciting as anything could be," Iopa recalls. Peter Apo and George Kanahele had started the

Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association by then, and were pushing the tourism industry to incorporate authentic Hawaiian culture into tourism planning through t consultation with the Hawaiian community. These men-

tors andhis projects set himfirmly on g his path of using architecture to inform what open space should look like. g WCIT was recognized in 2014 with Hawai'i Kūkulu Hale Awards for Hale'ōlelo as well as the Andaz Maui at Wailea and Turtle Bay Resort renovation. Some of the firm's highest- „ profile work has been in the hospitality | industry. n

When Iopa headed WCIT's | renovation of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waiklkl, his design „ called for reopening the back of the lobby to reincorporate the royal coconut grove of Helumoa, making the plaee whole again. I The coconut grove - whieh is | the only plaee in Waikīkī where coconut trees planted in the centu-ries-ago time of Kākuhihewa are still standing - is important to the story of that particular plaee. During renovation, pahu makers were invited in to carve pahu from the coconut trees, or niu, that were

being removed; none of the trees dating to Kākuhihewa's time was removed. Today, some of the pahu are on display in the lobby, serving as visual storytellers of the site's long history. "Hawaiian sense of plaee ean be more than just an architectural expression, more than just a building," Iopa says. "It ean be art, it ean be a pahu, it ean be whatever incorporates the genealogy of the plaee to tell the story." ■

Lwīine Wailana McGregor is a writer, filmmaker and author o/Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me.

Maunakea Roof Forms: The Auditorium roof rises from the tree line announcing the college - Ka Haka 'Ula 0 Ke'elikōlani Keanolani, The College of Hawaiian Language. The low rolling roof forms flanking the Auditorium roof represent the broad forms of Maunaloa and the still-active voleano Kilauea. Together it forms the 37,000-square-foot classroom facility on the University of Hawai'i at Hilo campus. Mo'olelo (stories), whieh are a very important aspect of Hawaiian eulture and language, are incorporated throughout the facilities design by WCIT. - Courtesy of WCIĪ

The Ritz-Carlton Club & Residences at Kapalua Bay in West Maui was designed byWCITandbuiltwherethe old Kapalua Bay Hotel was. When the hotel was demolished its building materials were donated, re-used or \eqM. - Courtesy of WCIĪ