2016

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/45545

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Civic Space Inspired by Hawaiian Alignments: Creating a Hawaiian Presence in Puu O Kapolei
(2016-05) Ancheta, Marion; Stilgenbauer, Judith; Architecture
The spirit of a place is an important element among communities, especially in those cultures that have a strong connection with the cosmos. Many ancient civilizations used the stars as referential in the placement of their structures and performing spiritual rituals among those spaces, such as the Egyptians aligning their Giza pyramid with the Orion star constellation. In The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids, Robert Bauval discovers that the pyramid location had a strong connection between the dead king Osiris and the constellation of Orion.1 The importance of why the Egyptians did this was reflected in Bauval’s theory that there was spiritual knowledge that enlightened the pyramid builders, creating a portal between earth and the heavens. Similarly, the ancient Hawaiians have placed and built most of their temples, or heiau, to align with the sun's solstice and equinox at strategic locations. Globally, there are many ancient structures that are aligned with the celestial sky, taking examples from the Forbidden City in China, to the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal. Most of these monuments themselves were built for the rulers but also functioned as a civic space that invoked a central power. In the contemporary built environment, the notion of a civic space has evolved into an extension of a community, becoming a public realm of cultural activities and knowledge. The question arises: Do these spaces invoke a traditional and cultural perspective of the indigenous culture? Case studies such as the Uluru Kata-Tjuta Cultural Center in Australia, describes the importance of indigenous culture integration within a civic space. The recognition of native culture is mostly absent in today's perception of the built environment, especially in Hawai`i. This project attempts reconciliation between traditional Hawaiian knowledge of spatial elements, cultural significance, and the tangible and intangible structure of a heiau, and align it with the modern civic space. Methods that accomplish these tasks include historical research, interviews, logical argumentation and case studies. The resulting collective data establishes a set of programs for designing a Hawaiian civic space.
Social Housing Building Envelope Retrofit in Russia New Material Assembly Application
(2016-05) Arena, Theron; Meguro, Wendy; Architecture
In the 1950’s the Russian government began a massive construc tion campaign to provide housing throughout the country. Millions of units were built with minimal varia tion to supply housing demand. The driving force was to keep the cost of construc tion as low as possible; as a result these buildings were built with no energy eﬃciency standards. In addition, the interior of these buildings have very poor thermal comfort. These units had an intended lifespan of 25 years but, unfortunately, are still in use today. This fact together with an outdated and failing district hea ting infrastructure has resulted in a substan tial need for improved building envelope retroﬁts of these old prefabricated concrete buildings. Various retroﬁt op tions have been studied in Moscow since 1997, when the building codes in Russia changed to incorporate energy eﬃciency in the building envelope design. The most recent study by VTT (VALTION TEKNILLINEN TUTKIMUSKESKUS) Technical of Finland in 2014, was very thorough in overall scope, but had several areas where it could be improved. The answer is ﬁber cement and cellulose insula tion in a prefabricated building element. As no such building element currently exists, the culmina tion of this research document results in the crea tion of a new building material assembly that is ideally suited for sustainable prefabricated building envelope retroﬁts. There is a need for this new material assembly because it will provide a be tter, more adaptable, less expensive, easier to install, more sustainable, lower life me maintenance exterior insula tion system than any other material on the market today. The site loca tion selected for study is in Volzhsky, a small but progressive city in the southwestern corner of Russia. The social housing retroﬁt proposed herein will provide a precedent that can be followed and modiﬁed throughout the en re country.
Sculpting the "Aesthetics of Air" for Improved Thermal Comfort
(2016-05) Bonilla, Reece; Meguro, Wendy; Architecture
In an attempt to reduce building energy consumption and carbon emissions there is a growing worldwide interest in utilizing natural ventilation cooling in future high rise buildings. The use of natural ventilation cooling is not new to hot and humid regions of the world, yet this passive design principle found in tropical vernacular architecture is not found in many tall buildings in the tropics. The economically preferred double loaded corridor (DLC) spatial configuration generally associated with high rise models lack the ability to cross ventilate efficiently thereby surrendering to mechanical cooling for thermal comfort. The fundamental challenge is finding a solution that works well with cross ventilation and DLC configuration to improve thermal comfort and reduce building energy consumption. The skip-stop spatial configuration found in Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation could be a solution in providing efficient cross ventilation for double loaded corridor designs and thus improve thermal comfort through passive cooling while providing efficient space planning for vertical development. The objective of this project was to investigate the ventilation performances and thermal comfort conditions of a proposed skip-stop double loaded corridor (SSDLC) spatial configuration in comparison to a DLC and single loaded corridor (SLC) configuration. Modifications to the building envelope and local air speeds via ceiling fans through parametric analyses were also tested to improve comfort in these naturally ventilated models. Estimated thermal comfort results in these models were not seen as absolute but relative to the conditions being investigated. The research evaluates each model in Honolulu’s climate. Thermal comfort and air flow analysis was conducted using bulk air flow and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling through the Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) Virtual Environment software. The Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model was used as a metric to determine acceptable thermal comfort. The resulting research is beneficial for architects practicing in Hawaii and other major tropical cities around the world, as it provides a passive and economic solution to the cross ventilation and double loaded corridor dilemma in tall building designs, not to mention the energy savings that could potentially come out of utilizing such model in a hot and humid climate.
"UH Co.Lab": An Innovative Learning space at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Based on the co-design Methodology and Practice
(2016-05) Chen, Juliann; Walters, Lance; Architecture
The nature of the client, architect, and contractor relationship has changed considerably within contemporary architectural practice. Today, clients place more trust in professionals who specialize in non-architectural areas, such as construction costs, rather than architects who specialize in design. While a client might hire both types of parties, this disproportionate placement of trust on one particular party could adversely affect relationship between the client and the architect as well as between the client and other essential specialists. These correlations between client, architect, and other professional key players, in professional practice, are not consistently reflected in architectural education. The relationship in professional practice can be improved by starting at the roots—exposing students to design-communication strategies, thereby preparing them to engage with clients on different levels. Inspired by recent academic curricula in business and design, this dissertation investigates the modern architectural education environment, its alignment with professional practice, and the related impact on learning spaces and curricula. By anticipating new architectural curricula that derive from the profession, current design processes and methods, when combined with client-driven communication concepts from business curricula, will expose students to a variety of architect-client interactions and relationships, will help develop stronger design-communication interaction, and will demand the occurrence of new educational spaces for these interactions. This doctoral project poses the following questions. How can students gain knowledge and confidence when communicating the value of design through client interaction within an academic environment? And, stemming from that, how can the learning spaces facilitate the integration of professional design and communication strategies? Evidence shows that a curriculum that brings interactions regarding client relations into the classroom reveal opportunities for re-envisioned design spaces that accommodate and adapt to new collaborative working models and that foster growth and collective creativity. Past research on business and design curricula, existing design strategies, and communication strategies led to the development of an integrated educational model known as co-design, which has been redefined to inform the design of a new collaborative educational space. This led to the creation of a new type of programmatic educational space, which brings co-design methods into the educational environment and directly supports student engagement with clients.
Architecture of Confinement: Positively Influencing Rehabilitation and Reintegration
(2016-05) Emberson, Jamie; Despang, Martin; Architecture
Pixilated Narratives in Invisible Cities: Decoding and Rectifying Disenfranchised Urban Narratives through Virtual Mediums
(2016-05) Giardina, Sarah; Rockwood, David; Architecture
Despite longstanding histories of homelessness inside the United States, few solutions focus on the social inclusion of homeless individuals within broader society as it is affected by digital mediums. While greater inclusion may not immediately solve the problem of homelessness, such inclusion grants homeless peoples and communities more social resources through which they can gain the opportunity to better their situations and increase representation. The disenfranchisement of homeless persons has become increasingly visible as the prevalence of digital devices continues to modify how urban citizens interact and contribute information to the city. As digital presence and participation become more widespread in societal intercourse, the conventionally muted voices of homeless individuals within communally shared narratives will only increase, if not provided a means to contribute. This dissertation explores the potential of digital spaces as avenues through which narratives of homeless individuals can be introduced within the broader society so as to help them achieve a greater degree of social integration. Utilizing digital technology to bridge the gaps in homeless peoples’ inclusion within society as their experiences are articulated through their own narratives, for example non-traditional uses of public space, activates contact zones for individuals within the city and abroad. As narratives exist in a physical space, retelling them digitally, primarily through the use of personal cell phones, can allow for the bridging of social gaps through contact zones, creating opportunities to increase empathy in non-homeless individuals regarding homeless peoples’ situations, thereby decreasing prejudice. This dissertation focuses on narratives as spatially marked urban experiences that co-produce communal conceptions of the city. By focusing on the city as a composite of narratives that influences how the city grows, this dissertation seeks to clarify how virtual mediums can better facilitate the inclusion of homeless urban narratives. Urban inclusion will be looked at through multiple phenomena including the following: digital platforms designed for homeless individuals, the mapping of homeless individuals by non-homeless peoples via digital platforms such as NYC311, and ordinances in the State of Hawai‘i dictating homeless movement. Using New York City and Honolulu, located in the two states containing the highest per-capita homeless rates in the nation, to better understand homeless representation in cities, this dissertation prescribes a mobile platform to integrate disenfranchised homeless narratives, resulting in the creation of more spaces produced by an increasingly democratic urban narrative. By increasing narrative inclusion this dissertation theorizes that resultant cities and the communities that compose them will be better able to serve a greater diversity of each respective city’s or community’s population.
A Proposal for Design Guidelines for Dementia Care Facilities in Hawaii
(2016-05) Hamada, Landon; Noe, Joyce; Architecture
In Hawai‘i, there is a significant population of older adults who suffer with some form of dementia, and the numbers are predicted to increase more rapidly over the next decade as the baby boom generation reaches retirement age. At the same time, many care facilities profess to offer various special dementia or memory care programs. But what exactly does this mean? What are the standards these facilities use to ensure proper care of those with dementia? Hawai‘i often trails behind current trends, technologies, and designs, moving laggardly toward necessary change. The field of dementia care in Hawai‘i is no different. There exist no set guidelines or standards by which a care facility must abide in order to offer specialized care. This dissertation addresses this lack. The first part of this project presents the research, which discusses the specifics of Alzheimer's disease and dementia and examines existing design considerations and guidelines, different types of care facilities, and existing dementia care therapies. Case studies take a closer look at four local care facilities that offer dementia or memory care to see how they stand up to the existing body of knowledge and compare to each other. They offer a glimpse into current dementia care in Hawai‘i. The second part of this project presents a set of guidelines for building Dementia Care Facilities in Hawai‘i. This portion is arranged in a format that is accessible to architects and designers.
Redefining the Street as a Third Place: A Design Toolkit for Kapahulu Avenue
(2016-05) Ing, Stephanie; Walters, Lance; Architecture
Today, when we think of the word "street," the first image that comes to mind is often cars. Historically, however, streets were places where people were more often journeying on foot, stopping to greet one another and converse. While streets are now primarily used for transportation, the purpose of streets can be redefined to make them into places that encourage social interaction and bring a better quality of life to the surrounding communities. Methods of transforming streets exist, but are these successful in creating a place for the people of the local community? This project proposes the concept of redefining the street as a “third place” as a strategy for transforming an existing street from a space for transportation vehicles into a place for people of the local community. The intent of this project is to define place, develop an understanding of what it means for a space to be a place, outline what makes a place successful, understand the third place concept, and investigate how a street can be redefined as a third place. In addition, this project also explores current methods of street design and examines various existing street design guidelines in order to identify which design principles and design elements encourage turning streets into third places. Using the existing knowledge and research about place, street design, and design guidelines, this project developed a design toolkit for the Kapahulu Community that can be used as an inspirational guide for both redefining and transforming Kapahulu Avenue into a place primarily for the local community. This project, using the design toolkit created for this site rather than current planning methods, also presents possible changes for Kapahulu Avenue. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to develop a design approach that will help to create a pedestrian-friendly environment that retains and represents the community’s eclectic character. With careful planning and consideration for what exists along this street, Kapahulu Avenue has the potential to become a vibrant third place.
Community Resilience and Food Equity: The Case for the Honolulu Hawker Centre
(2016-05) Mendoza, Jeremy; Stilgenbauer, Judith; Architecture
Food equity afflicts millions of people each year in the united states. Strong social and community supports that are often found near neighborhoods of better socio-economic status are nowhere the be seen in areas with significant inequalities. This has led to a pattern of poor health that lead to chronic diseases, stigmatization by peers and other mental and physiological issues that develop due to increased exposure to stress and risks. The Honolulu Hawker Centre, which this research aims to design, derives its existence out of the rebirth of the home cook as the publics’ main provider of nutrition. Affordable meals and the option to not choose fast-food is key to the success of the hawkers. Adopting a similar system as developed by Singapore, the centres help to bolster community resilience and provide platforms for open engagement with neighbors, friends and families. The functions of the hawker centre includes, but are not limited to, the dispersal of raw food crops, an educational facility for learning how to cultivate and cook healthy locallygrown food, and reinforce the safety of parks often avoided due to their long association with neglect, fear and crimes. The hawkers themselves become relics of their community as the food they prepare strikes close to the hearts of many who have fond memories of meals once prepared during their childhood. The findings of the investigation reaffirmed that Hawaiʻi has increasingly more at stake by not supporting local agricultural businesses, not allowing decades old laws to change and not reinforcing the development of a strong culture of food production and connection to the land. The implementation of a state-wide hawker centre system would help negate the effects felt from decades of development that has seeded the conditions we feel today, especially in disadvantaged communities.
Urban Feng Shui: Design Guidelines for Multifamily Residential in Honolulu
(2016-05) Ng, Elim; Carr, Sara; Architecture
Urban Feng Shui: Design Guidelines for Multifamily Residential in Honolulu provides a framework for the designer to consider the principles of feng shui when designing for a multifamily residential project. Feng shui is a form of practice which aims to manipulate the built environment to benefit the well-being of people. Originally a Chinese belief system from the rural areas of Ancient China, it grew as an oral tradition to be interpreted by individuals in the urban context. Although sometimes it is seen as a superstition and aesthetic, designers should consider feng shui as a cultural and environmental factor when designing for people. As a matter of fact, feng shui can be applied to all stages of design. The focus of this project is to explore the origins of feng shui and its transformation to the urban context, specifically in residential architecture. This will be done by reviewing traditional systems of feng shui and exploring the acceptance of feng shui in the West. Following that will be an interview with a feng shui specialist from Honolulu which will provide a distinct list of multifamily residential feng shui principles to compare with Western architectural feng shui principles. The research process will then inform design guidelines to approach site selection, site analysis, and building design for a multifamily residential project in Honolulu. The results will show that feng shui is a viable system to approach designing for the built environment. It reinforces the importance for designers to think from a macro to micro scale, from the site of the building and eventually on the spaces of the residents.
Reconnecting with the Past: Traditional Tongan architecture as an Educational Device for the Tongan People
(2016-05) Nonu, Folau; Despang, Martin; Architecture
The complexity of the traditional Tongan fale has decreased over time, but there is a need for architects to revive the essence and the cultural aspects of the fale. This research helps increase the understanding of traditional Tongan architecture and find ways to incorporate in teaching the people of Tonga about this aspect of Tongan culture. I have a great responsibility as a Tongan architect to study and gain knowledge about the fale and use that knowledge to educate my people. The traditional fale was more than just a building or shelter; it also helped to define the owner’s status in society. Every part of the fale provides a significant contribution to its function and has uses beyond those of the building itself. These parts and terminology are very seldom used because they hardly exist today, and the few people who still use this vocabulary are mostly elderly. The construction process of the fale was important to everyone in the community. Everyone one, from the children to the elderly, had important roles in construction. They worked together as if it was their own house they were building. This process shows that helping each other is a vital part of the Tongan culture. With the information and data from books, the internet, interviews and a survey, I hope to share my knowledge of the fale with the others and reveal its forms even in simple forms, such as bus stations.
Tall Building Delirium: Second Life of the Metlife Building
(2016-05) Park, Natalie; Friedman, Daniel; Architecture
For over one hundred thirty years our cities have been serving as urban testing grounds for tall building experiments. Tall Buildings have been the basis for massive urban agglomerations, living far beyond their anticipated lifespan, leaving cities with experimental relics, successful or unsuccessful. As our global cities embrace for growth, tall buildings continue to be used as catalysts for new urban developments, technologies, and economies. The evidential urban fabric lives through a causal existence. Using a triangulation approach to analytical case studies of tall buildings and research compilations, successes found through failures are documented, making the missteps of the past clearer while exposing the solutions that can correct the undoings of the past. Tall buildings of the past pose the potential to remain relevant, contributing members of the urban fabric. Design revelations are demonstrated on the MetLife Building (formally known as the Pan Am Building), an existing tall building in New York City, giving the a second life based on critical theory. The design revelations include aspects of passive strategies, ecological interventions, urban cognizance, energy efficiencies, public space rehabilitation, physiological improvements, and climatic responsiveness. Re-developing and adapting existing tall buildings allows cities to react to current and future challenges with existing infrastructure becoming a sustainable platform for renewal. Existing tall buildings prove to be resilient urban experiments capable of evolutionary transformation.
Therapeutic Strategies in Architecture for Senior Care and Rehabilition
(2016-05) Parks, Francis; Despang, Martin; Architecture
My research is in developing a new building typology for the elderly retirement population. Retirement funds are often eaten up by poor planning and hasty decisions which can jeopardize their health. Hawaii has a large elderly population and I see a great need to address this problem now, as the largest demographic group is now retiring. Hypothesis: Retirement hangs as the preverbal carrot for most people in our rapidly paced society. The reward for life of hard work too often becomes a sedentary activity that encourages the degeneration of our physical body. Architecture for retirees often facilitates this and designs for a lethargic lifestyle. The consistent pattern for elderly is a ‘fall’, which then leads to a back-and-forth to the hospital. Most of the time, the fall occurs within a ‘designed’ space. The research goal is to develop design strategies, design components, and awareness of the problems. Just as ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act) is the product of awareness and energy to a neglected demographic, the elderly should have strong design influences. The desired outcome for the project is to prepare for a design that addresses the needs for this elderly age group . Gaining an understanding of the demographic, the needs, hazards, and opportunities will prepare me for the design process. Specific solutions ranging from therapeutic spaces to technical solutions for improved mobility and independence will be investigated. In urban or suburban places, our mobility is based on options presented to us. These are intentional designs and understanding how ‘designed circulation’ develops certain muscles while others are lost, helps me design spaces that become therapeutic and incorporate the muscles that are lost. Case studies will be investigated to gain parameters on cost, and design solutions. Emerging theories in senior health care incorporate more activity throughout the day compared to a periodic ‘exercise’ time. Architecture can facilitate this approach of a steady flow of stimulus and activity.My research is in developing a new building typology for the elderly retirement population. Retirement funds are often eaten up by poor planning and hasty decisions which can jeopardize their health. Hawaii has a large elderly population and I see a great need to address this problem now, as the largest demographic group is now retiring. Hypothesis: Retirement hangs as the preverbal carrot for most people in our rapidly paced society. The reward for life of hard work too often becomes a sedentary activity that encourages the degeneration of our physical body. Architecture for retirees often facilitates this and designs for a lethargic lifestyle. The consistent pattern for elderly is a ‘fall’, which then leads to a back-and-forth to the hospital. Most of the time, the fall occurs within a ‘designed’ space. The research goal is to develop design strategies, design components, and awareness of the problems. Just as ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act) is the product of awareness and energy to a neglected demographic, the elderly should have strong design influences. The desired outcome for the project is to prepare for a design that addresses the needs for this elderly age group . Gaining an understanding of the demographic, the needs, hazards, and opportunities will prepare me for the design process. Specific solutions ranging from therapeutic spaces to technical solutions for improved mobility and independence will be investigated. In urban or suburban places, our mobility is based on options presented to us. These are intentional designs and understanding how ‘designed circulation’ develops certain muscles while others are lost, helps me design spaces that become therapeutic and incorporate the muscles that are lost. Case studies will be investigated to gain parameters on cost, and design solutions. Emerging theories in senior health care incorporate more activity throughout the day compared to a periodic ‘exercise’ time. Architecture can facilitate this approach of a steady flow of stimulus and activity.My research is in developing a new building typology for the elderly retirement population. Retirement funds are often eaten up by poor planning and hasty decisions which can jeopardize their health. Hawaii has a large elderly population and I see a great need to address this problem now, as the largest demographic group is now retiring. Hypothesis: Retirement hangs as the preverbal carrot for most people in our rapidly paced society. The reward for life of hard work too often becomes a sedentary activity that encourages the degeneration of our physical body. Architecture for retirees often facilitates this and designs for a lethargic lifestyle. The consistent pattern for elderly is a ‘fall’, which then leads to a back-and-forth to the hospital. Most of the time, the fall occurs within a ‘designed’ space. The research goal is to develop design strategies, design components, and awareness of the problems. Just as ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act) is the product of awareness and energy to a neglected demographic, the elderly should have strong design influences. The desired outcome for the project is to prepare for a design that addresses the needs for this elderly age group . Gaining an understanding of the demographic, the needs, hazards, and opportunities will prepare me for the design process. Specific solutions ranging from therapeutic spaces to technical solutions for improved mobility and independence will be investigated. In urban or suburban places, our mobility is based on options presented to us. These are intentional designs and understanding how ‘designed circulation’ develops certain muscles while others are lost, helps me design spaces that become therapeutic and incorporate the muscles that are lost. Case studies will be investigated to gain parameters on cost, and design solutions. Emerging theories in senior health care incorporate more activity throughout the day compared to a periodic ‘exercise’ time. Architecture can facilitate this approach of a steady flow of stimulus and activity.
Waves of Development: The Influence of Surf Tourism on Coastal Bali
(2016-05) Pettina, Kristin; Stilgenbauer, Judith; Architecture
Surfers travel around the world in search of perfect waves. Oftentimes this quest leads them to remote areas in developing nations. Over time these places become more popular and the development related to tourism follows. While it may seem like a straightforward economic activity, tourism is a complex interaction that involves groups that have differing and often conflicting goals. The stakeholders include the local community, tourists, private sector businesses, tourist organizations, governments, non-profit organizations and international organizations. The type and scale of development that is appropriate depends on many factors that are unique to each place. Decisions about the construction, location and operations determine a project’s impact on the local community and the environment. This research analyzes the impact surf tourism has had on the coastal development in Bali, Indonesia including infrastructure, building and environmental impacts. As a result, I designed accommodations for traveling surfers that enhance the positive aspects of tourism while mitigating the negative impacts. The accommodations were designed so that a community could build the structures using locally sourced materials and labor, thereby, adding support to the Balinese economy. The project used passive strategies to reduce the demands on natural resources and is as self-sufficient as possible. I believe that an environmentally sensitive, architecturally and culturally appropriate design that benefits the community can be realized.
The Absurd Enspaced
(2016-05) Silvia, Chelsea; Walters, Lance; Architecture
The contradictions between the ideal-reality, solid-void, and inside-outside are just a few of architecture’s most fundamental and accepted incompatibilities. Not exclusive to architecture, contradiction is ultimately a result of our human condition to seek out meaning and order in a meaningless, disorderly world. Albert Camus refers to this basic conflict between us and the universe as “absurdism” and lends only two solutions: a suicide or an acceptance. The purpose of this research is to enspace the absurd, which is to realize in architecture an acceptance of absurdity. This effort establishes that the opposing roles within contradiction are not two independent, separate forces up for casual omission (suicide) to ease complexity, but rather that these opposing roles are in fact two intimately entwined roles of the same part. The absurd is explored through Camus’ collected works as well as through precedents of absurd demonstration from literature to the arts and toward architecture. Undertaking the contradiction as the clearest articulation of the absurd and upon recognizing the threshold as the purest contradiction in architecture, this work finds the absurdity in architecture to be the threshold. Out of our human condition to search for reason and order, we separate spaces (functions) within architecture so we may make sense of them. The separation, the attempt to reason, forms the “here” and “there” and the threshold, the absurd, exists between them—where you may be here and there simultaneously. The threshold is therefore the absurd enspaced as it is contradiction manifested as architecture.The contradictions between the ideal-reality, solid-void, and inside-outside are just a few of architecture’s most fundamental and accepted incompatibilities. Not exclusive to architecture, contradiction is ultimately a result of our human condition to seek out meaning and order in a meaningless, disorderly world. Albert Camus refers to this basic conflict between us and the universe as “absurdism” and lends only two solutions: a suicide or an acceptance. The purpose of this research is to enspace the absurd, which is to realize in architecture an acceptance of absurdity. This effort establishes that the opposing roles within contradiction are not two independent, separate forces up for casual omission (suicide) to ease complexity, but rather that these opposing roles are in fact two intimately entwined roles of the same part. The absurd is explored through Camus’ collected works as well as through precedents of absurd demonstration from literature to the arts and toward architecture. Undertaking the contradiction as the clearest articulation of the absurd and upon recognizing the threshold as the purest contradiction in architecture, this work finds the absurdity in architecture to be the threshold. Out of our human condition to search for reason and order, we separate spaces (functions) within architecture so we may make sense of them. The separation, the attempt to reason, forms the “here” and “there” and the threshold, the absurd, exists between them—where you may be here and there simultaneously. The threshold is therefore the absurd enspaced as it is contradiction manifested as architecture.The contradictions between the ideal-reality, solid-void, and inside-outside are just a few of architecture’s most fundamental and accepted incompatibilities. Not exclusive to architecture, contradiction is ultimately a result of our human condition to seek out meaning and order in a meaningless, disorderly world. Albert Camus refers to this basic conflict between us and the universe as “absurdism” and lends only two solutions: a suicide or an acceptance. The purpose of this research is to enspace the absurd, which is to realize in architecture an acceptance of absurdity. This effort establishes that the opposing roles within contradiction are not two independent, separate forces up for casual omission (suicide) to ease complexity, but rather that these opposing roles are in fact two intimately entwined roles of the same part. The absurd is explored through Camus’ collected works as well as through precedents of absurd demonstration from literature to the arts and toward architecture. Undertaking the contradiction as the clearest articulation of the absurd and upon recognizing the threshold as the purest contradiction in architecture, this work finds the absurdity in architecture to be the threshold. Out of our human condition to search for reason and order, we separate spaces (functions) within architecture so we may make sense of them. The separation, the attempt to reason, forms the “here” and “there” and the threshold, the absurd, exists between them—where you may be here and there simultaneously. The threshold is therefore the absurd enspaced as it is contradiction manifested as architecture.
The Urban Tapestry of Kakaako: The Role of Form-Based Codes in Implementing Communal Design Patterns on Queen Street
(2016-05) Chong, Stephanie; Carr, Sara; Architecture
Hawaiʻi has a rich and significant history that originates from multiple cultures, and the streets of our state reflect and guide our society’s success in creating and celebrating that heritage. Kakaʻako is a district in Honolulu located on the south shore of Oʻahu, specifically between Ala Moana to the east and downtown Honolulu to the west. Queen Street is located in Kakaʻako and spans 1.4 miles from downtown Honolulu, to the capital district, to light industrial businesses, up to recent high-rise developments.1 Despite these features, the street suffers from a scarcity of pedestrian access and walkways, which is one of the many issues separating it from the rest of Kakaʻako. Form-based codes (FBC) must be sensitive and specific to the area, which is populated predominantly by light industrial proprietors, and the community will benefit most from an agreement between them and the people who commute there. This dissertation will explore how FBC can maintain both character and culture in order to create a sense of place on Queen Street, in addition to maintaining small businesses. Using literature on the importance of the spatial division of streets and sense of scale as well as thoughts on how to implement FBC, this research seeks to assist in applying new guidelines for maintaining businesses on Queen Street while retaining and celebrating its rich culture. Discussing existing research on culture in Hawaiʻi and Kakaʻako, FBC, and pedestrian-friendly streets, this dissertation will also explore whether Queen Street can sustain an identity compared to the surrounding developed community. It utilizes the methodologies of interpretive-historical research, site analyses, and qualitative research. The research will contribute to the study and analysis of how the use of FBC can achieve a design in urban contexts that enriches an area, like Hawaiʻi, with a rich history and culture.
Human Experience: Integrating the Senses Through the Intimacy Between Water and the Urban Fabric
(2016-05) Tabucbuc, Mark; Rockwood, David; Architecture
During the 20th century, manifestations between water and land have become dissociated from emotional and physical experience, creating a deficiency within our human psyche. The power of water to draw humans has led many civilizations to create permanent settlements along its shores, resulting in over a billion people today living in coastal regions around the world. Over time, the ever-changing coastal environments have caused water to bleed into the urban fabric, resulting in the requirement of fortifications and putting growing pressures on coastal communities. In response, cities must transform and, this project proposes, create interlaced spaces between the two seemingly opposing elements that provide for and focus on the human experience. Nurturing the human experience will provide an improved cultural and spiritual journey through the intimacy between the water’s edge, and the urban fabric. This project explores the human experience of the manmade spaces interlaced between the water’s edge and land. Juhani Pallasmaa writes, in The Geometry of Feeling, “The quality of architecture does not lie in the sense of reality that it expresses, but quite in reverse, in its capacity for awaking our imagination”.1 Architecture is a multi-sensory experience that engages the emotional, physical, and intellectual parts of our being. This human experience is a journey, where structures, the environment, and the person can communicate and connect. Neglecting the human experience within the construction of interlaced spaces will create an incoherent journey for both architecture and culture. This project examines architectural spaces that have been built between the water’s edge and land while seeking to build an understanding of the importance of the human experience of these spaces. The research gathered will then provide a framework for new designs for the transformation of Honolulu’s coastline as the Hawaiian island of O’ahu faces the growing pressures of population growth and water level rise. 1 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Geometry of Feeling: A look at the Phenomenology of Architecture, (New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 450.During the 20th century, manifestations between water and land have become dissociated from emotional and physical experience, creating a deficiency within our human psyche. The power of water to draw humans has led many civilizations to create permanent settlements along its shores, resulting in over a billion people today living in coastal regions around the world. Over time, the ever-changing coastal environments have caused water to bleed into the urban fabric, resulting in the requirement of fortifications and putting growing pressures on coastal communities. In response, cities must transform and, this project proposes, create interlaced spaces between the two seemingly opposing elements that provide for and focus on the human experience. Nurturing the human experience will provide an improved cultural and spiritual journey through the intimacy between the water’s edge, and the urban fabric. This project explores the human experience of the manmade spaces interlaced between the water’s edge and land. Juhani Pallasmaa writes, in The Geometry of Feeling, “The quality of architecture does not lie in the sense of reality that it expresses, but quite in reverse, in its capacity for awaking our imagination”.1 Architecture is a multi-sensory experience that engages the emotional, physical, and intellectual parts of our being. This human experience is a journey, where structures, the environment, and the person can communicate and connect. Neglecting the human experience within the construction of interlaced spaces will create an incoherent journey for both architecture and culture. This project examines architectural spaces that have been built between the water’s edge and land while seeking to build an understanding of the importance of the human experience of these spaces. The research gathered will then provide a framework for new designs for the transformation of Honolulu’s coastline as the Hawaiian island of O’ahu faces the growing pressures of population growth and water level rise. 1 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Geometry of Feeling: A look at the Phenomenology of Architecture, (New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 450.During the 20th century, manifestations between water and land have become dissociated from emotional and physical experience, creating a deficiency within our human psyche. The power of water to draw humans has led many civilizations to create permanent settlements along its shores, resulting in over a billion people today living in coastal regions around the world. Over time, the ever-changing coastal environments have caused water to bleed into the urban fabric, resulting in the requirement of fortifications and putting growing pressures on coastal communities. In response, cities must transform and, this project proposes, create interlaced spaces between the two seemingly opposing elements that provide for and focus on the human experience. Nurturing the human experience will provide an improved cultural and spiritual journey through the intimacy between the water’s edge, and the urban fabric. This project explores the human experience of the manmade spaces interlaced between the water’s edge and land. Juhani Pallasmaa writes, in The Geometry of Feeling, “The quality of architecture does not lie in the sense of reality that it expresses, but quite in reverse, in its capacity for awaking our imagination”.1 Architecture is a multi-sensory experience that engages the emotional, physical, and intellectual parts of our being. This human experience is a journey, where structures, the environment, and the person can communicate and connect. Neglecting the human experience within the construction of interlaced spaces will create an incoherent journey for both architecture and culture. This project examines architectural spaces that have been built between the water’s edge and land while seeking to build an understanding of the importance of the human experience of these spaces. The research gathered will then provide a framework for new designs for the transformation of Honolulu’s coastline as the Hawaiian island of O’ahu faces the growing pressures of population growth and water level rise. 1 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Geometry of Feeling: A look at the Phenomenology of Architecture, (New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 450.
Rescaling Urbanism: Fostering Low-Tech, Digitally Fabricated, and Transient Structures Through Innovation in Local Renewable Material
(2016-05) Valenti, Joseph; Stilgenbauer, Judith; Architecture
This dissertation presumes that innovation in design and sustainable building practices can alleviate environmental and socio-economic issues within cities. Exploration of small-scale design and intelligent systems reveals a connection between local resources and new technologies that advance yesterday’s way of building. The study focuses on the challenges of a vulnerable island community, addressing Hawaii’s major housing crisis and the effects of impending climate change. Isolation and a global market has encouraged dependency on imports and deterred the state from achieving sustainability. At the intersection of localized materials and global technologies, this project argues a simple and practical solution. Through a series of case study investigations and applied research on innovative design strategies, it establishes the framework for an alternative building model of less permanent and more process-based structures. Rescaling Urbanism reveals the potential for a system that can challenge the existing methods of Hawaii’s building industry. The project embraces the use of local material with new technologies in digital fabrication to create a streamlined approach for building sustainably in Hawaii. To compliment new statewide green initiatives, we must learn to embrace the use of vernacular materials, renewable energies, and closed-loop systems. Hawaii’s surplus of invasive tree species bears the potential for local renewable building materials. This study examines the use of lumber from the highly invasive albizia tree as a building v material through application of wood engineering. By reconceptualizing the tree from invasive to useful, a problem becomes a viable solution to Hawaii’s housing deficit and outsourced building industry. This project integrates the design and construction process by proposing a structure that is composed almost entirely of albizia and digitally fabricated from computer numerically control, or CNC routing. Engineered wood is a resource-light material that supports rapid on-site construction. CNC routing is being increasingly utilized with engineered wood to streamline the entire building process. Merging these two principles enables fabrication of sustainably sourced, high-precision, and easy to assemble building components. The outcome reveals a process that can radically lessen the threshold of scale, cost, and construction time.
Climate Change and Building Energy Use: Evaluating the Impact of Future Weather on Building Energy Performance in Tropical Regions
(2016-05) Vong, Nguyen; Meguro, Wendy; Architecture
Trends in average global temperature changes show that the climate is undeniably warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that global temperatures will increase by a range of 1.1°C to 6.4°C by the end of the twenty-first century. For tropical climate zones, increases in global temperatures cause increases in building heat gain, which lead to increases in annual cooling energy use and poorer thermal comfort. This project evaluates the impacts of future climate change on the HNEI Frog building’s energy performance to determine the most effective envelope design now and for the future. Three designs models were created and compared: the Current Design model, the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 Standard Design model, and the Proposed Design model. Using the climate change future weather data methodology, building energy use and cooling loads were compared for three time periods, present-day, 2050, and 2080, under the IPCC A2 emissions prediction scenario. The hypothesis was that the Proposed Design model, due to higher levels of insulation, would perform better than the Current Design in each time period, reducing annual energy use. The methodology of this research can be applied to studies that examine a number of building design features, including but not limited to thermal mass, window-to-wall ratio, glazing material, overhang shading, green roof systems, and natural ventilation strategies. With today’s emphasis on reducing building energy use and on sustainability, it is essential to understand how building envelopes will perform in the future.
Floating Architecture: Hawaii's Response to Sea Level Rise
(2016-05) Vu, Phap; Meguro, Wendy; Architecture
This research document briefly reviews existing knowledge of global warming and climate change, along with the consequences. It examines sea level rise, and briefly discusses the controversy that still lingers, allegedly because of what oil companies have done. It goes through strategies for mitigating sea level rise, with a final focus on floating development, not as a solution, but as one of a number of suggested ways to mitigate the problem of sea level rise. From there the topic moves to the predicted impact of sea level rise on cities, landmarks, and finally Hawai‘i, and how Hawai‘i is dealing with it. A brief summary of what the international community has done so far in an attempt to hold down temperatures is presented, as well as President Obama’s comments about global warming that he made during his final State-of-the-Union Address. Research extends to the Netherlands, where the Dutch are considered world leaders in water management and examines how their water-based architecture is helping them to adjust to sea level rise. Koen Olthuis, a leading Dutch architect, is featured, along with some of his current projects in the Maldives, which, like Hawai‘i, has a tourism-based economy. Following that, examples of future floating development that could be used in Hawai‘i are studied. Including examples of floating residences, floating tourist destinations, and floating support structures for energy, food, and fresh water. Since the writer is doing a design project at Ke‘ehi Lagoon, a historically rich site near the Honolulu International Airport, much discussion is given over to Ke‘ehi Lagoon and conditions in and around the lagoon. Following that a wide range of topics, some practical, and some peripheral, all directly related to the design project itself, were investigated. Practical questions like how the development floats and how are utilities provided, are raised and researched. The name of the project is HydroVillage & Research Farms at Ke`ehi Lagoon and residents work as sea farmers or researchers and live and work on site. HydroVillage is a dynamic community floating around a central hub where residents live, work, and play in meaningful and productive ways.

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