2016
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ItemCivic Space Inspired by Hawaiian Alignments: Creating a Hawaiian Presence in Puu O Kapolei( 2016-05)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.
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ItemSocial Housing Building Envelope Retrofit in Russia New Material Assembly Application( 2016-05)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.
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ItemSculpting the "Aesthetics of Air" for Improved Thermal Comfort( 2016-05)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.
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Item"UH Co.Lab": An Innovative Learning space at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Based on the co-design Methodology and Practice( 2016-05)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.
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ItemPixilated Narratives in Invisible Cities: Decoding and Rectifying Disenfranchised Urban Narratives through Virtual Mediums( 2016-05)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.
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ItemA Proposal for Design Guidelines for Dementia Care Facilities in Hawaii( 2016-05)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.
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ItemRedefining the Street as a Third Place: A Design Toolkit for Kapahulu Avenue( 2016-05)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.
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ItemCommunity Resilience and Food Equity: The Case for the Honolulu Hawker Centre( 2016-05)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.
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ItemUrban Feng Shui: Design Guidelines for Multifamily Residential in Honolulu( 2016-05)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.