TAG Hawaii
Architectural Regionalism and Modern House Design
A December 30, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal‘s Friday Journal focused on architectural regionalism and its reemergence in house design. After decades in which well known architects designed houses that could be seen as idiosyncratic homages to their previous artistic preoccupations and that paid little attention to local climatic realities, architects (and their clients!) are once again finding joy and artistic inspiration in the house’s local surroundings and reinterpreting local traditions in fresh, inventive ways. We can only hope that this catches on with mass production and speculative house builders, which represents the vast majority of our country’s new housing stock…
Here are a few examples from our own portfolio that express our preoccupation with important regional architectural issues.
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- A house on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, designed by Rhoady Lee Architecture in collaboration with Ruhl Walker, has deep roof overhangs to protect the house from too much solar heat gain, and takes advantage of local trade winds with its expansive lanais. All wood is locally sourced, as are the lava rock walls. Credit: Rhoady Lee Architecture
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- In New England, as in this Ruhl Walker house in Westport, MA, we also need to protect our houses from harsh summer sun with roof overhangs, but they need to be designed to also allow for abundant winter sunlight to enter the house to passively warm the house. Windows can be opened to allow for ample natural ventilation, but most windows are fixed in place to maximize energy efficiency (and views, which aren’t marred by window screens!).
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- In the Big Island House, enormous walls of glass (detailed by Ruhl Walker’s Sandra Baron and Lilly Smith) mechanically slide out of the way to open the house up to the cool ocean breezes, and to allow for uninterrupted access to the house’s lushly landscaped grounds. Credit: Rhoady Lee Architecture
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- In our Westport house, we have a more transitional connection between inside and outside, with the main living space opening up to a large screened living space, which in turn opens to a raised deck, then down wide steps (wide enough for sitting as well as carrying trays of drinks!) to the yard and ultimately the Westport River. Alas, we have mosquitoes, green flies, rain, and snow!
Modern Hawaiian Lanais (part II, hotels)
After a very long, exhausting day flying from Boston to the Big Island of Hawai‘i, and after a bizarre drive across seemingly endless miles of lava – usually at night with little sense of scale – harried visitors are often welcomed by a warm “aloha”, friendly faces, cool towels, fresh guava juice, and hotels unlike anything most of us have seen before. Who knew that hotels didn’t really need walls? As with Hawaiian houses, the main public spaces of most Hawaiian hotels are essentially large open air lanais; no screens as you would find in the Caribbean since flying insects are less prevalent in Hawai‘i, and it is rare to see the discrete bi-folding shutters or sliding skylights closed. The next morning you wake up, and you see views like those below. Pure heaven! And fresh ideas for how these design possibilities might translate into our own work on custom vacation houses in New England…
Credits:
Mauna Kea Beach Resort: Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
Four Seasons Hualalai: Four Seasons Resort At Hualalai
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- One of William Ruhl’s (principal of Ruhl Walker Architects) favorite hotels on the Big Island is the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, designed by SOM and completed in 1965. All of the public spaces are cooled naturally by being designed without walls, taking advantage of the trade winds and natural convection, and allowing uninterrupted views of the magnificent coastline.
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- One of Mauna Kea’s open air restaurants, Manta, overlooking Kauna‘oa Beach, one of Hawaii’s most breath-taking beaches. And yes, you do occasionally run into manta rays as you snorkel, and during dinner.
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- The inversely-stepped profile of the Mauna Kea’s main lobby enhances the natural cooling of the space, with cool breezes flowing freely and warm air disappearing through the roof openings.
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- The main stair of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, looking down to its spectacular beach and crystal clear waters. Photo credit: Jeff Green
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- Another favorite hotel on the Big Island is the Four Seasons Hualalai. As with many other Hawaiian hotels, all public spaces are open air, with bi-folding screen and/or glass panels providing protection during the occasional inclement weather. Above and to the right is Pahu i‘a restaurant, directly on the beach. Just magnificent…
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- Without walls, views are infinite and fresh air is abundant.
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- The Four Season’s lobby is a separate pavilion (“hale” in Hawaiian) which is essentially open to the elements but does have sliding and bi-folding glass doors in case of (rare) inclement weather.
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- You have to look pretty hard to see the glass and mahogany doors in the main lobby (lanai) of the Four Seasons. Furnishings are perhaps a bit too faux-historic, but sure are comfortable…
Modern Hawaiian Lanais (Part I, houses)
Having just returned from the Big Island of Hawai‘i – the first time in five years not related at least partially to working with the Hawai‘i Wildlife Center – I still have Hawai‘i on my mind… It doesn’t help that the temperatures dipped into single digits this weekend, with wind chills below zero!
Architects have a hard time traveling without focusing obsessively on local architecture, and Hawaii’s – the openness to the elements, the blurring of inside and outside, the direct link to Asian architecture in both form and spatial flow – is particularly alluring. One key element is the “lanai”, a term first used in Hawai‘i in the early eighteenth century, and elsewhere known generically as a porch or veranda. The Hawaiian Islands are well known for their steady tropical breezes, a benefit and sometimes curse of being located so remotely in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Hawaiian lanais are often a house’s primary living space, and provide much needed shade and help Hawaiian buildings breathe by catching the trade winds and using that constant supply of fresh, naturally cooled (by the Pacific) air to remove hotter, more stagnant air. Below are a few of my favorite examples of modern lanais.
Send us your own images and thoughts! And look forward to future posts showing how we bring this “exotic” knowledge to our New England projects!
Credits:
Belzberg Architects, Santa Monica, CA: Belzberg Architects
Olson Kundig Architects, Seattle, WA: Olson Kundig Architects
Craig Steeley Architecture, San Francisco, CA: Craig Steely Architecture
Legoretta + Legoretta, Mexico: Legorreta + Legorreta
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- An abstract, open air entry lanai at a house designed by Belzberg Architects; with less than 10” of precipitation a year, shade is more critical than protection from rain.
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- Deep roof overhangs and a raised infinity-edged pool help keep this lanai cool. Credit: Belzberg Architects
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- This lanai is defined by two stone and glass walls and a narrow lap pool; the walls are tall enough to provide ample shade, and the shape of the space helps funnel fresh air through. Credit: Belzberg Architects
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- Opposite view of the same lanai shown on the left; note the lanai’s modern “trellis” ceiling, which helps create shade while also allowing warm air to escape between the wood beams. Credit: Belzberg Architects
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- A house on the Big Island of Hawaii designed by Olson Kundig Architects. Its primary lanai is located between the main living space and guest suites.
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- View of the lanai, which flows into the main living space. Credit: Olson Kundig Archtiects
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- This house, designed by Craig Steeley Architecture, has a screened lanai on the upper floor.
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- Inside Steeley’s screened lanai; note the floor boards, which are held apart to enhance natural ventilation.
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- Another house by Craig Steeley Architecture, with the open air lanai separating the main house and a separate studio.
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- The ceiling of this lanai is raised slightly to allow warmer air to rise up through the gap and be replaced by cooler, fresh air brought by the trade winds. Yes, that is lava…
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- A house by Ricardo Legoretta on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii. The continuous lanai protects the house from intense western sunlight and allows ever space to flow freely towards the ocean terraces.
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- Legoretta’s lanai utilizes a small salt water plunge pool to help keep the space cool, the steady sea breezes being cooled as they blow across the water.
Ruhl Walker Architects’ Projects Featured Online
Check out some of our recently published work, featured in several online design blogs and magazines!
The Hawai'i Wildlife Center
The Hawai’i Wildlife Center in Dezeen
The Hawai’i Wildlife Center in AECCafe
The Hawai’i Wildlife Center in Archello
Urban Living XXL
Bridge House
Truro Dune House
eBay House
Hawai’i Wildlife Center featured in ArchDaily
The Hawai’i Wildlife Center, designed by Ruhl Walker Architects, was featured in ArchDaily on August 20th. ArchDaily is one of the leading and most influential architecture website in the world, and gets over two million visits and eighteen million page impressions per month according to Google Analytics.
Please visit our portfolio website for additional information on the design of the HWC, and join us in supporting this critically important environmental cause by visiting the HWC’s online donation page!
The exterior of the HWC has been completed, and the interiors will be finished in November, in time for a grand opening celebration on November 19th.
Ruhl Walker Architects is providing pro bono design services for several affordable / sustainable house prototypes to be built in the Summer of 2012 in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, as part of “Blitz Build”, an annual event undertaken at different locations around the country by Blitz Home Builders, an international group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers that have organized annual Blitz Builds since 1996.
The Blitz Build will take place from September 12-22, 2012, in Kailua-Kona on the west (dry) side of the Big Island. The West Hawai’i affiliate of Habitat for Humanity hopes to build up to five houses in this 10-day span! These homes will be similar to the Habitat homes built on the mainland, but will have some unique design features suitable for the heavenly Hawaiian climate. Please visit the Hawaii ’12 page on Blitz Home Builder’s website for additional information.
Ruhl Walker has begun preliminary design work on two prototypes that will be presented to Habitat West Hawaii’s Building Committee later this year. The plan features a covered deck or lanai, an open living / dining / kitchen with sliding glass doors leading to the lanai, and a screened porch / hallway leading to 2 bedrooms and a shared bath. The proportions of the house — 16’-0” wide by 60’-0” long — allow for simple wood framing and ample cross ventilation; the covered lanai and screened hallway further enhance natural cross ventilation. One side of the house has fewer / smaller windows and would be oriented towards the prevailing trade winds, and the other sides would have larger windows and generous overhangs and be oriented towards the sea (“makai”). The screened hallway would have painted studs 24” on center and horizontal battens 12” on center, and the resulting grid would read as a large window. Materials under consideration are composite siding and trim on the makai side of the house as well as the end elevations, and corrugated metal siding on the windward side.
The images below are very preliminary. We look forward to posting updates as our design work – and ultimately construction – continues.
 The prototype floor plan, with lanai on the far right, main living space in the middle, and screened hallway, two bedrooms, and shared bath on the left. |  One option for the exterior, with separate volumes for the living and sleeping spaces, separated by the screened hallway. |
 A second option for the exterior of the West Hawai’i Habitat prototype, with a more linear expression. |  The windward side of the house will have smaller windows and corrugated metal siding. |
Making great progress at the Hawai’i Wildlife Center
The new native species gardens are growing in nicely at the new facility Ruhl Walker Architects designed for the Hawai’i Wildlife Center on the Big Island of Hawai’i, and the construction team at TDI is making great progress towards the official opening in November. Rough plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work are installed and ready for the interior finish work.
Our partners at Rhoady Lee Architecture and Design are managing the day to day construction administration process which is great except it means for Will there is no longer a regular excuse to visit the islands, unlike the last few years… It’s been great collaborating with Rhoady and Aaron; they’ve been helping us on the HWC, and we’ve in turn collaborated with them on several residential projects, including a recently completed house at the Hualalai Resort, home to the fabulous Four Seasons. In fact, our senior associate, Sandra Baron, spent 6 weeks working in their office in Waimea during the detailing push for that house, 3 weeks each on two separate occasions. Aaron, when are you coming to Boston?!
The outpouring of community support for the HWC continues to be amazing. On June 15th, a contingent of Marines – members of Wing Support Squadron 171, stationed in Iwakuni, Japan, but currently training at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island – joined Linda Elliott and others to assemble enormous lava rock slabs into benches and tables within the interpretive courtyard. The slabs had been donated by Ryan Associates.
November can’t come soon enough!
Please join us in supporting the Hawai’i Wildlife Center by donating online here!
 Exterior view of the main façade of the HWC, seen from the parking area, towards the lanai and open-air education pavilion. |  Exterior view of the main entrance to the HWC, with the staging porch (open air triage space) on the left. |
 A vibrantly painted blue planar wall continues from the entrance lanai into the reception area. |  The members of Wing Support Squadron 171, stationed in Iwakuni, Japan, but currently training at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, ready to assemble the lava rock slabs into benches and tables for the interpretative courtyard. |
 The ventilation system will not only cool the injured endangered species being cared for, but also will provide the required air exchanges that will improve their healing more quickly; air conditioning will be minimal despite the tropical climate, due to excellent cross ventilation and reliable tradewinds. |  The elaborate plumbing systems will be able to handle major oil spills as well as day to day rehabilitation needs. |
Community volunteer day at the Hawai’i Wildlife Center
Last weekend, the Hawai’i Wildlife Center sponsored a community volunteer day for the installation of native species gardens in and around their new facility. 100 volunteers of all ages joined the HWC staff and project design team as well as the Kohala Middle School students who had propagated the individual plants, and at the end of a busy day all were proud to show off not only beautiful landscaping, but planters and a courtyard full of native species of flora. With time, these gardens will grow to provide an inspiring educational laboratory for visitors and locals alike.
Future display kiosks will portray native Hawaiian wildlife, the challenges affecting these species, and the critical role of hands-on care and rehabilitation. When the HWC is fully operational later this year, trained volunteer docents will be available to escort visitors through the courtyard and other outdoor facilities, providing a richly informative orientation to the surrounding flora and exhibits, and speaking in depth about important subjects such as the evolution of Hawaiian wildlife, the numerous endangered species of native animals and plants, the natural history of Hawaiian seabirds and water birds, Hawaiian cultural connections to native wildlife, conservation threats, the role of wildlife rehabilitation in conservation, the process and sequence of wildlife rehabilitation, suggested locations to observe native species of Hawaiian wildlife, and what we all can do to help. Ruhl Walker Architects proudly supports the HWC, and we hope you will join us in this important effort to preserve and care for Hawaii’s native wildlife!
Please also see our blog post from March 22, 2011 showing the completed exterior of the Hawai’i Wildlife Center, designed by Ruhl Walker Architects. Phase II – the completion of the interiors – has begun so the facility should be officially up and running this winter!
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The Hawai’i Wildlife Center completes phase one.
As part of our commitment to annually contribute a minimum of 1% of our time to pro bono causes, Ruhl Walker Architects has been working with the Hawai’i Wildlife Center since 2006 on Hawai’i's first and only native wildlife recovery, rehabilitation, and education center. The HWC is located in Halaula, Hawai’i, on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
It is difficult to think about problems of any kind amidst the overwhelming natural beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, but the sad truth is that the Islands are host to more threatened and endangered native species per square mile than any other place in the world. A report from 2010 on Climate Change states that 93% of Hawaiian birds are at medium to high vulnerability. In February 2007, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) declared that the forests of the Hawaiian Islands are the most threatened bird habitat in the United States. The ABC stated that “most (native species) are dependent on vigilant conservation measures to survive at all.” Having seen many of the Big Island’s native birds on a recent trip sponsored by HWC founder and director, Linda Elliott, and renowned wildlife biologist and widely published photographer, Jack Jeffry, project architect Will Ruhl has an even more profound feeling of the urgency for this facility. The BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is all the proof one needs that tragedy can occur even in paradise.
This continues to be a labor of love as we progress with fund raising to complete the interiors of the HWC; needless to say, fund raising has been particularly difficult due to the Great Recession! But we are proud to be part of an amazing team of architects from Boston and Waimea, engineers from California and Hawai’i, a landscape architect from Oahu who grew up near the HWC site, construction managers from Hawi, and many local contractors and subcontractors who have contributed so much of their time and donated materials. The spirit of aloha is alive and well!
The interiors of the HWC are framed and roughed, but the good news is that the exterior shell and rough landscape, grading, and parking is now substantially complete.
 The Hawai'i Wildlife Center from Lighthouse Road. |  The HWC with, from left to right, staging porch, entrance to rehabilitation facility, central public lanai, and open air classroom. | |
 The front facade of the HWC is composed of fiber cement siding that alternates from solid lap siding to slats spaced apart at different intervals to allow natural ventilation into the education pavilion and staging porch. |  The entrance to the HWC treatment facility is defined by planes of vibrant color set within an otherwise monochromatic composition the HWC's lanai will eventually lead to a native species garden, currently being propogated by a local school group, and will house educational displays focusing on native endangered species. | |
 The front wall of the staging porch -- essentially the emergency room entrance for delivering injured birds -- is sheathed with composite siding held apart to allow natural ventilation, a new take on an old agricultural building tradition. |  The side walls of the education pavilion are sheathed with clear corrugated polycarbonate paneling, allowing natural illumination into the space while also keeping out the prevalent rain and mist that North Kohala is known for. | |
 Entry to the open air education pavilion is through the central lanai. |  Closeup view of the slatted front plane of the education pavilion seen through the corrugated polycarbonate paneling. | |
 The HWC will host talks to local school groups, educational outreach on environmental issues to locals, and talks geared towards vacationers. |  By varying the size of the composite slats as well as the openings between slats, a virtual "window" was created in the front facade of the education pavilion. |