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Design Islands –

Cultural Artifacts as Space-Making Devices 2017

2017 AIA Honolulu Design Award, Institutional
Design Islands was installed at the Hawai‘i State Capitol on April 22, 2017, at the Hawai‘i Convention Center for the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Hōkūle‘a welcome event on June 20, 2017, and at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture for multiple events between 2017 and 2023.

DATA + –

Design Islands are open frameworks that provide communal seating for both indoor and outdoor environments, coded by the layered complexities produced by the superimposition of Indigenous, settler, and visitor cultures in Hawai‘i.

Developed as a modular system, the project embodies our emerging understanding of the geopolitics of place, the evolution of design languages, and the vernacular and imposed mental models that shape spatial practice. Eight unique constructs were conceived as navigation devices, aligning orientation and movement through a coded system that questions the dominance of the orthogonal while engaging the diagonal as an alternative spatial logic.

The system was explored through both two- and three-dimensional studies, generating 169 orthogonal/diagonal mode settings and 521 vertical serial variants. Two sets of components—navigation devices and content—encourage hybrid authorship, enabling the constructs to act simultaneously as objects and subjects. The multiple cultural readings afforded by the system extended its reach beyond the gallery context, including an invitation to welcome the Hōkūle‘a after its global circumnavigation at the Polynesian Voyaging Society Benefit Gala in 2017.

For: University of Hawai‘i School of Architecture

Size / Scale / Area:Eight 6'-8" x 6'-8" islands (8 vertical frames and bases, 10 gray benches, 15 blue benches.

Type: Exhibition system

Astronomy Advising: ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i

Fabrication Team:Mike Poscablo and Marshall Prather (leads), Crysta Alcantar, Keola Annino, Chloe Bennie, Josephine Briones, Calvin Bulan, Stephanie Cass, Austin Chun, Marcos Cruz-Ortiz, Kathleen Eagan, Tyler Francisco, Christopher Gaydosh, Celeste Guarin, Jason Hashimoto, Kristoffer Jugueta, Creesha Layaden, Jacob Marsicek, Shelby Mendes, Blair Muraoka, Melise Nekoba, Khoa Nguyen, James Noh, Rebecca Ogi, Katherine Pananganan, Jonathan Quach, Gladys Razos, Poutasi Seiuli, Siraj Sheri, Christopher Songvilay, Bryson Tabaniag, Ivy Tejada, My Tran, Morgan Wynne, Kristyn Yamamotoya , Noelle Yempuku, Han Ming Yu

Photography: Tom Takata Photography

0039

Design Islands –

Cultural Artifacts as Space-Making Devices 2017

Design Islands are open frameworks that provide communal seating for both indoor and outdoor environments, coded by the layered complexities produced by the superimposition of Indigenous, settler, and visitor cultures in Hawai‘i.

Developed as a modular system, the project embodies our emerging understanding of the geopolitics of place, the evolution of design languages, and the vernacular and imposed mental models that shape spatial practice. Eight unique constructs were conceived as navigation devices, aligning orientation and movement through a coded system that questions the dominance of the orthogonal while engaging the diagonal as an alternative spatial logic.

The system was explored through both two- and three-dimensional studies, generating 169 orthogonal/diagonal mode settings and 521 vertical serial variants. Two sets of components—navigation devices and content—encourage hybrid authorship, enabling the constructs to act simultaneously as objects and subjects. The multiple cultural readings afforded by the system extended its reach beyond the gallery context, including an invitation to welcome the Hōkūle‘a after its global circumnavigation at the Polynesian Voyaging Society Benefit Gala in 2017.

HIGHLIGHTS 2017 AIA Honolulu Design Award, Institutional

Design Islands was installed at the Hawai‘i State Capitol on April 22, 2017, at the Hawai‘i Convention Center for the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Hōkūle‘a welcome event on June 20, 2017, and at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Architecture for multiple events between 2017 and 2023.

DATA + –

For:University of Hawai‘i School of Architecture

Size / Scale / Area:Eight 6'-8" x 6'-8" islands (8 vertical frames and bases, 10 gray benches, 15 blue benches.

Type: Exhibition system

Astronomy Advising: ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i

Fabrication Team:Mike Poscablo and Marshall Prather (leads), Crysta Alcantar, Keola Annino, Chloe Bennie, Josephine Briones, Calvin Bulan, Stephanie Cass, Austin Chun, Marcos Cruz-Ortiz, Kathleen Eagan, Tyler Francisco, Christopher Gaydosh, Celeste Guarin, Jason Hashimoto, Kristoffer Jugueta, Creesha Layaden, Jacob Marsicek, Shelby Mendes, Blair Muraoka, Melise Nekoba, Khoa Nguyen, James Noh, Rebecca Ogi, Katherine Pananganan, Jonathan Quach, Gladys Razos, Poutasi Seiuli, Siraj Sheri, Christopher Songvilay, Bryson Tabaniag, Ivy Tejada, My Tran, Morgan Wynne, Kristyn Yamamotoya , Noelle Yempuku, Han Ming Yu

Photography: Tom Takata Photography

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