PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The state of Hawaiʻi is facing a critical shortage of affordable housing. The Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority (HPHA) is uniquely positioned to build walkable, sustainable, and equitable communities through new mixed-use, economically diverse, transit-oriented development projects and through the redevelopment of existing properties.
This bottom-up project began by interviewing 30 families in their homes on Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi, Maui, and Kauaʻi. Qualitative data and case studies informed the development of guiding principles and design guidelines that serve as foundational research for future projects. Findings were translated into an illustrated handbook. In 2020, our team re-examined the project through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Developing resources and insights informed a revised version of the handbook featuring a foreword by Architecture and Design writer Alison Arieff.
The resulting “Holistic Housing Design Framework” presents five guiding principles, twelve design strategies, and thirty-six actions as a broad framework for the long-term planning of resilient communities, rooted in learnings from the global pandemic.
FOR
The Future of Hawaii’s Housing project was conducted for the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority through the University of Hawai‘i Community Design Center platform.
This foundational research was realized in parallel and in relationship to density studies and visualizations, and pilots or prototypes for public engagement. The findings and learnings from this set of related projects informed the production of the Holistic Housing Design Toolkit.
Initial findings, related projects, and outcomes are documented in Future of Hawaii’s Housing report (coming soon).
IMPACT
2022 ACSA Architectural Education Awards - Collaborative Practice
Presented at: EPIC 2019: Agency, Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference, November 9-12, 2019. Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. The 20th Annual Pacific Building Trade Expo, Honolulu, HI. October 1, 2019. 108th ACSA Annual Meeting: OPEN, virtual conference June 2020.
RELATED PROJECTS
Holistic Housing Design Toolkit
(coming soon)
TEAM
Principal Investigators
& Lead Designers
Karla Sierralta, AIA
Brian Strawn, AIA
UHCDC Staff
Christina Holcom, Junior Research Associate
Chris Songvilay, Junior Research Associate
Sho Tetsutani, Junior Research Associate
UHCDC Student Project Assistants
Keola Annino, Kelii Kapali, Beau Nakamori, Katherine Pananganan, Griffin Ward, Hunter Wells
Partners & Consultants
Allison Arieff, Design and Architecture Writer
Rebecca Buck, Ethnographer & Digital Strategist
Stakeholder Team
Hakim Ouansafi, Executive Director HPHA
Kevin D. Auger, Redevelopment Officer HPHA
Becky Choi, State Housing Development Administrator HPHA
Sery Berhanu, Housing Development Specialist HPHA
Integrated Courses
UHM SoA Arch 342 Spring 2019, 2021, 2022
Please see related projects for additional contributors.
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