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Hawai'i Housing Lab & the Holistic Housing Design Toolkit –

A Collection of Tools and Resources 2022

The Holistic Housing Design Toolkit is a comprehensive collection of tools and resources rooted in the Holistic Housing Design Framework. This framework outlines 12 strategies and 36 design actions aimed at fostering walkable, sustainable, and equitable communities. Written in plain language, the toolkit is designed to inspire innovative future designs, guide redevelopment processes, and enhance community engagement in planning mixed-income and mixed-finance housing solutions.

This toolkit builds upon the work and outcomes of the Future of Hawai‘i’s Housing project conducted for the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority and is publicly available via the Hawai‘i Housing Lab, website which also serves as a platform for documenting collaborative efforts that utilize this framework.

The original toolkit (2023) comprises 3 manuals — How-To-Guide (83 pp.), Holistic Housing Design Framework (135 pp.), and Visualizing Density Catalog (199 pp.) — along with 6 sets of sorting cards (217 total). Additional components and tools continue to be added and evolve, making this a "dynamic" publication.

The toolkit was completed in 2023, has since been used by faculty and students at multiple institutions and is currently being tested by agents in architecture and planning.

HIGHLIGHTS 2024 Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards - Social Justice Honorable Mention. This international award recognizes innovative design solutions addressing major global challenges.The Holistic Housing Design Toolkit was selected among 2,000+ entries as a Social Justice category honoree, which honors designs that help under-served communities.

The project has been presented at the AIA24 Conference on Architecture & Design, where it was featured in a 2.5-hour interactive workshop in Washington, DC (June 5–8, 2024); at PBX Hawai‘i for AIA Honolulu at the Hawai‘i Convention Center (October 2, 2024); and was the focus of a presentation at Housing Works: Turning Research to Action for Equitable Housing, hosted by the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (March 11, 2024).