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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.
AWARD
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.
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The toolkit was completed in 2023, has since been used by faculty and students at UHM, Cal Poly Pomona, University of Maryland, and is currently being tested by other agents including educators in architecture and planning. Officials at the City & County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting plan to test the toolkit as part of their engagement processes.
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).
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For: Hawai'i Housing Lab
Status: Pilot Complete
Type: Design Toolkit
Advisor: Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority Hakim Ouansafi, Executive Director.
Production Team: Hunter Wells, Micah Axalan. See Future of Hawai'i's Housing and Understanding Density projects for content creation teams.
Photography: Walker Mason & Strawn Sierralta
