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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is soliciting a call for donations in response to the devastating wildfires that have claimed more than 100 lives and damaged countless structures in Maui. The AIA shares: "The AIA family is deeply saddened by these recent wildfires and is working in... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects' 2030 commitment program aims to transform building design to address climate change by setting standards and goals. AIA Honolulu member firms AEPAC, AHL, Ferraro Choi, KYA Design Group, MASON and WRNS Studio signed onto the commitment in honor of Earth Day. — Hawai’i Public Radio
The AIA 2030 Commitment program requires participating firms to report the predicted energy performance of all projects in their portfolios each year. Energy by fuel source, renewable energy, post-occupancy energy use, and embodied carbon are also tracked. The program has mapped out energy... View full entry
Last month, we used our Job Highlights series to profile an opportunity to design rural getaways at the full-service Brooklyn studio HUTS. The role offered an example of architectural careers intersecting with popular culture; in this case, the alluring cliché of leaving a bustling city to find... View full entry
With most states feeling the pinch of freezing winter right now, the thought of furthering one's architectural career at a place where the average February daytime temperature lingers around 80°F can be tempting. So if you are ready to trade the snow shovel for a surfboard, check out these five... View full entry
The state of Hawaii's Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) has issued a Request for Qualifications for contractors interested in bidding on the first phase of the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District in Honolulu. The first five years of work will include a replacement stadium and ancillary commercial mixed-use development and will be delivered through a public-private partnership (P3). — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Phase 1A of the project will include the demolition of the current 50,000-seat stadium; design, construction, financing and maintenance of a new 35,000-seat stadium, due to open August 2023. The work will also include necessary infrastructure, including... View full entry
Snøhetta, WCIT, and AECOM have unveiled renderings depicting the team's efforts to re-imagine the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu via the creation of a new master plan for the 22-acre complex. Exterior view of the rehabilitated arena. Image © Snøhetta. A site plan for the project. Image ©... View full entry
After years of protests and legal battles, Hawaii officials announced Thursday that a massive telescope which will allow scientists to peer into the most distant reaches of our early universe will be built on a volcano that some consider sacred.
The state has issued a “notice to proceed” for the Thirty Meter Telescope project, Gov. David Ige said at a news conference. In October, a state Supreme Court’s 4-1 ruling upheld the project’s permits for the $1.4 billion instrument.
— HuffPost
Meanwhile protests continue by a group of native Hawaiians who see the telescope's site on top of Mount Mauna Kea as sacred ground and have been trying for years to block the project at this location. View full entry
Hawaii and Honolulu laws require most new developments to set aside a certain percentage of units as affordable rental housing, but it’s not enough. In five years, Honolulu will still need thousands of additional new units. That has elected officials looking for other solutions to the problem, and some think they’ve found one in Singapore. — Marketplace
The housing proposal put forward by Hawaii State Senator Stanley Chang is called Affordable Locally Owned Homes for All, or ALOHA, and looks to replicate the public housing program of Singapore which has a comparable median household income. Marketplace's Ryan Finnerty reports that the "vast... View full entry
The weather in Hawaii is fickle, always shifting depending on the island, the time of day, and the direction of the trade winds. How to design a building in such a place? One must account for the abundant sunshine, the humidity of the air, the salt of the sea, and the damp layers of maritime fog that settle around the smoky mountain peaks. For Vladimir Ossipoff, whose brand of midcentury modernism would define Hawaiian architecture, the answer lay in simplicity. — Artsy
Though Vladimir Ossipoff may not be a household name in the continental United States, his work has become the stuff of legend in the Aloha State. Producing over 1,000 buildings in Hawaii throughout his 60 year career, Ossipoff championed a style of architecture now described as 'Tropical... View full entry
Not everyone loves cold weather. If you're a skilled architect looking for a warmer place to relocate to check out these architecture firms hiring in sunnier climates. Scroll down and be warmed by our list of future job prospects. Hainan Tongguling Hotel Resort Image © LOD | Laliving & OPR... View full entry
Hawaii's Supreme Court has sided with scientists in a battle to build one of the world's largest telescopes, rejecting efforts by native Hawaiians to block its construction atop what some consider a sacred volcano.
In 2015, a construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, to be built on Mauna Kea, was invalidated amid protests and court appeals, claiming the dormant volcano is sacred land that would be violated in the building process.
— NPR
The embattled TMT astronomical observatory project on Mauna Kea previously in the Archinect news: Hawaii's Thirty Meter Telescope could be moved to the Canary IslandsHawaii protesters block construction of giant telescope on sacred mountain Mauna KeaThe $1.5B 30m telescope (TMT) will be the... View full entry
A real estate developer in Hawaii is under scrutiny for its plans to build a residential high-rise that has two separate entrances: one for high-income residents and another for low-income earners.
[...] will include 78 affordable rental units for people earning 80 percent or less of the area median income, as required by Honolulu’s affordable housing strategy. The other 351 units will be market-priced condominiums. If things go as ProsPac plans, the units will be separated with two entrances.
— huffingtonpost.com
Various examples of so-called "poor doors" in New York City, London, and Vancouver made the headlines in previous years, sparking heated debate across a number of Archinect comment sections. View full entry
In March, Tesla cut the ribbon on this groundbreaking grid-scale battery installation, a key test of the viability of energy storage in making renewable energy a more reliable part of the grid. With 50,000 solar panels and 272 batteries, the combined solar-and-storage plant provides enough energy to power 4,500 homes for four hours.
If Tesla can help keep Kauai solar-powered around the clock with its batteries, then it can apply what it has learned elsewhere in the country, and around the world
— grist.org
In her Longreads/Grist piece, author Amelia Urry explains the changing nature of solar power challenges that off-grid dwellers as well as smaller, geographically isolated microgrids face now that battery storage on an industrial scale is becoming more lucrative. The article tells the story of a... View full entry
The Thirty Meter Telescope’s International Observatory Board decided late last month that if they cannot move forward with building the telescope in Hawaii, they will instead choose La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands...The nonprofit group that’s building the Thirty Meter Telescope began scoping out other sites for the $1.4 billion telescope this fall—including mountains in Chile, India, China, and Mexico... — The Atlantic
Previous news about the TMT:Hawaii protesters block construction of giant telescope on sacred mountain Mauna KeaThe $1.5B 30m telescope (TMT) will be the biggest ever View full entry
Builders pulled back from Mauna Kea as hundreds of protesters set up roadblocks to oppose construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on top of Hawaii’s sacred mountain. State and local police arrested a dozen demonstrators. — RT
"Protesters say they are taking a stand to defend Mauna Kea, sacred to native Hawaiians, from the international conglomerate attempting to build the mega-telescope, also known as the TMT. They say the 18-story building represents an unacceptable desecration of the mountain."The Thirty Meter... View full entry
