3470 WAIALAE
YEAR: 2015 LOCATION: HONOLULU, HI
3470 Waialae is our first urban infill project located on the emerging Waialae Avenue. Since the new building would sit behind two older street front buildings, portals and contemporary elements from the new structure were incorporated into the older buildings, allowing it to peek through and generate interest from the street as to what lies beyond.
3470 WAIALAE
©2016 Photos by David Franzen
It was important that the new building did not over crowd the lot but instead provide a modest scale coupled with landscaping and open areas. The new covered parking at grade provided a plinth for the new building to sit on with a two story vertical circulation tower which provides a connection to grade below. Both office entry objects are clad with cedar T&G to define each entry while contrasting the simple large form of the main building. Although the cedar boxes appear to be façade treatments, when one enters the respective offices, they realize these cedar faces continue into the interior space creating a 3D lobby.
The overall massing for the project consists of a grouping of varying sized forms in an effort to be playful with the overall gestalt but also appropriate in human scale. When one walks about the new structure, the every changing juxtaposition of forms creates interesting figure ground profiles and shapes. We utilized material selections to both define certain elements and establish hierarchy within the complex. We also wanted to bring nature into the complex with the cedar siding and landscaping. These biophelic principals of nature integration make the spaces both interior and exterior very healthy work environments.