Architecture Studio III - RESILIENT FUTURES OF KAKA’AKO (2021)

The design of physical facilities and the supporting infrastructures is a very definite commitment to a future to which we hope to arrive yet with no certainty as to what it actually will be. Morphological attributes and the stratification of daily life within a city through time unleash various future scenarios of urban situations. This time stretched density leads us to investigate not just the current form of the city but the essential evolution of urban structure. Because of the time and resources involved in this endeavor, we need to perform an extensive examination of a given area in order to find various driving forces, which guide the evolution of the area. With identifying the driving forces, a desired future setting of the given area is delineated. An evolutionary urban trigger is developed as a design proposal to initiate and maximize the evolution of the area to the desired. The contextual location of the trigger, the functional program of the trigger, the structural & environmental system of the trigger, the investment value of the trigger, and the aesthetic property of the trigger become critical for the success of the evolution. Furthermore, the adaptation of the evolutionary trigger into existing codes and regulations is instrumental for its realization in the present time frame.

Arch 742 Architecture Studio III has Kakaako area in the present time as its target area. Students are expected to make their design proposal of the evolutionary urban trigger according to their preferred future setting of the area with incorporating the driving forces. The studio sequence consists of the following components. The percentage in the brackets per each phase represents its weight on the overall grade.

Selected Student Works:

Fall 2021 - Team PA'AKAI: Chad Bolte, Kaylen Daquioug, Hunter WElls, Kaimana Tuazon
Team K2M2: Micah Axalan, Kayci Kumashiro, Matthew Lawson, Kendal Leonard