A student team in Professor David Rockwood’s Fall 2018 ARCH 744 Comprehensive Design Studio comprised of Keilii Kapalli, Mitchell Moses, and Jonathan Quach received an AIA Honolulu Student Design Award and a People’s Choice Award for the Student Category for their project “616 Mokauea: Mountain, Valley, and Village”. The project was designed for a site adjacent to the Kalihi HART transit station, providing affordable housing that integrated to the natural and urban environment, providing human comfort through passive systems and places for social gathering. Dwellings are situated to accommodate different uses, and to maximize natural ventilation and self-shading. The intent is to bring users out to the edge and frame the Kalihi valley.

Three driving principles influence the design: 1) Optimize ecological health by designing with nature, 2) Foster socio-cultural value by enhancing users’ experiences, and 3) Design with equity by celebrating diversity. These village dwellings frame a generous mixed-use district housing and a cluster of commercial and retail endeavors. The 112 affordable unit complex incorporate the site’s historical significance of water while integrating industrial cues of present-day Kalihi—bridging the past and present into one.

Each unit is naturally lit, ventilated, and shaded. The building’s skin consists of two layers: 1) adjustable vertical sliding louver screens, and 2) sliding doors and operable jalousie windows. The two facade layers tune the light, heat, and wind, and users’ comfort can be adjusted by manipulating these elements. During the day, ‘Stacked lanais’ shade indoor and outdoor spaces, minimizing direct solar exposure. The building orientation enables self-shading and creates optimal wind flows from one tower to the other. In tandem, passive ventilation and daylighting reduce the energy demands throughout the building.