This project presented the design team with several unique challenges: how to comply with the Hawaii State Capitol Civic Center Master Plan while still creating a healing environment, how to allow for efficient vehicular circulation while also protecting the existing trees, and within the context of these other factors, how to create a Hawaiian sense of place.
The design concept arrived upon as a solution to these challenges for the Front Lot was to create a serene, healing, private garden, that could still function as an integral part of the Capitol District as a whole.
The main feature of the landscaping is a "lei" that embraces the campus - a curvilinear 2-foot high berm planted with Dwarf Laua'e Fern and Golden Glory that begins along Beretania Street, wraps around the Queen's Conference Center and weaves its way mauka. The lei screens the vehicular traffic and thereby reduces one's perception of the noise, while still allowing borrowed views into the campus of the majestic trees.
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Location: Honolulu, Hawai`i
Client: Queen's Medical Center
Cost: $600,000
Scale: 1.4 acre
Year: 2003
Awards: *A.S.L.A. Hawai’i Chapter Award of Excellence
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