The security guards ride bicycles, the maintenance crew haul plastic carts behind tricycles, it's a facility with a Hawaiian sense of place into which we locals have to have a pretty good reason to even get inside of after tomorrow. The new Hawaii Convention Center that is open to the public now through tomorrow is big and awesome, and is saved from looking like a hybrid of the Denver Airport and the downtown First Hawaiian Bank building by its art and its landscaping. Plants enhance sense of place
Landscapers worked on a grand scale
for the new convention centerThe landscaping was designed by Walters, Kimura, Motada, Inc. under the supervision of Irvin Higashi. "The objective of our landscape design was to enhance the Hawaiian sense of place expressed in the architecture," Higashi said, and they succeeded.
The lobby, with its 80-foot high glass ceiling, contains fully grown coconut palms as tall as 40 feet that are installed in 5-foot-deep planters. A waterfall drops 70 feet from the level above.
"Coconut trees were shipped in from Kapoho on the Big Island, where they were growing on the lava. We didn't want any spike marks on the trunk (from tree trimmers using spikes to climb when removing the nuts) and the maintenance crew will use climbing gear to keep the trunks clean," Higashi said.
Higashi's landscaping tour last week began at the Roof Garden Terrace outside of the ballroom. "We chose, as much as possible, plants that are fragrant in the evening, which is when this area will be used most," he said.
The makai side is densely planted to provide visual screening and sound reduction for nearby apartment buildings, he said.
The half-acre terrace is planted with tiare, plumeria and pakalana for fragrance. Akia, Hawaiian cotton, ilima, ko and kukui trees are planted among such introduced plants as hybrid hibiscus, ginger and heliconia. Papaya and breadfruit trees give the visitor an idea of what these exotic trees look like.
"Everything is planted in soil within planter boxes," Higashi said. "We use a special light mix of black cinders, an organic soil amendment, screened topsoil and fertilizer. There is an extensive drainage system so that the excess water containing fertilizers goes back into leaching fields of soil around the center and not into the storm drains."Trellises are covered with hau to provide late afternoon shade and some protection against rain.
The landscapers made wide use of the clerodendron called the pagoda flower. "It flowers year around and it gives good color," Higashi said. It isn't seen often in local gardens possibly because of its brilliant scarlet color, but it makes an interesting specimen plant in a smaller setting. When you're thinking big as the landscapers were, huge splashes of color amid green foliage are necessary.
"Before we finally decided on the planting, we took light meters around the center to determine the level of light in each area. Then we made sure that what we planted was appropriate to the amount of light it would receive," he said. All of the planting is watered automatically by an irrigation system, and everything appears to be thriving.
The landscaping and irrigation was installed and is now maintained by Takano Nakamura Landscaping with Tracy Katoku as supervisor. "We installed all mature plants," Katoku said, "because we wanted an immediate effect. We didn't want to have to say, 'Wait until you see it when it's full grown.' "
The obvious exception, he pointed out, is the planting of hau or bougainvillea on trellises and the vines which will eventually cascade over some of the interior walls. These simply have to grow on their own.
The meeting level is brightened by garden courtyards. One borrows from the Asian Courtyard at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, with a similar fountain and planting, and children's art from local schools installed on one of the walls. The other courtyard features frescoes by the late Jean Charlot.
The Grand Concourse, a classy name for a very long hallway, has more coconut palms plus ginger, heliconia and flowering banana. The planting successfully softens the necessarily institutional corridor-look of the halls between the dozens of meeting rooms.
Hiyashi's firm also landscaped the exterior of the building. He explained that the line of monkeypod trees interspersed with coconut palms is the primary planting along Atkinson Drive and Kapiolani Boulevard. "The trees have the height and mass to provide an appropriate scale for the building beyond," he said.
Along the Ala Wai canal is an avenue of protected banyans that are on the state's list of exceptional trees. They tend to block the view of the canal from the grassy steps that are intended for a sitting area. Entertainment barges on the canal can bring entertainment for special events, such as the free water pageant tonight Make sure you can see the water between the banyans when you choose your seat.
If you miss out on this weekend's open house, there will be other tours this summer. But otherwise, the center is not meant to spread aloha close to home. It is not intended for local uses such as high school reunions or family parties. The center management suggests the Blaisdell Center or hotel facilities instead.
Convention Center gala
Today: Water Pageant on the Ala Wai, 6:30 to 8 p.m., free.
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Send queries along with name and phone number to:
Evergreen by Lois Taylor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com.
Please be sure to include a phone number.
Evergreen by Lois Taylor is a regular Friday feature of the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. © 1998 All rights reserved.
