Isle native,
daughter put Signature
on Dole movie-
theater complex
The two architects incorporated
Hawaii themes in designing
the 18-screen facilityConsult our movie showings database
By Peter Wagner
Star-BulletinHe's just a local boy from the pineapple fields of Wahiawa. But four decades after leaving Hawaii for a career in San Francisco, architect Daniel Uesugi is leaving his mark on the old Dole Cannery in Iwilei.
Uesugi yesterday was at a reception at the newly completed Signature's Dole Cannery 18, the biggest multiscreen theater complex in the state and the latest of nearly a dozen Signature theaters he's designed.
"Mr. Dole started his plantation in Wahiawa," said Uesugi, 64, at a reception yesterday before today's grand opening of the multiplex. "Now it's come full circle with me working on one of his buildings."
The 4,000-seat multiplex, carved out of the venerable cannery, features large curved screens, unobstructed stadium seats and a "THX" sound system designed for today's debut of "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace."
The sound system, unique to the theater, was designed by Star Wars director George Lucas for his new film. And there shouldn't be a bad seat in the house.
"These are what they call stadium houses where each row is basically a platform so everybody has a real good sight line," Uesugi said.
Uesugi & Associates has designed about 10 Signature complexes in Northern California and at Pearl Highlands on Oahu.
The new multiplex at Iwilei, however, bears his 40-year-old daughter Erin's touch.
"She basically came up with the interior design concepts," Uesugi said. "We tried to bring a little bit of Hawaii into the building."
Support columns that couldn't be moved were turned into palm trees. Traditional Hawaiian quilt patterns are backlit on walls. And koa wood was used extensively in the $10 million project.
The 80,000 square-foot multiplex's 18 theaters range from small auditoriums of 140 to 185 seats to larger ones with up to 400 seats. Larger screens measure about 50 feet wide by 25 feet high, Uesugi said.
Signature's multiplex at Pearl Highlands offers 12 screens in 50,000 square feet.
The largest multiplexes now being built in California include up to 25 screens, he said.
Uesugi's Signature creations also includes the Jack London Cinema at Jack London Square in Oakland, Calif.
Raised in Wahiawa, Uesugi went to Leileihua High School and the University of Hawaii. He finished his studies at the University of California at Berkeley and stayed. But Uesugi has been a regular visitor to his old home, designing about a dozen retail stores on Oahu and the Big Island, including the Pearl Highlands Shopping Center.
