Travel - A Trio of Mid-Century Buildings on Kauai
It’s great to have a few architecture places to visit bookmarked so that I can pull them out when J. asks “Where to?” On Kauai, I wanted to visit two places and lucky for us, they were located right across the street from each other in Lihue.
After leaving the two buildings, on our way to McDonald’s, I caught a glimpse of the Lihue public library down the road. I wish we could have stopped there as I later learned it was designed by architect Stephen Oyakawa, whom I’ve blogged about previously. Ah well, that’ll have to wait for a future island visit.
At the end of this post - a bonus beach park find.
ILWU Hall, Kauai, Alfred Preis, 1957
How fun to view another project of Alfred Preis, this time on the island of Kauai. I had previously visited some of the architect’s projects on Oahu. Preis was an Austrian-born American architect best known for designing the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The description below is from an online exhibition of his work: The Honolulu ILWU was the first of several ILWU halls planned for the islands; two more halls would be completed 1957 on Kauai and in Hilo on Hawai‘i island in 1962. Both later ILWU buildings therefore sought to incorporate formal elements from the different cultures of the islands.
Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Clifford Young 1964
The Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall was such a fun building to photograph! I particularly liked the rain “glide” (on right-hand side as you face it). The center was designed by architect Clifford Young and opened in 1964.
Signage out front on the lawn provided information about the building:
This unique building, conceived decades earlier, reflects the enthusiasm of the 1960s when it was constructed and opened, a symbol of the converging forces of statehood and modern architecture.
With enthusiasm for its use, so too came a desire for a new architectural style rejecting the colonial architecture of the past, so prevalent in Lihure's older public buildings. Honolulu architect Clittord F. Young was selected to create a bold architectural statement.
The exterior's billowing tent-like roof, moss rock columns, and exposed aggregate facades create a contemporary architectural style still linked to Hawal'l's natural materials. On the interior, the use of arching glue-laminated beams creates a voluminous, unobstructed auditorium, the first use of such a structural system In Hawal'l.
Other notable projects by Young include spiritual spaces on Oahu (United Church of Christ (1955), Kuan Yin Temple and Pearl Harbor Memorial Chapel) and his work in association with I. M. Pei on the East-West Center.
Picnic Pavilion at Lydegate Park
This was a serendipitous find at the beach park stop our driver added to our on-the-fly tour. He wanted to show us a popular beach that locals and tourists liked for the sheltered waters where you can snorkel. While that was nice to see, I was drawn to the work of architecture that was the picnic pavilion. One-of-a-kind structures like this abound in Hawaii beach parks. Not surprisingly, I was quite taken by its style, with the dramatic roofline, weighty support columns. The lava rock wall and tree are nice touches separating the view from the parking lot.
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