Feb 4, 2014, 2:19pm HST
Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News
Kamehameha Schools and Interisland Terminal, a Honolulu-based collective that presents international exhibitions and programs in contemporary art, design and film, unveiled plans on Tuesday for the “Kakaako Agora,” a public space in the Honolulu neighborhood designed by famous Tokyo-based architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow.
Kakaako Agora, which is scheduled to be completed in early June, has a scheduled public hearing set for Wednesday with the Hawaii Community Development Authority.
Located inside a 3,225-square-foot warehouse on Cooke Street, the project includes transforming the vacant space into a free, open to the public, community gathering spot with a mezzanine level that will add 687 square feet to the space.
Landowner Kamehameha Schools and Interisland Terminal said they will work together to seek out creative partnerships that ensure the space is being utilized to its full potential.
“We are extremely excited that the founders of Atelier Bow-Wow will be bringing their unique architectural approach to Our Kakaako,” Kamehameha Schools Senior Asset Manager Christian O’Connor said in a statement. “Creating an engaging public space for Our Kakaako will generate opportunities for people to collaborate and to continue to foster creativity within the community.”
Founded in 1992 by architects Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima, Atelier Bow-Wow has designed and built houses, public and commercial buildings as well as innovative public spaces around the globe.
The married couple is best known for their idiosyncratic yet functional residential projects in dense urban environments and coined the term “pet architecture” to describe the odd but functional little buildings wedged into tiny sites around Tokyo.
“Through our relationship with Interisland Terminal, the Kakaako Agora project will able to show an alternative way to create a public space in an industrial area,” Tsukamoto said in a statement. “Gradually, small visions and conversations are turning into real projects and real buildings. It is also exciting that this is an opportunity to take traditional architectural work in a whole new direction.”
Atelier Bow-Wow will be working with several local organizations on the project, including Collab Studios, Sunworks Construction, Heavy Metal Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii School of Architecture.