When history informs design: updating wartime building advances for island life today.
Learning from WWII era predecessors, this hangar was designed for the contexts of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai and attempts to re-activate advances in building technology from an era in which the islands played a pivotal, and strategic role in American success.
The combination of the side loaded floor plan and a bi-directional rolling door with inset divided light windows call back the “two-tower” front elevation familiar in WWII. An internal steel skeleton helps a wood-framed lamella roof structure form a partial Quonset Hut roof, tempering the perceived height of the building.
The use of divided light windows throughout the structure are strategically paired with the primary structural steel skeleton to introduce natural light, compliment era materials and texture, frame strategic views – all-the-while without compromising privacy, and over-exposing the building’s contents.
For a more contemporary problem, the building will use operable bi-fold shutters to help shade and protect the vast apertures, then close the building during periods of off-use.
As we face contemporary building challenges—from climate resilience to material efficiency—perhaps the most innovative solutions aren’t always found by looking forward, but by asking what previous generations invented, tested under pressure, and are simply waiting to be understood and adapted with fresh purpose.