Dean 104 History & Design

Place Matters

The history of Mānoa Valley has been one of agriculture and farming. In images from earlier times, the valley viewed from above appears as a patchwork of the various farm lots. This patchwork is captured on the floor design with the three carpets blending to each other. It was through the historic lens of place rather than of the building’s namesake, that the architect looked for inspiration for design.

At this summit of the road the whole valley opens out to view, the extensive flat area set out in taro, looking like a huge checker-board, with its symmetrical emerald squares in the middle ground, surrounded by pasture fields on the slopes at the base of the guarding hills. Here and there ‘mid sheltering trees, humble dwellings dot the scene around, while up the rugged slopes the almost endless shades of green, with black worn seams of rock oft times lightened up by “silvery thread of torrent,” forms the back ground to one of the most charming pictures, either in the clear sunlight, heightened as it often is by cloud shadows chasing rifts of sunshine down the mountain sides; or as frequently, may be, to watch the drifting mist or rain sweep down one side of the valley, while the other basked in the sun, throwing over its weeping neighbor a “bow of promise” so radiant and bright that its double, or even triple, reflection is no rarity.

Thomas G. Thrum
Thrum’s Hawaiian Almanac & Annual for 1892

The original alignment of Mānoa Stream passed directly through modern day UH Manoa campus, some of it where Sakamaki Hall is today. That alignment is shown along the light blue dots and is captured in the ceiling/baffle design. The yellow baffles evoke the flow of the historic Mānoa Stream with the large yellow pendant light representing the University campus as a whole.

The light baffles are strategically placed to reinforce the story of Mānoa Stream, but also attenuate sound within the space for better speech intelligibility. With generous windows but minimal wall space, it was essential that the ceiling become the high-performance acoustical surface.

The feature wall has a vertical wood grille finish that symbolizes the forests of Mānoa Valley literally with vertical elements representing tree trunks and with wood finishing representing the various tree species within the valley. Centered inside the feature wall is an interactive screen providing the space with more options for audio visual instructional technology.

Continue reading: Dean 104 Culture Lab Features