{"id":131448,"date":"2020-12-02T09:30:39","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T19:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=131448"},"modified":"2021-03-31T17:05:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T03:05:36","slug":"micro-architecture-lawn-loungers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2020\/12\/02\/micro-architecture-lawn-loungers\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro-architecture ‘Lawn Loungers’ win award, engage community"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has an urgent need for walkable, sustainable and equitable housing that can improve the lives of local communities. In a collaborative design between the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Design Center<\/a> and Hawaii Public Housing Authority<\/a> (HPHA<\/abbr>), a micro-architecture called “Lawn Loungers” received a Honolulu Design Award, in the institutional category from the American Institute of Architects (AIA<\/abbr>) Honolulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project was led by Karla Sierralta<\/strong>, an assistant professor in the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa School of Architecture<\/a>, Brian Strawn<\/strong>, a senior research associate in the UH<\/abbr> Community Design Center, and included nine student research assistants and two post-graduate staff.<\/p>\n

Lawn Loungers are part of the “Future of Â鶹´«Ã½’s<\/span> Housing” research project, developed in partnership with HPHA<\/abbr>. Lawn Loungers are portable spaces for community engagement that can travel around the island, inviting the community to participate in the design process of future housing on Oʻahu.<\/span> <\/p>\n

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(Photo credit: Tom Takata)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
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(Photo credit: Tom Takata)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

“This project is an example of a successful collaboration between public agencies on public interest design through the UH<\/abbr> Community Design Center,” said Sierralta. “It demonstrates to students and recent grads that working on real-world problems, oriented toward the needs of government agencies, can achieve design excellence.”<\/p>\n

Source of inspiration<\/h2>\n

This project was inspired by the everyday lawn chair. Like lawn chairs, these micro-architectures are familiar, approachable, humble, playful, welcoming and comfortable. The assembled sets are double-sided and provide a space for talking story on one side and a space for posters and community engagement tools on the other. The Lawn Loungers were fabricated at the School of Architecture 3D Fabrication Lab with the help of Steve Hill<\/strong>, 3D lab director.<\/p>\n

“The jurors said this project is a simple and considerate urban intervention, small in scale but large in idea, to encourage the engagement of the public on larger community issues,” said Strawn.<\/p>\n

Community collaboration<\/h2>\n

The project is one of several components of a community engagement toolkit designed to travel into neighborhoods and form pop-up spaces where residents can come together to share their ideas about future housing. The toolkit also includes three other interactive tools, a digital app that allows citizens to design their ideal neighborhoods in real-time and two card games that ask the community what aspects are most important to them.<\/p>\n

The UH<\/abbr> Community Design Center team worked in close collaboration with HPHA<\/abbr> Executive Director Hakim Ouansafi and his team of experts.<\/p>\n

“The community-centered approach that the UH<\/abbr> Community Design Center is bringing to the project is allowing us to speak more directly with future residents across Â鶹´«Ã½,<\/span>” said Ouansafi. “This is especially important for new mixed-use, mixed-income developments along the rail which will potentially include affordable, market rate, and public housing units alongside retail and civic spaces. The expertise across the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> provides us with multiple lenses for looking at one of the most complex issues facing us in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> today.”<\/p>\n

More information about the toolkit can be found online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–By Sarah Hendrix<\/em><\/p>\n

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(Photo credit: Tom Takata)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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