Interisland Terminal presents Competition for New Community Architecture

Emerging-career architects in Hawaii have relatively few prospects to see their own work complete the process of design-to-build.  The current economic downturn further exasperates this lack of opportunity, creating even more uncertainty around the question, “How will Hawaii’s next generation of architects shape our community’s built environment and contribute to creating a robust, local civic life?”

Today, 50 years since Statehood, Interisland Terminal endeavors to (re)build an architecture and design vernacular in Hawaii that is truly civic and that will draw renewed attention to emerging local talent working in architecture and design.  We will do so by launching an annual Competition for New Community Architecture to create new opportunities for the community to determine its own architectural landscape, and support the skilled, local architectural talent who will shape our built-environment through the next 50 years.

The Competition’s purpose is three-fold:

• Support and highlight the work of emerging-career architects in Hawaii
• Create challenging opportunities to design and build new work from start-to-finish
• Raise awareness of contemporary architecture and its potential to uplift our civic landscape and improve our day-to-day lives

The Competition will launch in January 2010 and be open to early- to mid-career architects (including students) practicing in Hawaii to submit designs according to the Competition Briefing, which addresses an organizational challenge faced by the Competition “Client,” Ballet Hawaii.  Registration for the Competition can be found here.  Specifically, the Competition challenges Hawaii architects to design and build a transportable merchandising and information kiosk that Ballet Hawaii can use at its various performance venues to help promote its unique programs and facilitate merchandise sales that support the organization.

A jury of local and national leaders in architecture will select a winner in April 2010:

• Amy Anderson, Associate Professor, University of Hawaii School of Architecture
• A. Kam Napier, Editor, Honolulu Magazine
• Marion Philpotts, Board Member, Ballet Hawaii, Senior Designer, Philpotts and Associates
• Jennifer Siegal, Founder and Principal, Office of Mobile Design (OMD) (Los Angeles)

Guest Juror Jennifer Siegal, will also be giving a talk at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture on April 8, 2010. Siegal is known for her work in creating the mobile home of the twentieth century. She is founder and principal of the Los Angeles’ based firm Office of Mobile Design, which is dedicated to the design and construction of modern, sustainable and precision-built structures.

The winning design will be refined, built and put into use in August 2010 to coincide with the opening of Ballet Hawaii’s fall season.

The expected short-term impacts of the Competition are:

• Renewed confidence and vigor from emerging-career local architects
• Growth in ticket sales and a diversified audience at Ballet Hawaii
• Heightened public awareness and participation in partner organizations

Sponsoring Organizations

• Atherton Family Foundation
• Colliers Monroe Friedlander
• Hawaii Architectural Foundation
• HonBlue
• Hotel Renew
• LEF Foundation
• Pacific Development Group
• University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Architecture

Interisland Terminal is proud to present MOVING HISTORIES: TYPE IN MOTION, a ground-breaking Flash animation online exhibit depicting pivotal and dramatic moments in world history by graphic design students at the Department of Art & Art History, University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM). Visually and conceptually adventurous, the seven works by seven emerging designers explore complex, sometimes tragic, events in history from Hiroshima to 9/11. The online exhibit will be available to view starting on December 9, 2009 at www.interislandterminal.org.

All of the works included in the exhibition originated as projects in a UHM Digital Design Course taught by Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Chae Ho Lee. The designers were asked to interpret a historical event using Flash, a multimedia platform which adds vector and raster based graphic animations and interactivity to web pages. The resulting work, an exercise in new perspectives and creative vision, challenges how one sees these moments in time and in some cases broadens our understanding of them. “The designers were asked to use only text and a limited palette of colors in their designs. The important role and creative potential of typography in an online project should never be ignored. These projects are to be read and experienced,” says Chae Ho Lee.

Another unique element of the online exhibit will be the inclusion of one public submission to the gallery. One section of the exhibit will be devoted to outlining the design problem and providing resources for members of the public to create an animation in Flash and submit it for consideration. Interisland Terminal, using community feedback, will select the design that demonstrates the best combination of historical explanation, innovated design, and clear communication. The creator if the selected design will be awarded a copy of the Flash software package sponsored by Adobe. Interisland Terminal hopes to receive submissions from both experienced Flash designers and novices. Wei Fang, Interisland Terminal’s curator of Contemporary Art and Design comments, “The relationship between Interisland Terminal and UH’s Dept of Art and Art History represented by this exhibition is almost as exciting as the works in the exhibition itself. We are working together to develop a dynamic pipeline of opportunities for young, emerging artists and designers in our community.”

FEATURED DESIGNERS: John Cruz, Daniel Park, Angelica Rabang, Michelle Saoit, Aki Takebayashi, Jimmy Tran, Hiromi Zimmerman

Interisland Terminal presents RVDV:HI Drawings by Rinus Van de Velde – Opening Night from Interisland Terminal on Vimeo.

Video by Henry Mochida

Rinus Van de Velde from Interisland Terminal on Vimeo.

Video by Henry Mochida