weaving dryland forests in the grasslands of the ʻEwa Plain

Honouliuli Middle School

ʻEwa, Oʻahu · Educational · Built 2024

Working with Ferraro Choi, Studio Kīpuka designed the landscape for Honouliuli Middle School as a site-specific response to the ʻEwa Plain, a hot, dry bioregion that receives less than 20 inches of rain a year. Rather than replacing the existing landscape, the design builds on it, weaving dryland native plantings into the naturalized grasses already thriving across the ʻEwa Plain for a campus that is resilient, affordable, and maintainable. The landscape functions as the campus's green infrastructure: bioswales, rain gardens, and retention basins along the low edge of the site capture, filter, and recharge stormwater from new paved and built surfaces, maintaining the site's natural drainage pattern. Turf is limited to where it is truly needed, on play fields and gathering spaces, while entry courts, a campus commons, grade-level house courts, and outdoor classrooms create flexible places for 21st-century learning. Honouliuli Middle School is the first CHPS-verified campus in Hawaiʻi.

CERTIFICATIONS, AWARDS, AND RECOGNITIONS

HI-CHPS Verfied Campus
2024 Hawaii ASLA Honor Award
2020 AIA Honolulu Award of Excellence
The Hawaii Energy Award for Excellence in Energy-Efficient Design