Chinatown Urban Acupuncture

HPR-Is Honolulu Beautiful? Why Not?

With the help of Enterprise Honolulu, the City and County of Honolulu, Dean Sakamoto, and the 2015 SHADE summer interns, Hawaii Public Radio (HPR) welcomed SHADE to introduce the Chinatown Urban Acupuncture (CUA) project.  Downtown Honolulu is ever expanding, and with the introduction to the rail, it is important to understand how the community will adapt to the changes, and make this place not only more beautiful, but also inhabitable for the many different types of demographics as well.

Currently, the CUA project is on display at the Honolulu Hale Courtyard until March 10, 2016.

To read the full article and listen to the audio recording published to HPR's website click the link below:

 http://hawaiipublicradio.org/post/honolulu-beautiful-why-not

HPR-2: The Conversation

“Walk through Honolulu’s Chinatown and the clashes of building styles and ways of life quickly come into view. Chinatown’s community came together last month for the Chinatown Action Summit. Since then, an organization that goes by the acronym SHADE - that stands for Sustainable Humanitarian Architecture Design for the Earth- has offered workshops to follow up on City-sponsored Summit. Part of the makeover mix includes an urban planning and design technique- that’s part of movement in other cities. SHADE founder and architect Dean Sakamoto is here to school us in Urban Acupuncture.”
— HPR-2

Chinatown Urban Acupuncture: Strategic Planning and Tactical Design Recap

Council member Carol Fukunaga welcomed Chinatown Stakeholders to kick-off the second community design workshop at Hawaii Heritage Center. SHADE Interns presented their Strategic Vision Plan Concepts and Tactical Design Projects which stimulated much discussion. Nearly all Stakeholders expressed their views and give advice on the future development of Chinatown. Many stressed the need to increase economic growth through small business development. Dr. Anil Mehta of Kawa Mamua, a cutting-edge oral history software and his colleague Dr. Kealani Cook of UH West Oahu spoke of the importance of understanding the past as we move forward with planning. Pono Shim, of Enterprise Honolulu, thanked the Interns for their hard work and contribution to Chinatown. The next step is for SHADE Interns to consolidate the visions and project ideas in response to oral and written feedback from the Stakeholders.

Chinatown Urban Acupuncture: Assessing Chinatown Recap

Thank you for all the participants and support from the community.

SHADE Interns shared their Chinatown documentation and analysis with a group of stakeholders at this workshop. Residents, members of neighborhood organizations, city government, land and business owners attended. Poet Wing Tek Lum opened the event with a reading of his poignant piece “The Butcher.” The Interns unveiled the large Chinatown architectural model upon which workshop participants applied their own “urban acupuncture” using color coded needles.