Overview
On July 26, SHADE Institute hosted a community design workshop to present the adaptive reuse designs for the Queen Emma Tower, collect community feedback regarding the concepts, and share to possible design concepts for the facade treatment and ground floor commercial space. The workshop was held at SHADE Institute's downtown CityLab at 850 Richards Street. Refreshments were generously provided by SHADE and the Royal Kitchen at Chinatown Cultural Plaza.
This workshop had four primary goals:
● Understanding the concerns surrounding affordable housing shortage in Hawai’i and
what affordable housing means and how it works
● Share information regarding the design features and development of the Queen Emma
Towers, shared by the architect from Design Partners Incorporated
● Share the history and urban context study for the Queen Emma tower
● Present the possible design concepts for the Queen Emma Tower and engage with the
community members to get their feedback for those concepts.
The workshop had the SHADE fellows give an informal presentation about the Queen Emma Tower project. It started with a discussion around what is affordable housing and why is it necessary in Hawaii. The attendees were introduced to the design and floor plans developed and presented by Design Partners Incorporated. The format of the workshop was very informal, allowing participants to continuously ask questions and provide feedback when desired. As a public interest planning and design firm, the fellows presented the urban context study maps as well as the historical information surrounding Queen Emma building. The historical and contextual study was used for informing the design concepts for Queen Emma Tower project.The concepts included the color art concept and sustainable design concept, which was shared with the community with the help of a model.