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The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is a fine but lesser known work by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. When the building received an AIA Honor Award in 1967, the jury noted its “restrained detailing and fine spatial sequences.” The hotel is currently closed because of damage sustained during a recent earthquake.
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Comments (5)
Take the few minutes to Google a picture will ya?
Posted by Olive Thomas | February 10, 2007 8:03 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:03
There are many lovely hotels on
the Islands, notably the Royal Hawaiian of about 1927, still in service
but marred by the collosal additions behind it. I would nominate the
Hilton Hawaian at Turtle Bay, an isolated small hotel in an elegant
surround, perched on a small cliff between two beaches. The Honolulu
City Hall, which I think might have been designed by I.M.Pei, is an
absolutely stunning modern work. I would also nominate the Punchbowl
Cemetary honoring those who served in the great Pacific War of 1941-45
as one of the most beautiful settings for a cemetary in the entire
world. I also recall that Lawrence Rockefeller poured a huge amount of
money and artistic savvy into a Hawaiian resort but I'm not sure where
it is.
Posted by Ronald | February 15, 2007 2:20 PM
Posted on February 15, 2007 14:20
I'm just glad ANYTHING Hawai'ian made the list. I would agree that Honolulu City Hall is very beautiful, as well as the Arizona Memorial. I haven't been to the Punchbowl (been by it though) but I am sure that it is gorgeous
Posted by Jenny | March 14, 2007 1:26 PM
Posted on March 14, 2007 13:26
The grand staircase of the main building, with the Buddha statue at the top, framed by the sky and garden, is just spectacular. The atrium and entrance lobby, which offers arriving guests welcoming views of the blue ocean below, are both stunning. Whenever I am in this building I am always thrilled by its beauty. The Mauna Kea has a sense of place, fitting in perfectly with its environment.
Posted by Prof. | March 16, 2007 4:49 AM
Posted on March 16, 2007 04:49
More than any other building in Hawaii, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel deserves the recognition this award bestows. Its innovative design changed resort hotel architecture forever. Its modernist simplicity proved that amid Hawaii's natural riches, less is definitely more. One quibble: the addition of the eight floor in 1972 forever destroyed the orginal design's sublime silhouette, which, floating above the kiawe scrub of the Kohala Coast, had been a genuine LAND MARK in landscape, as primal and inspiring as the Puu Kohola heiau nearby. Anyway, let's hope the engineers can fix the earthquake damage (much of it, I hear, hidden) and the hotel reopens, good as new in Spring '08.
Posted by Silversword | March 23, 2007 6:19 PM
Posted on March 23, 2007 18:19