Editor's Choice: A Hawaii Home

Hawaii Home + Remodeling is proud to once again present its Editor’s Choice Award, as part of the annual BIA Renaissance Building & Remodeling competition. Our choice, taken from the 2007 Residential Remodeling category, is this Maui residence submitted by Arquitectura LLC.

The home is spacious and luxurious, but not just another McMansion. In truth, this home is unique from the moment you drive up. Towering ohia trunks frame the structure, each one encased in a base of lava rock. Three-foot-long ironwood shingles fan out across the roofline. A massive monkeypod tree—not the house—is the property’s centerpiece; its 100-foot canopy is mirrored below by the circular driveway separating the main house from the ohana guesthouse.

To start, “the owners were really fixated on an ironwood-shingled roof,” says Marc Taron, AIA. He had envisioned creating this type of residence for years, but also welcomed the process of discovery. “One of the driving forces here at Arquitectura is to incorporate an element of fun into all our designs,” he says. “So, to that ironwood we added the ohia poles, utilized cross-ventilation in every part of the house to open it up to the prevailing winds, and made the site walls from lava rock.”

His clients initially got a “really good price” on the ohia, but chose to go with a different, more expensive supplier who replants the trees, rather than just cutting them down. “They spent triple the original amount for the more eco-friendly system—which I felt was pretty cool on their part,” Taron says.

Earthy materials weave together, minus the high-tech gadgetry, to create a subtle, minimalist and uniquely Hawaiian feeling.

The natural, uneven shape of the ohia trees created a challenge: figuring out how to get them plumb vertical, how to actually use them as the supporting structure. “The contractor, Stephen King, of Stephen King Construction, managed to do a great job,” Taron says. “He really impressed me, how he molded the drywall, the stucco, copper, stone, really everything around those ohia. When you see all that meticulous attention to detail, you can tell King really loves what he does.”

Taron had fun with some other challenges. Maui County, for one thing, was juggling with where to set the shoreline setback of the oceanfront lot; the homeowners’ solution was to buy the adjoining mauka-side lot. This not only allowed Taron, at the owners’ directive, to save the monkeypod tree, it also afforded an opportunity to add the circular drive and ohana guesthouse. Most satisfying, Taron and landscaper Chris Curtis, of Chris Curtis Landscapes, were free to utilize the existing topography.

Ohia poles on the perimeter and in the foyer reinforce the home’s indoor-outdoor connection.

“The owners wanted Bali-type landscaping,” Curtis says. “So, I created a transition between the hardscape, the landscape and the water. This created a Balinese feeling and texture. I’m proud of the way it turned out.”

The interior’s main level is an open-floor plan, with views and access to the ocean and pool. Upstairs, the master and kids’ bedrooms also open up to the ocean but, of course, are more private. Throughout the interior, Taron says, the materials used are “very earthy: Imperial plaster, bamboo weaves in the ceiling, hand-carved doors from Bali. They create a very subtle feeling, very minimalist and powerful.”

Another effect, more typically Hawaiian, was achieved by strategically placing additional ohia in the interior and foyer. “As you walk through the front door, you pass by ohia poles on the front porch to more poles inside. Then, you look out toward the ocean through those same poles. This really strengthens the indoor-outdoor connection that we felt was already present. It erases any sense of division,” Taron says.

He applied the same logic to a bridge that connects two portions of the house. “We widened it by a couple of feet, made it into a library. The ocean-facing wall is all windows. They catch the wind and really open up the library.”

Taron gives kudos to the owners, who approached him with great ideas and were very active in the design of the project. For example, the extensive use of copper on all the fascia on the lanai, the window sills, the garage doors, the entry gate—all came from the owners, who believe copper sills blend very nicely with stucco.

Just seeing this home being built and the reality exceeding all of their expectations are twin satisfactions that Taron says he owes to the contractor. “Stephen King did a superb job. A lesser contractor would not have done all the details,” he says. “And the interior designer came up with a lot of great ideas.”

Despite an openness to ocean views and trade winds, the second-floor bedrooms are private and tranquil.

Taron also credits the role of natural materials. Though he planned the home to have a welcoming floor plan and design, it was the combination of the copper cladding with the ohia, the ironwood-shingle roof, mahogany stains, even the monkeypod tree that “really help give that soothing, calming effect,” he says. “You’re not looking at high-tech gadgetry everywhere. It feels like Hawaii.”

Which explains a big reason why Taron entered the home in the BIA Renaissance competition. “I felt the house was unique, and embodied what the Hawaiian style could be, or should be,” he says.

“I feel that many so-called Hawaiian style homes would look just as contextual in Santa Barbara or La Jolla,” he adds. “So the question for me was, what makes a Hawaii home? It’s not just opening up the spaces to the ocean, or a double-pitched roof. I feel it’s also subtle beauty and tranquility, orienting the plan to best capture the trade winds, and utilizing elements from the many cultures that make up Hawaii. I wanted to get these images out there, to let people see what I feel is a Hawaiian home.”