The Hawai’i Wildlife Center in Halaula by Ruhl Walker Architects

Article source: Ruhl Walker Architects

Anticipated completion, November 2011

The Hawai’i Wildlife Center is a non-profit conservation organization which will operate Hawai’i’s first wildlife recovery center when this building is completed in late 2011. Located in Halaula, North Kohala, on the Big Island of Hawai’i, the HWC is dedicated to the conservation and recovery of Hawai’i’s vulnerable, too often endangered native wildlife through hands-on treatment, research, training, science education, and cultural programs. The new complex will consist of three integrated and sustainably designed components: a wildlife care and response facility, an interpretive and outreach lanai and native species garden, and an open-air education pavilion.

Front facade (Images Courtesy William Ruhl)

• Architect: William T. Ruhl, AIA – Ruhl Walker Architects
• Name of Project: The Hawai’i Wildlife Center
• Location: Halaula, Hawai’i
• Client: Linda Elliott – Hawai’i Wildlife Center
• Landscape Architect: Jason Umemoto, ASLA, Nancy Cassandro, ASLA, Umemoto Cassandro Design Corporation
• Photo Credits: William Ruhl
• Software used: AutoCAD, plus 3DViz for rendering (modeling was also done in AutoCAD)

Exterior View (Images Courtesy William Ruhl)

• Associate Architect: Construction Administration, Rhoady Lee, AIA, Aaron Spielman, Rhoady Lee Architecture and Design
• General Contractor: Phil Tinguely, Dale Washburn, Tinguely Development, Inc.
• Construction Manager: Scott Bedingfield, Meridian Construction & Development, Meridien Construction & Development
• LEED Certification and Development: Paul Ryan – Ryan Associates General Contractors
• Structural Engineer: William Blakeney – William Blakeney Structural Engineers
• Civil Engineer: Peter Dahlberg – Peter JK Dahlberg, PE, LLC
• Mechanical Engineer: Mark Morrison – Mark Morrison And Associates
• Electrical Engineer: John Maute – Smithsonian / SAO
• Wastewater system and solar photovoltaic engineering: Steve Groves – Kohala Engineering
• Land Survey: Thomas G. Pattison – Pattison Land Surveying Inc.
• Windows and doors: Coastal Windows
• Plumbing Fixtures: Kohler

Lanai (Images Courtesy William Ruhl)

The design of the HWC is an abstraction of the archetypal Hawaiian commercial architecture of the nearby towns of Hawi and Kapa’au, with a planar front facade concealing conventional (affordable) shed and gable-roofed forms behind. The front facade of the HWC is a collage of flush fiber cement lap siding and trim of varying dimensions held apart to enhance natural ventilation to the open air education pavilion, lanai, and staging porch. At the education pavilion, these fiber cement slats are modulated to create an oversized ‘window’ facing the street. Behind the main facade, the walls of the treatment facility are sheathed in locally fabricated corrugated steel, while the walls of the staging porch and education pavilion are sheathed in translucent corrugated polycarbonate. The HWC will be naturally ventilated and cooled by the dependable trade winds, its water will be stored in catchment tanks and solar heated, and its non-emergency electrical needs will be met by roof mounted photovoltaics.

The entire design / engineering / project management team provided their services pro bono, and many of the contractors and subcontractors donated a portion of their materials and / or services. See www.hawaiiwildlifecenter.org for additional information.

Interior View (Images Courtesy William Ruhl)

Exterior View (Images Courtesy William Ruhl)

Tags: Halaula, Hawai’i

Categories: 3D Studio VIZ, Autocad, Wildlife Center

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 27th, 2011 at 6:11 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.