 to have you all back for another episode, which happens to be our 237th of think-taker-wise human humane architecture. And you were back with our transcontinental triumvirate triangle from three different parts of the world with our mid-century modern master, Ronald Lindgren, back in his Long Beach, California with close to record high temperatures of 89 degrees in late March, high run. Good to have you. Hello everyone. And we have you DeSoto Brown, this time not in your Bishop Museum because on special request of J.Fai Dell and others back home in your childhood home, Ostepov designed and with our favorite dogs in the back, DeSoto. Well, everyone. If we can get the first slide up, which is not quite as funny, unfortunately, because on the right, we see what's happening with close to me because me, your co-host Martin Despeng, when you wish so close to Munich, it's only about a thousand or a little bit more miles away to what you see on the right, which is what's going on in the Ukraine, where cities as mostly in the focus, Mario Poll, which you see at the bottom there is being leveled to the ground and buildings going down and with them people's lives. So while on the left side, you see us back in Honolulu where you see buildings popping up. And I think this is, this is volume two and the volume one, we couldn't assess differently than saying they're kind of popping up almost as poisonous mushrooms. And what was your way to call that, Ron? Toadstools in the rain. There you go. And the two projects of this, we were about to say, could we please bring what this show title of Midtown Flunk is alluding to Patrick Hernandez's Alias Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson's downtown funk, but unfortunately there is this copyright thing. So we have to reach out to him and hopefully he can give us permissions because he might be sympathetic because he grew up being without a house and his father in the backyard of my employer in Manoa. And so the two first projects here, they're going up recently, are different than the ones we were reporting on in the previous shows, which in some way or the other tried to allude to nature as an inspiration as the lily, the flower of the lily as for the new wrinkle apartments in Waikiki and the sugar cane as for the most recent Howard Hughes Tower. These towers here don't even try or at least not the previous one that we basically finished looking at in the last show. And we forgot to mention his name, but we feature it down there on slide four at the bottom left. It's they name it the azure. And azure is blue. It's the color blue. And what do they mean with this? It might be as shallow as the matching the sky's color, but the sky is a biochromatic phenomenon that works without fossil fuel, but these blue tinted windows are the opposite. They are basically as fossil as you can get it. And we just started then to feature the project that we see at the top left, which is once again, boring more from nature but in a more abstract way as it's been called the park. And now we want to further look into this project. So that brings up slide number two. And you Ron, you've done quite some investigation in the project based upon these slides. So please take over. I was just really interested in the very small studio unit plans that were shown at the bottom of the slide because it's really indicative of the housing crisis. Even if you had $280,000 in Honolulu, that would be what it would take to buy one of the studio units at the park, which is only 330 square feet interior. And some of them have 110 square foot, low nine. But that's what you live with. That's what your 30 year mortgage is based on. And that particular plan size is much smaller than even any typical Waikiki hotel room. The photos above, however, are showing some fine units floor ceiling glass at the end of the towers that these units appear in. But Martin, as you pointed out, they are going to be baking in East and or West Sun. That's right. And maybe in its defense, again, I'm as we know, Martin lives on when he's back in Waikiki Grand on 230 square feet. But that was the standard of somewhere in the 60s, right? And the big difference is Martin, and this is your point, Ron, Ernest Hara, John Hara's father, who's the architect of my building. Orientated at right, facing straight south. So Myla and I is keeping me cool, especially in the summer where it's the hottest. And in the wintertime, because I'm trying to live what I teach in vice versa, and I preach vice versa. In the wintertime, the sun creeps in and minimizes my livable floor plan because I insist to live by a climatic way, but it works rather well and I'm able to stay rather cool. In this case, you're not because the long facades where most of the units are facing are west and east. And this is where the sun rises and sets. This is where it's low and where it's hot. And even though you have a nice slab, but it doesn't help you because it's like the lid of your cap that you wear, if you're looking into the sunset on Waikiki Beach, that lid is not doing anything, but maybe looking cool. And we will get to that soon. What that is and what that might make people do. So yeah, that's the point. And then the next slide, Ron, that got you going as well. And you're almost about to read what the developer here proposes, right? Yeah, our viewers have certainly heard how much we praise the availability of lanais in Haara's housing units, as we've been talking about. Here, the developer in this advertising photograph of a corner unit, which has a balcony wrapping around two sides of the corner, we could hardly say it better than he did. The park on Kaamoku, expand your living area with a spacious private lanai. Enjoy panoramic views and the gentle breeze of the trade winds. With enough room to dine, entertain, or relax, this outdoors escape will quickly become your favorite part of being at home. We probably could have sold lanais better than the developer did. But oddly enough, the developer didn't have the courage of his convictions, and it doesn't show any hint of habitability on that balcony. No plants, no humans, no furniture. I think DeSoto has it right that they're talking about the view that you get from that unit, which is a grand one, as you can tell. And having something between you and that view on the balcony is something they perhaps didn't want to mention. Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And we also, in our previous pre-show discussion, were talking about how they've selected images to emphasize the view, whereas in fact, from other sides of these two buildings, because there are two buildings, there will be in close proximity other high-rises. So only a selection of the condos in these units in these two buildings will get this expansive view without other buildings right close by to them. So obviously for advertising purposes, that's what they want to emphasize. And when I look at that empty balcony, I suddenly realized that there are reasons for balconies we haven't really talked about to have some sort of a barrier at the floor line when you're in a unit that has floor-to-ceiling glass helps people like me who are afraid of heights. I would have a hard time in that all-glass corner unit if there wasn't that mediating existence of the lunae outside to separate me from the dizzying drop from the 28th floor. Yeah, and whenever, let's put this into perspective of thermal comfort. Whenever I'm getting frustrated with the emerging generation about the computer being ignorant of being able to simulate, I said, I should write a grant with NASA and then providing us space suits and in the space suits there would be a heat machine that would create the temperature that you would create when you design. So when it would rise up to like 45 degree or 50 in your space suit and you as a designer would frantically do something that helps you to stay cool to get the temperature down in your space suit, right? I don't know if that grant will ever happen it's kind of again out of frustration with the autistic medium of the digital here because if you really are serious about it, this is basically this view this can only be the Malka unit that is that way facing with the elevation we're looking at primarily is facing north. That's the only orientation where the glass could principally work because the sun is not hitting that at most times of the year but then logically the other there that you're kind of looking through is then east and the morning sun is low and it's pretty hot and they seem to be almost aware of it because there's a curtain shown but a curtain, sorry, behind glass is maybe helping the glare, keep the glare away but the rays, the sun rays have already been converted into heat so nice try but really not. So and again, this is as you both point out perfectly is pitched in a way to sell the view and the next slide in reality as you guys pointed out even if you're in the tower in the second tower that's closer to Malka your first tower would already block you that view, right? So that's rather ironic and another thing is really ironic is because if you would say and that's more likely than ever these days as we know maybe these fossil fuel oil ships won't come anymore and their oil can't be converted into electricity that you then use to run your AC in this building if that would happen you basically would be very jealous because you would see something across the street which we show here on the left and what is that? That's the HMSA building and as you pointed out that the time it was designed the intention was to block as much direct sun as possible from hitting any of the glass so the intention was to build these exterior sort of extruding concrete sections that would serve as a breeze sole and protect the entire facade therefore very little direct sun manages to get into the interior of the HMSA building which is good in terms of keeping down the amount of heat that's also generated inside and the more heat that's generated inside the more you have to run air conditioning the more fuel you're using the more money you're spending and the more dependent you are on the existence of fossil fuels being delivered to us in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, absolutely and for the records this is a building designed by Chris Smith who was unfortunately we did some research and talked to Don Hiverd and this is by Chris Smith who was unfortunately not with us on the island anymore but retired in San Diego but there is no reason not to have him so we should get him on a show and talk to him about it and his other projects and as you said the form determining factor that's something when I went to school in the early 90s which was the most lost time of post-modernism and its worst outcome versus how you Ron have practiced it in its best had just tanked and we were just totally lost and my professor who was the best one in my school and he's from Israel, Alex Mela, hi Alex but even Alex was caught it was a victim of circumstances of time of zeitgeist and always asked us what is the form determining factor here performance, biochromatic performance was the form determining factor and how cool is that literally and figuratively speaking that also speaks for the parking plins because that one reminded us of a little detail on the ground in between the two towers that you Ron spotted please elaborate on that one. Yeah, right at the base of the twin towers there's a very interesting potentially exciting space four-story glass box resting on a podium which is the ground floor but it's all glass. I believe that it must be the public spaces that the owners of those condominiums would share because of its very prime location. So very exciting to see that glass box in New York or Chicago or Spokane but it is a glass box four stories high with the sun blaring into it each and every day. Yeah, and as we like to say your term is refrigerator because it only works if it would be refrigerated but we see greenery in there which we're happy to see in yesterday's show with Jay and Scott Wilson they were promoting greenery to bring in the buildings but not in such a way. This is like the opposite of what a greenhouse would want to be because if you turn that AC off they all turn brown all these plants immediately, right? They die. So quite ironic again. Well-intentioned, well-meant community space but just like done in an invasive way. So let's leave these towers to come soon and move on to the next one, next slide please which actually happens to be the first one that popped up in that area and speaking of Jay being very active he had been featuring that in a show with my colleague Professor Hyun-Jong Park that you see show quoted at the very top right and this tower in particularly prides itself to be affordable. They say condo starting in the high 200Ks which is not much different than what were you Ron just said about the cost of that studio in that previous run, right? So the question is how affordable is this really? And so besides it being a box but even a box and let's go to the next slide you could make a box attractive in a tropical exotic way as tropical brutalism has done as using the local aggregates and ingredients of concrete and celebrating and leaving these exposed as we like to call it, volcrete or you to Soto and I at the very top left stretching that are more preferred material for guardrails which is that stainless steel metal mesh. So even the box you could have done and we had this discussion before the show and let's segue to the next slide for that already as you so raised and maybe you wanna reiterate that question that you asked us, please. Well, in comparison to the older buildings which we pay attention to a lot on this program what we see now is a uniformity of exterior structures and Ron very cleverly and honestly describes these as looking like graph paper because they're just a bunch of little squares and rectangles. I'm wondering if this uniformity is due to developers and designers simply going with standard sizes of glass panes of glass or other types of building materials so that they don't need to spend more money to create or fabricate anything different and we're going to see just a short time how some buildings do have specifically fabricated railings for example, does that cost more money? And if so, is that why we don't see it as much? Yeah, we were saying Ron and you and I coming from practice, sorry to paint concrete is an extra effort, right? Extra labor and different than you guys I remember when we were visiting Harbor Square for doing a show about it, I asked you if you had asked your boss and friend at Killingsworth ever why he preferred to paint concrete white? And if I remember correctly, you said you have not but you think you know the answer because it was about dematerializing things because your members were so filigree so by using the color white it would reflect it off, it would bounce off but here everything is detailed in a really clumsy way so it's almost like enhancing the boxiness, the bulkiness and again in all honesty, glass guard rails are more expensive than steel guard rails, single bars, steel bar guard rails and glass is after all one of the most expensive materials so we don't think again, cost is the reason that we will get to maybe one of the explanations in a little bit. This is in fairness is the northern elevation that's front in Capulani Boulevard so that's where north is facing Malca so this elevation at least from a biochromatic point of view isn't quite as bad although we were looking at these awning elements that you could pop open in your all flush glazed facade and we were saying that probably to the square footage of few inches would not be enough to sufficiently flush a space with the trade wind cooling as the good old jealousies have been doing very efficiently and effectively so now let's look at how this building here meets the ground that's something that Scott and Jay were talking about yesterday being very important so next slide and you guys show me your enthusiasm about the entrance of the building. I don't think we have a lot of enthusiasm for the entrance of this building in our pre-show discussion where we're talking about how this little sort of Port Coucher if not even a Port Coucher has these very heavy elements of the two rounded columns as well as the thickness of the canopy but at the same time the size is so insignificant that it really doesn't do anything it doesn't perform anything and it doesn't really look very interesting. Above the facades of these retail spaces there's this kind of lattice work element that's sticking out but it really doesn't do anything it doesn't provide any shelter from rain and because the direct sun is not visible on the side of the building it doesn't provide any significant shade and in this concrete expanse in the front there are these prefab chair table units which are completely uninviting because they have no covering over them as well so that's not something that you probably want to go to you're probably not going to sit there and enjoy food that you've just purchased inside at these retail stores or restaurants or whatever they are. And this retail store here it's following the buzzword of mixed use. So yes, there is no parking but there is a shop down there and it seems like a cafe or something but they're kind of stickers on the glass we're open almost ironic because it's all fixed glazed so and the door is closed so how open are they, right? Really kind of disappointing. So how would you know environments like that how can they look tropical, exotic, inviting, appealing, attractive? And that gets us to the next slide and you guys share your thoughts. Ron, you want to talk about why this is appealing? Well, that's a site that I haven't seen except in the slide that's on the screen now and I might just have to leave those comments to DeSoto because I need time to think about that one. Okay. Well, what we see here are again, details on the lanais that make them unusual or stand out and particularly because this is a hotel and if you're staying in a hotel you're on vacation and you're in a more playful mood. First of all, they've chosen to paint these cement slabs pink but also the panels that stick out between the lanais on the same floor are detailed to have a little scalloped edge to them that mimics the scalloped edge of the metal railings of the lanais themselves. So there's a theme that goes together there and again, particularly for a hotel this playfulness or this quirkiness is something that people can appreciate for the use that the building is put to but also on this same slide we see this wonderful picture looking up or looking along the street in the distance and there's this very vivid piece of a rainbow there towards the Coalau Mountains looking from Waikiki and as Martin said, this is something that is while there are rainbows all over the planet the ones here are particularly prominent and we are proud of them and show them off and we've even put them on our license plates because they're so common or we're so proud of them here. So this again is something that is part of our natural environment that we hope living arrangements will take advantage of rather than try to seal out. Yeah, this is grantedly not on our which we're investigating in these shows on Kapiolani Boulevard but this is a Boulevard type street as well which is Coveo Avenue which is where we looked into the Lillian new rental apartment high rise in the previous shows and you see our sibling SL Benz cruiser with the top down. Where else in the world can you drive with a convertible top down other than in Hawaii? And again, as you said already where else are the rainbows so saturated and where else is architecture so cookie tropical exotic potentially, right? Other than in Hawaii and that is our criticism of the appearance of these buildings they're so bland, they look so universal in not a good way. This is not international style of the modernist people who thought lean and clean glass boxes are the next thing and they were at that time but we've been moved on ever since and especially in Hawaii that lever house SOM as the sort of artifact of that typology doesn't work and all the clever mid-century modern masters have done their very best to morph and transform that modern model. Okey-dokey, so what that has to do with the current building we're observing we have to leave up to next week because we're already at the end of another exciting 28 minutes. So see you all back for that one and then until then please all stay very inclusively exotic, exotically inclusive and save and peaceful of course first and foremost. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. 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