 Come you all back to our ongoing search for humanity and humility in the built environment here on our Hawaiian islands and beyond. Focus will be on beyond today. This is our spring break break show and it's a very special, probably never to be forgotten spring break and we will see literally when we bring in my co-host to Soto, hi to Soto. Hello Martin and as everybody can see, I am wearing a mask because we're starting our coronavirus, we're dealing with coronavirus now. All right. And I'm wearing a mask, not just as a fashion statement but for the real thing. All right, yeah. And the show is intended to be, you know, care but also encourage people and we're hoping for us sticking together and doing the right things. We can get over this soon. And then hopefully I can do what I've been wanting to do for years now is taking you back home to Germany where I'm from, to Soto. And so if we actually the background picture here, if we can, could barely see but there is actually my youngest son Lenny's sitting there if I move over to this side here. Now under your elbow. Point the other direction. Yeah, yeah. He's under your elbow. Point here. No, there, there, yeah, yeah. Over there. So it's hard to do but hi Lenny. Lenny's hanging in there and hanging out and I also have my, his brother, Joey and my daughter-in-law Clara here in the studio. So thanks for being here. Good to have you. They're over there. So we're all hanging in there together and today we're gonna take you to Soto at least for now virtually there. Yes. In Germany and next slide is something we always look at on the first slide. We always look at things that we share, right? And this is a very traditional Hawaiian dish, isn't it? It is not a Hawaiian dish and it's not traditional. The pineapple is something that's very much associated with the Hawaiian islands but it's only because it grew to be a major industry here. Not because the pineapple itself is from Hawaii because it's actually from Central America but there's this kooky thing that was invented in Germany which is called Toast Hawaii which we see on the left side of the screen which is a German concoction which there's a piece of pineapple on a piece of toast and down in the lower corner we've also got a picture of a mechanized, huge mechanized machine that was part of the large scale agriculture that used to be functioning here in the Hawaiian islands but Martin accidentally chose a picture of a sugarcane machine, not a pineapple machine but there were big machines for both of them. Absolutely. And next slide, we wanna encourage the audience here to think about how they grew up and what sort of impacted them and we always say it's certainly climate that impacts culture. So this just shows us both knowing the cold, be more than you but you were top left, you had your little dose of it. I had my moments in the cold, yeah. And so the picture on the bottom right, second is me on a roof terrace that the rented apartment had where I grew up and the right of that in front of our rotating Think Tech logo is actually the building and it's a five story walkup, 96 steps, I'll never forget and when we're out of milk my parents were saying, well, you get milk and I said, no, because I was the one to get it, right? So and where I got it was a little mom and pop grocery store right at the bottom there where then eventually you had to go, right? And asked you for a picture too related to food and the one you picked is at the top right. And that's me looking at my birthday cake and my sixth birthday. So everybody needs food and that's what we're gonna talk about the places where you get food. And they're very rare these days, right? Yeah. The next slide is everything has been shut down and gets shut down and only the necessary and you can do shopping and crazy things that you don't need. Right. So we can get by without many things, but not food. And this is why the grocery stores are actually a very sort of existential survival component in everyday life around the world. And that's what we wanna talk about. Hopefully again, exactly in about a year we will, if you guys are excited about we will take you there where we have built these two case studies. So next spring break in 2021 we will hopefully again all be back to health and happiness and you guys join us for thinking about that typology obviously after this crisis here differently. Yeah. And let's go to the next slide. This gets you excited because it's historical, right? Yeah, so this is a small, what we would say in the United States was kind of a strip mall. It's actually a little shopping center and it's in Germany obviously. This picture is probably from the 1960s I'm gonna guess and this is the original site that is what we're gonna be talking about and what happened to it. But we're also talking about how this was at a time where people were still walking to small stores not driving quite as much. And at the top you see the progression of people getting gradually more obese because not only do we have larger portions and more to eat, but we don't walk as much as we used to. So here's the site and the original commercial building that was on it before Martin and his company had to do something different with it. Yeah. And this is heartbreaking because I believe and I tell everyone and especially the emerging generation that I had the pleasure and privilege to work with that the most responsible building is the one you don't build, although this sounds ironic if an architect says that or an architectural professor, but it is, it's the truth. The second one is the one that already exists and that's why I'm a founding member of Doko MoMo. And this was a very nice building, very easy and very appropriate, but it just had no chance to survive because the nature of the tenants changed from mom and pop, small to big. So we made multiple efforts to save this and we failed and we had to replace it, which was hard. And so next slide gives you little glimpses. We don't wanna tell you too much because then you won't join us. But this was crucial because there is a price tag as you can see up there and $50 per square foot if you're not in the building industry, this is almost nothing. It's like almost impossible and we probably should have walked away, but it's not our nature. So we try to ask at least why and the client who you asked to sort is a private client who this is a grocery store community with a bunch of different single shops in there. But this is the type how they normally look like and they look very generic. They look very ugly and they're all over Germany. I call this Aesthetical Optical Pollution. And that's why we like doctors x-ray at that beast in that sort of section there and see what the hell is the nature of that and try to go up against that. But how can you do a prototype for the cost of a watered down serial type, right? And obviously we will tell you when we get there, but we give you little ideas and hints and appetizers. So next slide is one of them. And for example, we actually did when our client was provoking us with that, we said, okay, we go up against it and we will do it, but you have to sign here that you have no saying in the architecture and he did. And I had to pull out that note multiple times. And here we were spending time and passion to do what we encourage our emerging people to do, build physical models. And this is the proposal of the volume. Next slide. And you pointed out to me when I asked that it occupies the same footprint. So the new building occupies the same footprint in space as the old building did. Yeah. And what's it with this crate? Well, that is a type of crate that you say everybody in Germany has. They're not as common in the United States, but it's a collapsible thing that will fold up so that it's flat. And so you're saying that that's kind of inspirational in a way for the building that you ended up creating. Yeah. And the little on the left is a sketch, is a digital sketch. We tell you more in details when we go there, but the next slide gives you a hint of what was existential and a survival strategy. So tectonics as a survival strategy, we do a lot, but the most here, we're only in prefab, we're able to even dream about hitting this sort of brutal cost. And we have great specific Rotary Mountain precast out there west, who we see as we talk many times as the only chance to continue to build on this island for a decent price. So prefab is a big thing. Next slide. And you were curious about that corner, right? Yeah. And you told me, interestingly, that because this actually sticks out over the boundary of the private property onto public property, you convinced the owner that he would pay rent for those protruding corners that actually go beyond where his property is. And they're part of the entire structure that extends up kind of a floor above where the building ends. And you also were saying that this is partly for to create a distinctive identity for the building, to make it look different and stand out so that people will recognize it, see it, and approach it. Yeah. And also visibility. And next slide, because it's actually sort of covered from the street, because they built stupid garages there. When we go out there, we will stop at certain situations. I will tell you a very interesting story about how this one informed politics. And we will see who the lady was at that time. And she still is, but in a different position. Next slide. And we had to deal with very sort of profane things, like where you took code or the program of the tenant, where they have their safe and they collect their money. You have to protect that. And it looks like in the wild west, outside of the prisons. And of course, that's not something you want in the heart of the community. So we had to work with that. And it sort of reminded you of here, a certain notion on the left, how we sort of involved that. What you pointed out is that there is this screening that's used above where those windows are. And obviously, the windows are very barricaded with this metal grating to protect them. But above there is something that I think is there, if not only for aesthetics and for I think the continuity of the metal texture, but also here, it would be something that would be very useful in a tropical climate where we've got the sun. So that's kind of a, that is a metal mesh. And you said that that's something that is usually used for people to scrape their shoes on. And we don't need people to scrape their shoes here because we don't walk around in slush, mud, as some people have to do in temperate climates. So that's something that you use that was already commercially available, but just in a different kind of way. And I asked you how it had stood up since this was installed. And you told me that I have to go to Germany to see for myself. So I guess I do have to go to Germany to see. Yeah, and then I will show you. That's right. Next slide is again, this is it shortly after being completed. At that point, there was actually no textbooks about it. And we actually initiated the one at the very top left. And then there was another one following. And so we will pass these out as reading assignments and so people can prepare for our tour. Next slide. And here is what you were asking. Here's certain sort of appetizers for it, right? This is our POE, post occupancy evaluation, EBD, evidence-based design, LCA, life cycle assessment. These are all original and exclusive American terms for saying a good building is only a good building when it proves that over time. So again, we will go there. These are impressions here from shortly after the opening where you can see how that sort of very simple had to be and very rigid structure is basically just like to create a container for multiple things to collect and to comprise, which is all these different tenants. But as you pointed out that the continuity of the building is still there. So the multiple tenants do not, one tenant doesn't overwhelm another tenant. And one of the ways that we were discussing is signs. And obviously there are controls here as to how much signage can be put up to not wreck that facade that you worked on. And I was asking you about what the sign laws are in that area because here in Hawaii, we have of course very strict sign laws, but chain stores often will require their buildings to look the same and also their signage to look the same. So that's something that you obviously were able to work with because you pointed out to me that those three major tenants that are in the sign that's on the left are all chain stores. And so they've all got an identity that they want to make sure everybody recognizes. And they were paying a butt to work with because they're not interested in customization, right? So we forced them to and the tricks and we call this smuggling ever since. And also had to smuggle things into the client because the client was, I always say, I love all my clients and he's a nice guy. He just can't come across differently as who almost invented if predator capitalism wouldn't have been invented here in this country, he would have, you know, and he runs $1 stores in his real life to make a living. And that's his mindset. And so we will tell you then on the tour what we all had to smuggle in and like these young girls eating ice cream, for example, are beneficiaries of our smuggling strategy. We will save that for when you join us. Next slide. Yeah, and these are again very fresh. These are from last year. What do we see there? And they're kind of obviously kind of saddening now because that's the opposite of social distancing, which we have to do these days. This is social connecting. And again, having hopefully going through all that and coming out of it, okay, and stronger then hopefully will allow us to do that again, right? Yeah, and you pointed out some really, again, the thing that you smuggled in here without getting too specific is the ability for people to sit down and you had to kind of, you had to sneak that in. And also the shopping cart station, how you developed that specifically for this site and how the guy who's playing the accordion who is an urban nomad as you say might benefit from that because of how he might get money from people, which is something that we don't do in the USA. So that'll have to be explained once people get there. Exactly, the next slide. And this is the lady here who has to, she's the head and the president of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. And when you go with us, we will tell you how she as being a juror in the highest award, architectural award on the state level had been educated throughout the process of having been not just a juror, but on the left, you can see our most important architect, Stefan Behnisch here sitting next to her and they're on a panel discussion. And there's some really interesting stories behind that we'll share with you how architecture and sometimes very profane and little architecture can inform big people. Right, and in the picture on the lower right, that is an unrecognizable younger Martin standing with this lady in question and his father. I would not have recognized you in that picture. Yeah, we've all changed over the years. To deflect from that back again from that one is that Ursula, hopefully she looks very sort of serious and concerned for obvious reasons because she's in charge of dealing with the Corona crisis that we're having. Hopefully we can get her back to happiness as she was down there, right? Right. So next slide. We're back to the island and this is where you reside at the foothills and I'm looking at you this way from our residences. And I'm always blown away how again, how climate and here rain informs view and spectacle in a most organic and biochlamatic way. It's just amazing, right? How Diamond Head turns from brown in the summer when it's dry to green when we say it's winter and Hawaii when Diamond Head is green. Right. And that was sort of an inspiration or at least a motivation or a provocation for us next slide. How can we do that with another building? And you said kindly last time that you asked me of, what did you ask me about that? Sort of the serial killer nature, right? What? What did I ask you about? I don't remember that. No, you said once you have done a building. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a serial killer, but you become a serial builder or designer once you've done one building successfully, then you have other clients come to you to do similar buildings that have similar functions. Yeah, sort of a serial guerrilla smuggler. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So here the nature of that street is pretty much informed by the beautiful row of trees here, street green, that gives a lot of shade. That's what we're saying. We need more here. And the building again, you can almost not see. There is some sort of notion of something, but it's more like there's more trunks there. Someone built more trees or something, but next slide we had to build a new building. And these are just a bunch of inspirations we had that again, once you join us, we'll talk about more where they come from. I had actually been in the prairie at that time, we designed that, so there's inspiration from there and from multiple other things. And next slide is what, DeSoto? Well, this is the market that was built and you said that this is a small chain of markets and so this is just one of them. They specialize in beverages on one side of the store and the other side, they do food. But as you just pointed out with the picture is the three views of Diamond Head. Diamond Head changes its appearance very dramatically from up time to time and season to season and this store does the same thing because if you look at the top, it's got a metal mesh that is almost in the place of a second story. And depending on where the sun is, it might be illuminating the front of it or it might be illuminating the back of it so that you see through. So the store looks very different over the day depending where the sun is. Yeah, just through material knowledge and properties and with no gimmicks, no fancy LEDs or... Correct. Because this is all low budget projects pretty much, pretty profane typology. Next slide. And again, we will tell you, I mean, metal and this is why you said because metal mesh screens are so familiar to you. We've been talking about that they were really big in the mid-century era that we love so much and there's some on campus and there's some on King Street and others and we will keep talking about them. Here actually the material might be a little different and that could be in addition to the island and we'll add to that and give you a little clue that the truck at the very bottom there that's delivering the beverages is actually not a Mattson or a young or a Pasha truck as we know them but they're somehow different and you already can see where we're going and we tell you more in detail when you join us. Next slide. You know, sustainability is obviously you wanna have markets to consume less energy and here different than our public clients who always foster passive systems but never active system. Here was almost the opposite. There was a no-brainer to have another company rent the roof and throw affordable takes on it. And again, while it helps to keep the building cost down and energy down, again for me it was never an architectural feature it's of course an integral building performance feature but it has nothing to do with architecture. Next slide. However, other elements obviously very much kind of have. Next slide. Which we see here as parts of our vegetated that's something we're fostering and promoting here for the island, vegetate and vegetate, vegetate. That's our cheapest way of cooling buildings. We try that there. Next slide. And what surprised you about that? Well, you said that this was an unusual situation in that the client allowed you to also design the interior of the store as well as the exterior of the building structure. And what you said very aptly is when you go into stores that sell food they're cold and one of the reasons they're cold is because refrigerated or frozen air is constantly flowing out of the structures that are supposed to contain it. And here instead of letting it just flow out these were specially designed freezers or refrigerator cases that are flat and they therefore the cold just stays in them but they've also got covers on them. So that in addition helps keep the cold air inside and not diffused into the rest of the room. You just also said that this is not necessarily a good thing in the time of coronavirus where you don't want to be touching surfaces but it's a very clever and a very useful thing. And it also looks good too. It's actually a very attractive store interior that that contributes to. So next slide. Another textbook here that this project made it in it's the volume two of that Boston department store. And again, if you're lucky, I mean this year we didn't have that white stuff that would be so cool for people from here had never seen. And so there's snow and might be some at the end of March but more importantly here you can see how that sort of awning cantilever helps in this case to let the low sun into the building and basically heat it. So it's not just an ornamental function as you always question that critically but it's a performative one as we like to do things. And next slide. And we were talking about the last one already there is elevating the structure above the roof, right? And we're sort of envisioning or daydreaming about certain things that could happen there, right? Right. And they could, we were actually talking about maybe these grocery stores and some started to do to grow their own food that they sell on their roofs. This is actually the grocery store of my youngest son, Lenny, who lives in this hood here and is driving by and he has said, oh dad, you know, they kind of naked it. While we like being naked here in Hawaii and we foster and promote that but over there for the explained reasons, maybe so we're curious what happened the next slide, they redressed again. So we were seeing that's, you know and that's something we should maybe talk about more here but we do a show or most challenging but maybe one of the most relevant ones about skins, right? Yes, right. So maybe buildings need to do more undressing at times and be more dressed at other times. Right. But I'm glad to see that they kept the integrity of the original building even when they removed the existing original screen, they put it back. Yeah, yeah. And next slide, absolutely. Thanks Lenny for taking that picture. We will go one town over which is Hamburg. Obviously again, the Queen Mary won't have the quarantine issues anymore. They have now we just count on that one. And we will obviously go, I mean this crisis is really making us think above and beyond, right? Where is retailers going, Jay? And you and I had a really lively discussion about that after the show. Is it going all away from any kind of contact? Everything is automated. You walk in the store that the Amazon store and the flagship store, the new prototype in Seattle has by Amazon where you walk in and out and it immediately charges you by walking out without you noticing it. Right. And other things. I mean, is it going back to the vending machines you both kind of romantically remember? We don't know. And that's what the tour is about to really, it's less about just looking at these and that's it for the sake of it. But it's actually taking them and saying, OK, what is actually the next step? And obviously in big cities, they're booming and are innovative. This is a Hamburg's Harbor City. And it has a lot of similarities to Kakaako. There was a previous show with here, one of the colleagues of Joey currently for whom he's working, for the company he's working for. And what do they take home from there? And what could be their final deliverable to SOTA and for that last slide? Yeah, so when people have the students and those who also go with them, when they get back home, they will have to do a report obviously on what they saw and what was explained to them and what they learned. And so it probably should be in the form of a episode of ThinkTech, like we have just completed. We're in the process of completing right now. So after everybody gets home, that's what they'll do. They'll tell everybody else about what they saw and learned in a ThinkTech show, just like the one we just did. Yeah, and we obviously want to encourage people from all disciplines. There could be engineers of all kinds, structural, mechanical ones, health people, obviously in this case, nutritional people, right? Urbanism, Department of Urban Planning, and journalists, for example. So we hope you all join us again a year from now for this nutrition trip to Northern Germany. We look forward to that. And until then, I will go there at the very bottom. You were pointing out here is my strategical documents at the very bottom, right? They might help me to actually get back. They will. And so again, next time I will take you with me, DeSoto, and I will take everyone else with us who is excited about it now. And if you can't get on this tour, there will be one more about another very important typology that we will share with you next week. Again, in a very cosmopolitan way, because you will be here and at home staying safe. Hopefully everyone else too, and I will let you at the other end of the world. And until then, obviously stay very healthy and happy. Bye-bye. Bye. Bye.