 Hello, everyone, and welcome to Humane Architecture. I'm not Martin Despeng, in case you couldn't tell. I am Tonya Mui, and I belong to Dokomomo, Hawaii, with Martin, and Martin has been kind enough to let Dokomomo have the summertime to feature, like, some of our favorite architects. And so today, I would like to feature one of my favorite architects, Steven Oyakawa. And I have two guests with me who actually work with Steven, even though he was in Hawaii for a very short time. To me, he's done some of the most iconic buildings in Hawaii. He went to Taliesin, and the two people I have here also went to Taliesin. So welcome. We have, immediately to my left is Roy Oshiro. And actually, this is the first time I meet Roy, so hello, Roy. He's an architect who worked with Steven and Kimball Townsend, who also went to Taliesin and worked with Steven. So we can start off. Can we start off with, because so little is known about him, can we kind of start off with telling a little bit about his, like, where he's from, and his, like, where he went to high school, and all that kind of stuff that Hawaii people are always interested in? Yeah. Sure, Tonya. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not going to pass over to Roy. Go ahead. Steve was born in 1921 in Kahalu, Anahu, and graduated from McKinley High School and went to the University of Hawaii for two years until he transferred to the University of Illinois, from which he graduated in architecture in 1944. And he had a difficult time being more years of returning home, and he had an interest in meeting Frank Lloyd Wright, whose architecture he admired. Very much, and had an opportunity to meet with Frank Lloyd Wright in New York, and Frank Lloyd Wright invited him to come study at Taliesin, which he did for, I think, a very short time, like about three months. And then he ended up coming back to Hawaii and went back to study, or work, be an apprentice and an architect at Taliesin for 12 years, beginning in 19, I think 1946. Okay. You take it from there. Right? Well, can we show the slide? We have the first slide. The first slide. So this shows Steve and Oikawa when he was at Taliesin, so pretty young, I guess. It seems like early days with Mr. Wright, where all the students who could gather around him as he demonstrated his organic theories and things that he practiced for the rest of his life. Anyway, Steve Oikawa, I met him in around 1960, 1961 around there, because I was going to the University of Hawaii as a student, studying architecture. For two years, I determined that I wanted to be an architect, so I researched it and found out that Steve Oikawa stayed at Taliesin for a number of years, 15 years, I think. Something like that. Anyway, he was back in Hawaii, practicing architecture. And apparently, I kind of researched his background when he got here, because very controversial. Oikawa? Steve Oikawa. Yes, Steve was very controversial. So some people locally remember that. And when I confront some of the architects here, and those are the things that they brought up to me, you know. So later on, I went out and I went to meet Steve during my last year at school, I mean not last year, but second year at the University School of Architecture. Then what I did is I found out that Steve stayed at Taliesin for like 15 years or so. And he came back to Hawaii where I met him, but he was already married to K, yes. And they had a child at that time when I met him. His name was Musashi about one year old. So I introduced myself and I said, I'm interested in Taliesin because the professors who kind of taught us, and Ms. Engelsen also was interested in Mr. Wright, and they gave me all the background of Mr. Wright. So I followed up, then I met Steve and K, and I thought at first they explained a little background until I said, holy smokes, kind of weird. But in my realm at that time I was studying at the University. I think to make it clear, like if people don't know about Taliesin, right, because Taliesin they make you do everything, like cleaning and cooking and growing your food. You live in tents and all that stuff in Arizona, in the heat of Arizona, right. So I'm sure it would scare any 18 year old. But you went, and then you came, so when you were telling me along? Let me interrupt for a second. There was the article, I think in 1958 in one of the dailies here, and Steve came out being somewhat outspoken about the architecture in Honolulu upon his arrival back here. But I do think he did preface it by saying that he did come from studying at Taliesin, so he may have had a different attitude about it. And I don't think a lot of people would disagree with what he said. I think a lot of it's very appropriate today, and all that, but I guess it was considered very outspoken at the time. So maybe that's the controversy. So I do have slides of some work that he did, it's kind of chronological, so I have some of the, we can go to the next slide, which is some of the houses that he did, this is like when he first came back or in the 1960s, right, these houses. Roy actually worked with Steve, so I'll let him fill in on that. I think it's earliest, commissions were residential, and this one goes back to 1960, and it's the Yamaguchi House in Kahala, the Roy and I went in, and it's next door to another house, and the original clients are still living in these houses. Do we have the next one too? Is that theirs? No? Is that the same house? Or is that the same house? That is the same house. Yeah, I think so it is. But it's very, it's kind of Frank Lloyd writing in prairie style. You're absolutely correct. It's more or less the prairie style with brick and natural material, you know, and that's the way Mr. Wright studies were like nature, directly with nature, and that's the way we were right through the period that I was there, everything had to do with the culture, nature, and the environment, and all that, which at university I did. They had a chance to do that, yeah. I think when we were fortunate enough to visit it, we have twice, but most recently when we took the photos and the owner invited us in for a while, what is incredible about the house is it's very comfortable, it's not air conditioned, and it's in the flats of Kahala, yet it's extremely cool, it was extremely well designed for this location. Probably living in Arizona, they really learned how to make things cooler down. I was surprised that the, you know, the residence itself well tucked out, really nice, you know, I was. They must really like that house then. So the next slide I wanted to show is like one of actually, and a very intriguing building to me, because I've seen it every time we drive along Kapilani, it's just a little walk-up along Kapilani, and it's always intrigued me because it has a lot of interesting details, and it's only been like maybe the last five years where I even knew it was done by Oya Kahala. So, you know, even more so, I find him very intriguing. I actually lived there when I was going to the University of Hawaii, and it was a project he did for his family, and his brother lived there and managed it, and anyway, yeah, it was a great little place. The interior all has cabinetry, that's mahogany, and very fine quality, and you can see the little lights coming down under the windows above, and those were all different colored glass, so they allowed different patterns as the sun hit them coming into it. So those little squares that are going down the building, those were colored lights, oh, that's really neat. I think it might still be there, but I'm not sure. It is. I never go by it at night. Yeah, it's really cute. Yeah. So, and I have more slides of this building a little further away, and then I think the next one shows, you know, like I've always thought this was like such a large cantilever as well, that's, and it's with the, so you lived there, and so when were you living there, then in the 60s? Oh yeah, late 60s, early 70s, yeah. And it was there for a while already, right? Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember this building? Yeah. From what I understand, it was one of his earlier works, or one of his family. He built it for his family. Well, you know, Steve, his mentor, Mr. Wright, I think they were very, in those early days, the hands-on. Yeah. And Mr. Wright, we would narrate, and they would all gather around him. Yeah. From what I understand, what Steve used to talk about. So, was it, was it right, a lie, wait, when did Wright pass away? 1959. 1959. So, okay. So he left Taliesin right, when, either when he passed, just before he passed away, or right after he passed away. Apparently right before he did pass away, if the dates are correct there, maybe we can lead into that with a later project we're going to talk about, yeah. Okay, sure. So, let's see now, what other slide, what other slide that I could find? So, I'm sorry this is not like the best photo, because I got this off of like maps, Google Maps, but this is also another building that I've watched and have been intrigued by for many years, and then I find out it's done by Oyakawa, again. I just found that out maybe like a year ago, then it's on Oyakawa. But it's a medical arts building, but it's kind of in, it looks like it's endangered now that. That's an old building. Yeah, it looks empty, and there are lots of trucks being parked in there, so I just keep being afraid that I'm going to drive by one day and it's going to be completely empty. But do you guys know anything about this building? I'm not familiar with it. Yeah, it's on one who I believe is American, and there was a medical arts building, had doctors' offices. I know there was a physical therapy group in for a while, and I don't know the current status. I know, it looks empty, it's scary. But let's see that, we can go on to more buildings, so this is just a little closer up of the building, but you know how he uses kind of like the natural... Yeah, it was a concrete block, and you can see the mitered windows in the detail. Yeah, the corner window. I don't think the air conditioning ducting was probably... Probably not part of his design, no. I don't think so. Yeah, but it's a nice building. It is, it's a very nice building, and everything about, I like the, you know, the gate entrance fence and everything. Yeah, that's nicely done. It looks well designed and integrated into part of the building, which is something that's not done too often now, but... So let's see, what other buildings do we have? So, now we come into his phase of like libraries. Yeah. So does anybody know how he got all these great commissions to do? I'm not too familiar, but he had his ways of playing politics. Did he? Was he smart about that? Not, not, you know, in those terms, but he had his contacts, you know. And I don't know who or what group, but anyway, when I touched him and talked to people, he did get quite a few commission libraries, Kauai, IAEA, and several different ones. Yeah, yeah. I know of three, so we have the pictures of the three I know of, but there might be more. And lots of school buildings as well, too. Yeah, we haven't researched a school building. Do you know what school buildings he's done? I think the Manalua Intermediate was a pretty large project. Okay. And there are some on Windward campuses I know of. So these are all new buildings that he designed and had built. Yeah. So he had, for the short time that he was working in Hawaii, he did quite a bit of big buildings. Yeah, he kept really busy, it sounds like. So, I mean, and then again, this is like an octagonal building, I believe. Yeah, it is. And so it's got that kind of righty and organic feel. This is the interior. Yeah, it has a central skylight and then you can see that there are perimeter windows above all of the library stacking. So it had an interesting balance of natural light during the daytime. Yeah, well done. Yeah, yeah. Right now it's an office building. So, I don't think it's endangered because I think they're actually using it, but it's no longer the library. The library is probably need all the space they can get right now. Right, right, right. Because it is relatively small if you look at it. Yeah, I think the other one, the Liliha Library was another one. Yes, actually that's, speaking of. Now, this is Liliha Library and it's, you can see it off the freeway, right? That's correct. So, again, it's another one that has intrigued me for years and years and years, just like. You know, sometimes I hear all different stories as time go along, what are they going to do with this library because it's next to the freeway. Yeah, right, right. I guess they were everybody's nervous when the freeway was built, huh? I think one thing interesting about this project, it's my understanding. This was the first that the architect specified all the furnishings, as well as all the built-in, you know, cabinetry, et cetera, like that. Okay. And I think it had a lot of Herman Miller furnishings specified, et cetera, which were probably considered more designer or higher end at the time. Oh, I'm sure. And that occurred also in the Liliha, I mean on Kauai as well. Oh, okay, okay. I think this was the first. Yeah, so I had quite a few pictures of this Liliha Library. And I just remember finding out, oh, it was done by this architect, Steven Oyakawa, and, you know, he was Taliesin. And then it was like, oh, no wonder. Yeah, one of the few buildings that he had the parking upstairs. Right. So there's a ramp on the side of it, you know. Right, right. Which is sometimes not the best, but it's really nice. I mean, even like this, I mean, it's sorry it's not the best picture. They haven't mowed their lawn. But I thought it was just so nice that they even like the, just the bench, you know, the details of just the bench, the way it cantilevers out. I thought it's so nice. And then the moon gate on the, in that side there, I just thought. And the curve, instead of just coming straight down, there's this little curve in it that just adds so much texture and interest to this building. So I think this was, I guess still before you guys time, right? That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. So when did you go move into, when did you work for Stephen? Well, see, I was at Telleas and maybe like 61 through 67. Okay. Oh, they're quite a lot. Oh yeah. Very long time. Mrs. Brighthead. Okay. Taken over. Taken over the architectural side, which Wesley Peters handled with Jack Howell. But you had Yovanna also was there at the time doing the dance program, you know. Is that one of Wright's children? Yes. The daughter. The daughter. And she had those. So when I got there, kind of a mixed feeling because of Mr. Wright's death around two years hence. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't all organized. You know, people going here and there. So when I got there, they were moving to Wisconsin. So I really didn't meet everybody, you know, all the whole faculty, you know. Oh, really? So first thing I did is, okay, you go to Wisconsin, here is your idea. You went to Wisconsin? Yeah. And the car that you're going to go with, you know, caravan. Oh, really? So I really didn't meet Mrs. Brighthead and the whole group at that time. Except that when I got there, it was a sandstorm coming up. And I thought I was in real desert. Coming from Hawaii, I'm sure it was. So did your driver as well? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I can't lock out. I said, hey, what's this? And he had the windshield going. You know, because of the sandstorm. And I thought, wow, this is a desert home. Oh, that's my first Arizona experience at Taliesin. Oh, my goodness. Maybe a little background is appropriate. You know, the original Taliesin is in Wisconsin, spring greens. Right, right. 40 miles outside Madison. And so the fellowship is the school and the architects and the whole group were known. Spent the summers in Wisconsin and all that. And in the winters, it just became too cold. So they decided to go starting in the mid-30s to Arizona. Yeah. And that was this migration that always occurred. Right. Roy was lucky enough to get there right before the migration. Oh, dear. So I guess our next slide, I think we might still be on the Lija Library. This is the interior skylight. You know, again, it shows his kind of his interest in this organic architecture, which. And so I think the last actual project that I have of his is this, well, not actual, I have one more, which is adorned. But it's the Lijue public library, which is in Kauai. So this was in the later 60s, right? I think so. One of his later projects, right? So were you involved? Were you working? No. He still hadn't come back yet. Actually Lijue may have been after the university. I'm thinking. I'm not really sure. Maybe I should research that. But Lijue Library, I mean, I've always been just in awe of its beauty. So did he ever talk to you guys about it? Like some people say it's supposed to look like an open book. Some people say it's like soaring wings so you can fly when you learn. And I've just heard all kinds of stories about what they think it should be, what it represents. But did he ever say anything? I haven't. I didn't have any controversy over the library. Yeah. I think it's probably just appropriate to the site. And I think the way that it allows natural light to come in. Yeah. It's a beautiful library. If we can see more of the slides maybe, you can see. And actually going to it, it's a really hard building to photograph. I mean it's so much more beautiful in person than it is in photographs. And then on this one it kind of reminded me of the TWA. Oh yeah. So that's why I thought, oh maybe it's the one that it's supposed to be flying. It soars up into education. So tell me a little bit though about Steven Oyakawa as a person. So you worked with him and you knew him. Was he like quiet or was he a gregarious kind of a guy? Or what was he like? I always found him normal. Very thoughtful. And very into and sharing of his projects and what he was doing. And I didn't come along until 1968. So Musashi was probably 10 or 11 years old then. Okay. Yeah. And so he seemed to be a good attendee father. And I remember meditating and being I believe into martial arts as was Musashi at the time. But Roy spent more time. I mean you actually worked with him in the office. I did work with him in the office. And well he did meditate like Kim says in the morning. We come in there in the morning and I said, oh okay whatever. Be quiet. So Charlie and I, he's an adjustment. Okay another one. And we just do meditation for maybe 10, 15 minutes. Okay. To get our thoughts and ideas in line, you know, before we start working. That's interesting. Was he in Manoa or was he in Kailua then? It was in Kailua at that time. Yeah, okay. That's true. So we're going to go to I guess one of the last few slides. If we can show the rest of our slides. So this was also a big project, right, that he got. That's correct. So and I think was this controversial was a little bit. Well you know people say from you know, rubbish can to whatever. You know you hear that all over the time. Still organic. I thought he did as a dormitory's concern for the space and all that. I think he did a very good job because people don't realize about the difficulty. The difficulty. Let's say on the shading panels on the exterior. It's triple round. Going this direction, going this direction, and going this direction. Oh wow, a lot of geometry. That's why they had figured it out when they first started in many facets trying to figure out to put that together. Okay. Did you folks want to talk about the Kona Resort? Because actually we're kind of starting to run out of time. We didn't have our break. We did. But this is a beautiful rendering. So we only have like a few seconds left. I don't know, did you want to say anything about this? I got this from you. It's beautiful. I'm just thinking that probably the time, it was about time of statehood you know in 1959. And this was planned for the Kona Coast of Hawaii. And it was by Taliesin Associated Architects which had taken over after Frank Lloyd Wright's death. And I just think that probably the timing of Steve's coming back here, especially if it preceded the death. And I know that he had intended to become involved with this project. So I think there's something there. That's probably why he came back. Yeah, it's a beautiful night rendering. It's beautiful. And one of our former student architect was David Davison. And he does night rendering. I used to watch him. He has this technique to really make it outstanding if you have a night shot like that. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's quite a lost art, too. Well, it's unfortunate it was never built. Quite a project. But so I think we're running out of time. But if we want to, Dokumomo Hawaii invites you both to come and do a talk story. And we want people out there listening to pay attention to when Dokumomo has talk stories because we'd love to have you guys to come back and talk even more about Steven Oyako because personally he is an architect of great interest to me. He has some really unique buildings. And I think we can research and find even more for the next talk story. So maybe people can come and watch it. And I think we thank you very, very much for being with us and for sharing whatever you know about Steven. One quick thing, I forgot to say, when did he leave Hawaii and pass away? I think people are always kind of curious about that. I think mid-70s, and I believe he passed away in 1980, he had gone to Colorado and was working with a colleague. With who? A colleague from Talleus. A colleague from Talleus and he went to Colorado. Okay, and then he passed away in 1980 in Colorado. Yes, he did. Okay, so basically he only worked in Hawaii for like 15 years, really? Yeah, that's my understanding. So thank you, thank you again, thank you everybody for listening. Stay tuned for more humane architecture next week. There will be another really interesting Dokumomo Hawaii talk and we hope you folks all come to our next Dokumomo Hawaii talk story and keep watching us on Facebook and Instagram and we'll post when we have these two lovely gentlemen on our talk story to talk more about Steven Oyakawa or at least about Talleus and maybe we'll find out even more about Talleus and what it was like there. So thank you, everyone.