 Welcome to Human Humane Architecture here on Think Tech Hawaii. I am the co-host of this program, DeSoto Brown. I am the historian at Fisher Museum. And for me, it's four o'clock in the afternoon, but in Germany, unfortunately, it's four o'clock in the morning. And joining us from Germany via Skype is the host of this program who's Martin Despang. And good morning to you, Martin, and welcome. Good morning, DeSoto, and everyone. Look forward to the show. What is it about? Okay, well, we're going to be talking about Blaisdell Center here in Honolulu, and you can see Martin on the screen with me. And the Blaisdell Center goes back to the 1960s, and it is currently under discussion for redevelopment. We're going to be talking about towards the end of the program, but let's get started on photograph number one, to show people what we're talking about. Yeah, that goes back to a little tradition we have from some shows ago where we try to encourage people to put their mind back in certain zeitgeist eras. He's in a German word again, and this is DeSoto again some few years ago. This is the sign at the Blaisdell Center as it is looked in the 1960s, the 1980s. And if you look on the left, there's a young DeSoto round with dyed blonde hair posing with a poster for the divo concert that was about to happen. And in the lower right corner of the screen you see DeSoto Brown many years later, meeting Mark Mothersbaugh, who was the lead singer of the group, DeVo, and getting his autograph and getting my picture taken with him. So it all comes back around as it always does. And the Blaisdell Center has been the host of all kinds of different programs over the years since it opened in 1964. And I saw DeVo there, but everybody else has seen all kinds of other things there as well. And it's served a very important purpose in the city of Honolulu. So if we go to picture two, we see someone who's almost as famous as you and DeVo, which is this gentleman here, Mr. Alvis Presley. And you told me that before the Blaisdell was built, there was no venue that could host shows of that caliber, right? Correct. So the Blaisdell being built then enabled this particular show, which is Elvis from Hawaii, which became the largest at that time broadcasted via satellite events. So very, very, very important, very, very famous, put our little tiny spots island chain on the world map of world broadcasting, right? And that was 1973. And there is the statue of Elvis at the Blaisdell Center today that commemorates this concert, which as you said, was an international event back when it happened in 1973. And it's standing close to the ticket booth and we can get picture three. This is just to get people an idea who aren't around how the Blaisdell looks right now. And this one is particularly the big arena where these big concerts happen. But before we dive in deeper, let's take a look at picture number four, which gives us an idea how the site looked like before all that. Yeah. And this was a private home. This was a home of a family called the wards, which is why Ward Avenue is one of the boundaries of the Blaisdell Center. And on this ward property, there were natural springs and naturally fed ponds, which were there as well as a full host of coconut trees and other types of trees. And gradually Honolulu urbanized around the site. And then in 1958, when the last member of the family died, the city and county Honolulu purchased the property specifically to develop into the complex which became today's Blaisdell Center. And that's what we see on picture number five where it all got drained and dredged and the palm trees cut down, leading to the picture number six, which is the condition in 1964 where you can see that the area is comprised of in the front of the picture that arena. In the middle is the exhibit hall and at the very end to what's that park, Malka side, is the concert hall. And a little bit of parking on the far right side and today, of course, there's a parking building there. Originally it was just one big flat parking lot and that's going to play into what we're going to be discussing later on in the program. Exactly. And for that, we need to visualize the current condition which is the next picture number seven, which shows looking at the complex, seeing the arena in the distance in the back and seeing the exhibit hall in the middle ground. And you can see that there has been some adding on to the exhibit hall, I believe in the early 90s, which both as far as the narrowing the public space between what avenue, which you mentioned, and that one was compromised. And we also, I think it's fair to say, was architecturally compromised because our permanent background picture, actually that you guys see when we don't have any particular other picture in there, is showing the exhibit hall in its original condition. And you talked about that public workshop, DeSoto, and can we get picture number eight? Our show is very timely because that first workshop that was held by the city was in February of 2015. So now we're two and a half years later and workshop number two is actually happening in two days. So people, please go and engage. And today's show is sort of speak food for thought for preparing you to reflect and have an opinion of whatever kind in that workshop. And number eight basically shows a proposal and I hope that I read the online available material right that this is what the city basically suggests after having consulted all the experts and the public, which is pretty much sort of returning to the roots of emphasizing the public outdoor space. You can see all that green in here and you can see that the arena and the concert hall are suggested to be kept while the exhibit hall is supposed to be replaced by some kind of structure. But basically the main message that makes me happy is you see a lot of green so that emphasizing that outdoor space is something that the city is suggesting. So in number 10, let's see the concert hall. This picture I took a few while ago while looking at Malca and you see the park across the street and I'm standing in front of the building or in the building which is that big open lanai where when we go to the next picture number 11 that big roof overhang with that waffle slap structure is becoming that big celebratorial space that especially at night through the illumination really lights up and has a very glorious celebratory effect. And I pulled this picture number 11 from a peer review by the monocle magazine which is an internationally recognized magazine that also publishes these tour guides, city guides and at the very top left you can see which of the metropolises in the world and selection of them they consider to be worthwhile to be featured and guess what? They also consider our metropolis of Honolulu one and they make a major point the major part of that whole point is mid-century modern and relative to that they pick the Blaisdell center as a prime piece that they think is so cool that they feature it so lots of culturally interested tourists in the world you know have an expectation when they go to Honolulu and they want to see these jewels this is by the way one of the reasons we named the show after that. So picture number 12, what do we see there? Well I was going to say that this is one of the three jewels that we're talking about that comprise the Blaisdell center the concert hall, the meeting area and the arena and this as you've pointed out is this amazing screen which is a custom made metal screen and in each one of those open spaces there is a custom cut piece of amber textured glass which fits in and yet it leaves open space so that there's air movement and one of the things that you and I were talking about is that this is an art piece of itself which you could not replicate today because of the expense that's involved so whatever is going to be happening to the Blaisdell one of the things that needs to be kept in mind is this in particular must not be done away with or demolished or altered tremendously because of its uniqueness and irreplaceableness. Exactly and that's a recommendation or suggestion we would have if someone would ask us is that while the suggestion is right to keep jewels the arena and keep the other jewel the concert hall which we're seeing here there were some suggestions in the text of the current document online that suggests to update these facilities which is understandable you got to go with the time but as you said you better return to the roots what it was about at the very beginning and again number 12 what we're looking at the picture is once again the monocle Sirius who recognized that screen as something so cool that people from all over the world should travel there and check it out and the top picture is from the monocle the bottom picture is our pictures that I took from that thing and as you said this metal grill that is so delicate and then these hand cut chevron-like glass pieces they have been glued in there by hand and everyone who builds a building in Honolulu knows if you spend like millions of hours building something you spend millions of dollars and that is the reason why this jewel in particular this this micro jewel within the bigger macro jewel is not buildable in these days anymore because we're talking public project we're talking public funding let's move to the next picture number 13 which shows the third jewel which is the arena itself and and the same applies to arena the arena is a jewel you can even say formally it's a jewel because it has kind of a diamond chain as a macro form well when you go to the detail which is number 14 you see that that's a polishing of that diamond is also true to the very detail right and something I also want to point out too is that because the parts of these buildings are surrounded by water that's below level you get not only a reflection of the water during the day that illuminates the building from underneath but at night you get the reflection of the illuminated building in the water and the water adds a great deal to the entire experience and the water is a an homage if you will to the water features that used to exist on the property that we showed you a photo of at the beginning of the program so this is not just decorative it actually is a historical reference to what used to be there exactly so it's very it's a performative feature right it performs it also performs climatically by the way because only in our privileged tropics evaporative cooling is is possible right so you make the formal comfort of the concert guests better and as you said water is is actually less landscape element here it's actually an architectural element correct and so is the refinement of the architecture that gets reflected like this column I mean think about columns the day event typologies are built today they're built the cheapest where they're built with ground columns or square columns this sort of trapezoid shape sectional shape of the column is close to impossible today given the fact of how highly capitalized and profit based these typologies are so Blaisdell center is unique because this was culturally approached and money really didn't matter as much as it does today and so regulation again to the city to seem to have recognized that and and and we encourage a city to follow through with that through all the detailing so whenever you retrofit which you have to which we understand you can do that in a hidden way there's so many historic buildings which have to be updated I remember I I T by means from the row in Chicago where a crooked sex and have replaced the single paying glass with double or triple pain right so that you don't see that so things like that are actually possible correct and something you pointed out too is that this yeah goes along with the show that we just did about cookie canopies that are probably irreplaceable today just because of the engineering that's involved the jagged roofline and the sort of the underneath part of this is sort of a zigzag too and this is something that wouldn't be done today and it needs to be preserved because it's so much of its time and because nobody would build it that way today exactly so then let that gives us the focus on the third jewel that actually the city seems to think to have to be replaced so let's go to number 15 and that's the exhibit hall this is a picture which shows the transition between the arena and the exhibit hall and returning to our last show which you just said is this idea of having a nature in a twined with architecture here's those some palm trees going through the roof which isn't so much the case anymore and number 16 is a picture of the current situation of the exhibit hall looking at it from the diamond head side which shame on me and I've been a visitor of some shows there I have never seen that pond which is part of the blamed on what has happened over the years where you can see there's a solid wall and that solid wall had not been there originally if we go to the next picture this is a picture you provided the soda which shows it in its original use and occupation right yes this is a picture from the late 1960s inside the exhibit hall it was interestingly a Luau for Mayor Neil Blaisdell who for whom the complex is now named it was originally called the Honolulu International Center and the name is changed in the 1980s but originally that wall the walls were mostly open there were vertical louvers there were open spaces underneath that zigzag ceiling and then in the center of the ceiling in the center of the roof there were these raised portions which had an open space around them so you are getting entirely natural air movement not only through the walls but all through through these open spaces in the ceiling in the roof and the next picture you provide provided as well I think from your eyewitness position right absolutely a car show in there which has now moved to the convention center correct and in this picture people can see what you just described however here these two big openings in the roof which I remind me of clearings in the forest had already been covered but at least there was some gap between the original roof and the new roof so air could go through and you know you get some light in there correct and so if if you replace that that jewel because when I was in there and was showing the age home at the BIA show I was noticing these very delicate also going back to our last show mushroom type pillars and roofs almost like little umbrellas they're very delicate and they they don't make that much sense anymore because their context the easy breezy context and then be standing alone like umbrellas that you find shelter underneath from rain in the sun has been has been altered has been destroyed pretty much so we're saying using them picture number 19 is another picture you were digging out to sell it right picture 19 that's an old picture of that's an artistic view from the 1960s of what this used to look like as if you were looking at it from Thomas Square and one of the things that you pointed out was the view from the concert hall across King Street to Thomas Square is part of also the experience and even though King Street is a very busy street if you look across to the greenery of Thomas Square you're not really that aware of the street you have this extended view as part of your experience of attending the concert there and that's what's really important and I can see that in the plan at the upper part of this at this slide that we're showing right now that continuation and that view towards Thomas Square still remains something that they are thinking about and that's that's implied in this which I think is extremely important and I'm glad that somebody's got that awareness. Yeah, yeah, so it's compliance with the original intent as you said this artist rendering or architect rendering that is was not by the way of computer rendering because computers didn't know they didn't exist at that time to do this stuff they existed but not to do high end photo realistic renderings by no means this is a very suggestive illustration and the suggestion is you know this is still paradise right this is still tropical they're still palm trees and these jewels are so there's these nice you know little pieces of jewelry that are nestled in this paradise old nature and some of those original trees some of those trees I think are original to the site I think were originally planted there they did not keep all of them but they did keep some of those original coconut bombs which are still standing today. Absolutely so when we were thinking about that okay this is the challenge now the whole area has to be updated and to be brought up to the expectations of modern entertainment industry so and times have changed so there's there's significant change happening so how can you you know make that possible while not bastardizing compromising the original master plan idea meaning the experience of people not being in Minneapolis not being in New York City being in Honolulu Hawaii where outdoors is possible all year round and I was you know reflecting on that while thinking about a project we have done some years ago which is the next picture and then the top pictures left and the picture on the right shows where we were asked to do a kindergarten in Germany's oldest university in Göttingen and to integrate it into the campus into the Arboreum campus the greenery of the campus and we said we don't want to build there so we decided to put the building not underground but berm the building put dirt over it and next to it so you kind of camouflage the building and a more prominent example of that strategy is our colleagues know Hedda's Oslo opera house which can see at the very bottom left which they said you know there are people who can't afford to buy a ticket so make the opera and and and inclusive event and they suggested to me to celebrate the fifth facade which is the roof and they make the roof accessible and we'll never forget when Craig Digress was visiting us at my times in Nebraska and in he was in his lecture he was pulling a YouTube video that was showing a guy on a cross motorcycle driving it on the edge of that roof and police chasing him and he saw that as the proof of evidence for the success of his design that the public was able to engage the building but again that's that's like you know not probably literally applicable to our situation but another event which is the next picture I was able to attend here this is in in historic Dresden and VW was able to convince the city to build a clean glazed factory in downtown Dresden next to the most historic parks and one big open gathering space which you can see here I was attending with my family here a concert of where Placida Domingo was the conductor in that case a fabulous event and the architecture the modern clear architecture became the backdrop the background and next picture number 22 one of the pieces of architecture is actually a car storage tower this very round cylindric building is actually a building where they store their their cars the cars they have just you know recently made they display them and then there's a robot arm that that you know takes them out and and brings them down and delivers them to the to the customer and the little picture to the ride is a tower we've been able to do many years ago when the smart car was first introduced to Germany where it comes from we have these similar automated parking garages and a very dear friend of mine of ours who passed away a couple of years ago unfortunately had always been the biggest fan of of these of these parking of these automated parking towers so so Earhart thanks for that inspiration and bringing this back we a lot ourselves on the next picture number 23 to make a suggestion I think you call it a suggestion the last show so you already made a promise to the audience and this is us suggesting to say hey what if if you bring all these news necessary functions into this sort of backbone service building this is big bar in the back and you see these rounds scribbled in circles this is the suggested parking cylinders because then you can park so much more efficiently and effectively without having to have the traffic back up and and jam right and so why don't you do that and through that you can basically free the exhibit hall from it's it's Oh from it's yeah I think we just lost Martin what Martin has been saying is that this backbone structure that he's proposing would be for two reasons one for parking and he points out that you can do this do this automated parking system which has been done in Honolulu before the Honolulu there you got back the aloha motors Chevrolet car dealership using a large automated parking garage in the 1960s and there's also a small one that's been functioning for many years in Macaulay I assume it's still there and something else that Martin said would be to use this structure to project upon so that isn't just one big concrete thing but to use that surface is something that you could project images onto so that if you aren't actually attending a concert outside you can see stuff that's projected on the building and I think that Honolulu is really losing out on not using our structures more for nighttime illumination for drama for interest for entertainment and that's what this new structure which would take the place of the current parking structures that the Blaisdell Center might be worth investigating and so I think that's something that really should be talked about and it's a combination of using new technology for parking cars in which you don't need the space that are required for ramps and as Martin said it can be done a lot more efficiently so that you don't have a big traffic backup going out onto King Street and blocking traffic and the building can be used for different different types of uses etc. So I think absolutely there you are are you back Martin I'm back and if you get picture number 24 here this illustrates what you were just talking about is that while the structure would be new but its inspiration is of local kind not only have these automated parking systems exited at this Chevrolet dealer but also this facade could be a louvert facade and these louvers would shade the building from the west side would keep it cool but also these louvers could be the projection screen there's LED versions of that and as you pointed out and this traces back to one of our very first shows which was the Alamoana building which was super innovative at the very top left it had these louvers so there's island tradition that you could relate to even architecturally but once again this building is first and foremost you know functionally comprising all these extra functions you need but then more importantly it becomes the backdrop almost the stage curtain for these jewels we're talking about and getting towards the end of the show so maybe we get number 25 which is actually our permanent background show that through that you could bring back that third jewel which is the exhibit hall which I think is a marvelous building it's this pavilion this outdoor pavilion with these breeze blocks easy breezy screens this is paradise this is tropical and this is what what people might want to embrace more these days than in the 90s when the exhibit hall was pretty much under the zeitgeist of the 90s air conditioning was was big indoors was big and I believe we luckily overcame these days and we're maybe ready to reconnect to the easy breezy original well if we're lucky we will get there all right sounds good okay well that brings us to the end of another human humane architecture episode on think tech Hawaii that was Martin Disfang the host of the program and I am to Soto Brown co-host and we will be joining you again two weeks from now for another episode of human humane architectures so until then I'll be one aloha