 to have you back to this our show, Think Tech Hawaii's Human Humane Architecture. This happening to be the 311th episode and you are a thankful viewer as you see down there. Thanks Michael. And this is our 10th time in looking in Membring Lahaina, how we can all get together and make Lahaina at least what it was in best case something even better. And so after you DeSoto Brown, hi. So DeSoto is usually our Bishop Museum historian but with us from his Austencroft designed home on Wednesdays as today and we have Martin Ancelini Beck, hi Martin. And Martin is going to share with us how that nice future could look like. So this is our veteran state to have had addition and we want to thank our utmost veteran Ron Lindgren, our late and mid-century modern master who has fought for us in Vietnam and also has fought for us in architecture and just to recap what we said why he's our hero to that degree as well from last time. We said from your two cultures DeSoto he did not steal any from your Hawaiian culture because he never owned land here. He also did not steal anything from your American culture, your American style DeSoto because he kept his feet so tight and humbly too little that he just you know owns and now rents a little bit of a shelter. On top of that he also did not sell out not internally as some of the firms have unfortunately been doing I mean worst cases Takashi Anbi's office were the ones who basically you know continued it after his death just basically used and abused the name for sorry very horrible architecture and you Ron you guys also did not sell out externally as many of the firms when they want to call it good basically sell the company to some who want to buy it to then use the name again to do things often however unfortunately not in the in the sense of the philosophy of the firm none of these things you have done this is why you are our utmost hero and veteran both as a soldier and as an architect. One thing Ron we talked openly DeSoto we with him is that one thing he wasn't achieving was inclusivity unfortunately because Conrad Hilton spotted you guys early you went for the exclusive although there is a show in our courtyard series DeSoto where we were showing that at Killingsworth had a nice proposal for actually migrant workers that did not go because again he got stuck with you know the his fame of being becoming a wonderful of course tropical exotic hospitality designer all over the world so that being said unfortunately again and also you know selling selling out I just refamiliarized myself with what has been my raw model my hero from my period days in Nebraska I am Pays Bank which its design partner was James Engel Fried who I did more research these days maybe this is where there comes the affiliation because he's actually German originally a Jewish German and that way had to leave with which is now coming up unfortunately all over the world the hate against Jews that's what my culture unfortunately brought to the most extreme Holocaust tragedy back then and he fled from that and came to America and blessed America with the best towards his end unfortunately architecturally I was shocked too if you google and I will save you from negative pictures here but you can google the Ronald Reagan building slash trade center in Washington DC that he did late in his career and it's unfortunately what was backing up Trump with his call for classicist style for federal building that's what he was doing there already so that that's pretty sad so even firms like I am pay the great I am pay and even the work they're doing these days is not what I am and what Engel and Mr. Kopp you know did so again who goes to run but we want that to you know okay what happened to the bank is if you google the reason there's a bank moving into the bank building and the firm of Sinclair Hilly in Nebraska was doing something terrible horrible I save you from having to look at that here on the show you got to look it up you got to google it so we were even more enthused to tell the owners of our and the operators of our I am pay here and for that reason please go to the next slide Michael and this is basically Katharina and Christopher and Justin and Carlos who own and operate the Harlem and Noah here on campus and we thank you so much that you are not doing that and you were saying well we don't have the funds and he basically said luckily you don't have them so you won't have you know ideas how to spend it maybe not so it's it's a good thing so both in the Holly Kalani runs where they intentionally they have the money but they don't spend it on giving it the novelty touch and in Harlem and Noah they don't have the funds and hopefully now us talking to you guys about it you also if you would have the money wouldn't go and why is that Martin because what we see her now is what we tour together and so now you share with us what impressed you and might have even backing up your proposals for Lahaina yeah I just to synthesize what is happening this in this fantastic building is we are talking about the building that was building 62 so 60 years old building that is working with the original details, furniture, amenities since then it's still operating as it was operating 60 years ago so the first lesson lesson is about doing things right no the high quality really implies of course probably a down an initial bigger down payment probably at least a bigger effort in terms of architecture not just randomly copy and paste details but doing doing things right understanding the site thinking about details and and building properly you know with high quality materials and this will stand of course the building now we were doing the tour with the persons that are operating till the building and it is a building that again still alive with the original construction then something which is fantastic is how passive systems work passive systems for the non-architect is how we can save energy basically we can we can generate a better comfort without the necessity of gadgets AC fans even solar panels no the building works very good we see there in the images simple elements that probably are familiar to us know how this natural ventilation works the location of the building its position towards the trade winds towards the sun makes it very comfortable so this is the important and then I would add simple not a complex is not the same as complicated probably it is actually the opposite no so probably doing the things that should be done without the research of a style or a message or the fulfillment of the ego it is just maybe it would be just enough to do things right and things will stand longer and will be more appropriated as we were talking before about should be happening in line and the third thing which is probably the most amazing about that building but also about the whole complex of the east-west center and the east-west center itself is as an institution is the this idea of sharing is we are in this building you really feel I mean we were in a random day in a random moment and you really feel that people is sharing they they share bicycles they share surfboards they share food the spaces for eating are communal in the toilets again we are talking about a 60 year old building where shared between men and women and this is amazing no and then if you want to have your intimacy you have your dorm but it is just more a space to be concentrated if you want to study by yourself because there is also study the communal study places and to sleep and to be alone if you want something that sometimes it is also needed but the rest of the life happens communally which is great no in the future and we will be more and more living in communal ways the best examples as student housing as as what is happening around the universities and in the east-west center in particular but also for example senior living the american society is getting older and in many cases senior living is a is a way of communal living massive and we and on that note we yeah we have two examples just chipping in that we just showed and I was the one in charge of one of them at our Doka Momo walking tour by Frank Slavsky who had done two one we did a show about with one of our former emerging talents David Liang whose mother lived in the one that's on the end or the beginning of Papulani Boulevard sorry Kala Kawa Avenue that's by Frank Slavsky and then now there's the one which is close to the H1 just ever behind Queen Emma Gardens these are both examples and by the way they use the same biochromatic ventilation trick as this building can you explain this a little bit more and this is the picture at the very middle on the on the very right column uh yes it is ventilations that devices are an artificial fund it is a device on which you can just control the the the opening to let air create winds and come in yeah so the images the other images keep going show how the building is open so you have cross ventilation all the time yeah and when we we go back to slide three this is why we have hopefully continue this photo with Ron with you Ron our automobile architecture comparison because there's lots to learn from that as we say and you yet have to say share the story how you were flying with uh with a young woman in a in a willy's Jeep over there in in Vietnam and the willy's Jeep originally was a simple rugged utilitarian vehicle right that also made it like that into the civilian realm now as we see uh you know when we drive on Alamoana Boulevard in the showport at the bottom right the second from right now these cars just like the Mustang we talked before they get commodified comfortable and convenient by not only stretching them so it used to be a two-seater with some spare extra seats or carrying some stuff in the back now it becomes a family car and they become enclosed however with some options that you can open them but mostly you see people driving around in them and being hermetic so that's the same everywhere things that started out buildings as Kurt Sander and who are going to see in a few days looking forward to in San Francisco uh started out as stachmanized mid-century and they got mumuized over the times which we see them in Kakaako over and over again so it's the same thing as starting out simple affordable rugged and all of a sudden it morphs capitalism makes it morphs into the opposite into hermetic and exclusive and again the the willy's Jeep was was that also you know once it was owned by Kaiser who has a long legacy upon retirement here on our island that we talked about which is show quote in the top right refers to and it was a a cheap car it had to be cheap right cheap and utilitarian and if that gets us back to Halla Minoa next slide against slide four because we also put in the affordability it's 25 bucks per night if you do the math this is 750 dollars for our emerging generation and it's not ours because shame on me as part of QH and you Martin paying for us at QH we don't do this anymore we do the opposite we built new dorms that are what the the the stretch you know Jeep now becomes commodified convenient ties a seed hermetic capitalized and then it's going to be 14 1500 dollars for what they ironically call two bedrooms but is actually one small room almost as small as the ones in Halla Minoa and you squeeze two beds in there and and the mindset is not what you said you kind of retract into your private bubble at times and then you expand out into the multitudinal of the communal live but the communal live is basically you know not as fantastic and paradisical I mean these these communal open kitchens up there high in the sky they're just the best ever and again I am I know because I had the privilege to stay in there for the first week when I came here because they hosted me and I I wish I could have stayed it was it was just the best so here is the federal government who runs east west center providing you know paradisical life for young people you know for us in Hawaii and and we should all do that we as you ate and we coming back to Lahaina right because that's why are we talking about all this because this is the core problem of Lahaina right is can people afford to go back and this is a prime example yes as you rightly so said Martin for 60 years they've been able to they've been able and willing to do it and keep the cost so that people can still afford it that's what's so amazing so it's it's affordable and absolutely paradisical at the same time you know we were once hearing Stanford car when he was building the first you know supposedly for local workforce people he said it doesn't work you can either have you know affordable or easy breezy and this is this is the answer no that is just an excuse because 60 years ago it was possible and it's still running up and running that way and so actually the the the cost of the of the ac and some systems makes it more expensive yep absolutely so um we we're gonna do one last round next week where we're gonna wrap it up we're gonna talk about what you learned from this also for uh going home um you know at times uh to Columbia and where you see that you know hospitality could be a great opportunity for your culture we also will next week wrap up and because all of a sudden it is not saying it is not saying just on on on Maui because we all of a sudden have Mililani Maoka just so that what happened there well Mililani Maoka is currently has been undergoing a fire for some days now and because it has not been threatening any uh habitation or any buildings it has been allowed to burn and that's also very difficult to try to fight it in their location that it said but the really important part of that fire is that it's in what formerly would not have burned it's in wetland forest it's in upper Maoka mountain areas which normally would have in the past been so damp so wet so green that there wouldn't have been a long lasting fire the fact that there is a fire in this area shows first of all the lack of rain and that is not only probably a temporary thing but that's going to be our continuing climate saga as we continue forward through time the lack of rain is going to lead to more dryness it's going to lead to more fuel for fires and that means fires are going to continue to be a major concern well we saw what happened in Lahaina in August we saw the destruction of the town through an uncontrolled fire which started in dry vegetation and this is scary because we're going to continue to see more of that and we have to be planning for that we talk about planning for other things we talk about easy breezy living and those are yes very important concerns for our day to day life but we also have to be adapting to the changing environment we live in not only from the increased danger of fires but also the rise in sea levels too and that's something we've talked about a lot so architecture and development and urbanization are all going to have to take these things into account not just what's comfortable to live in but what's safe to live in and how can we live in the environment which is continuing to change and not in good ways for that excellent point if we can get picked back because what you're doing Martin and for that Ron is your hero too because when he was sending us this picture about his house and we were all you know saying yes but you the audience might say where is the house I don't see a house and that's actually the point this is this is nature you know architecture becomes nature so Ron is as proud rightly about his green scape in front of his house and and and also blurring into his house then his house itself and that way you know you keep it you keep it lubricated you keep it irrigated and that way you know as every organism needs to do that and maybe on these notes Martin pick up some of the other you know project illustrations from your project and and explain us why your proposal is actually a hybrid of nature and architecture and maybe if we go to slide 21 what what I would say to compliment what what what the sort was saying is that we should keep what we should instead of like very water directly make it circulate faster and actually clean it good and throw it back to the sea we should keep water in the in the land we should keep water here as much as possible of course in nature and also in the built environment the more we are able to generate reservoirs artificial and natural wetlands as waste of cleaning water of storing water which is also a way of storing energy of course it should be done in a with a contemporary energy system with a contemporary engineering instead of these water dams that were built before that were cutting all the natural systems but what I am trying to illustrate in this image is it is a little bit abstract but is that why not bringing if we would be able to bring water into the built environment which is hard because normally we want to keep water away because we don't want our backyard to get to get wet and this can bring mosquitoes and now heavy rain maybe what will come in time but if we build good water systems engineering have engineering have the solutions we could have the water there and this will help us to in general terms to be more resilient in many cases no of course to cultivate but also in cases of emergency to have water closed to be able to control fires for example yeah it's slide 29 if we can have that back and we hear your birth disorder that's all part of the natural system so bringing in you know nature as again you know it's it's where i'm from and where you spend part of your youth disorder and martin you've been in switzerland it is too cold to let nature in at this time of the year for the next four to five to six months it is impossible because our human body is not able to withstand what nature does it shuts down all this irrigation system gets turned off because otherwise the tree would basically explode would be dynamite it from inside which is actually imploding and and so we we cannot do that so we have to hide but here we should embrace the elements and again then we can reduce it to the essential and essentialism as we said with you know the willies chief as it is with architecture that can be really good on so many levels it's it's just you know it's easier to maintain to be maintained and then also you know transitions into the 25 dollars of the of the halla minoa because there's just like little to you know fix it was done well and that that's the idea we can learn from we obviously in these days have and so that we've been doing many shows on on the second largest economy on the island which is the military just besides the number one which is hospitality and there's many facets to that and if we want to learn from it from a positive and of course there's like talking you know liquidation we liquidize our our island unfortunately with fossil fuel and put it into the ground for the many war machines we have to fuel and then it leaks and then it spills this is the red hill spill right and that's that's the bad side of it but looking for the good side you learn from the military as it as it's being you know to the spot being so again utilitarian and and why it's not architecture doing that and your architecture is actually doing that it's very utilitarian again we we do joint venturing with these two Germans Christian Beck with the with the ligno lock dowels the wood is ours we use local wood and then we have Carson Kleiner and unfortunately sorry Carson I called you Christian as well bind the two of you into one person you teach us how to use this material here which is basalt and making it into these making it into basalt ropes so these are the two materials the genetic code martin of your creations and they are basically endemic local but they use technologies from all over the world to push it to a level where you know your ancestors to Soto weren't able to do it because they were just by themselves but now we're one big world and just look at us you know we have a Hawaiian who's also American and we have a Colombian who's also been in Switzerland and we have a German who's now also in Hawaiian so you know that that's the beauty of the best of all worlds that we should embrace but always I guess again not bring our stuff unreflectedly and we have you know we have requests here and there of people who want to help but we gotta you know caution them and say you've got to adjust and adapt you want to do good and you want to bring but um you you've got to I'm pay again is is American Chinese right and his first project was almost killing his career that was the Hancock cow in Boston where the curtain wall that we want to transform into the water curtain while we're going to see more of that next next week was not quite you know developed to the degree it should have been and glass panels were falling off and and killing a child down there and talking you know east west center and Kennedy theater Jackie Kennedy saved his career because she choose him as a young upcoming amongst all the established to build the memorial for a husband who was cruising through our Waikiki a few months before he got shot in Dallas so this is all this sort of cosmopolitan realm that that you just sort of got so excited about when you were a kid a state of kid because nothing but the best came to you from everywhere and that's what we wish for Hina and that's what we think Martin your your proposal is doing so with that we're going to wrap this up with where it could go next and as well next week and until then please all stay humbly humane humane Lee humble see you next week