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My question was too "mainland?" "Mainlanders" usually come here asking questions. Some are frightened by the rumor of xenophobia in Hawai'i. Your reply does nothing to relieve them of that fear.
You know what's more "mainland" than anything, and one of the primary reasons I won't be missing my own mainland life after we move next month?
...the default presumption that it would EVER be someone else's job to worry about making you feel comfortable among their own culture. Seriously, that's like the most whitebread, suburbanized, American, privileged thing ever and it's just gross. In fact, it's actually making that presumption that's xenophobic, and mind-blowingly arrogant to boot.
The islands are like a gift, you don't waltz in the front door and announce "honey, I'm home!" and expect your coat to hang itself up and dinner to materialize or something. You show up humbled and awed and thankful and you make it your job from day one to investigate and learn and adapt and figure out how you can become a helpful and deserving part of the amazing Aloha that already exists there. At least, that's always been my presumption.
Chill out, say mahalo for how nice people are being to you in this thread, and take off your shoes and exhale a little. It's all good dude. Oh and by the way the way you asked your question is silly and trollish and yes, totally loaded. There's TONS of unique and interesting "architecture" all over the islands. You probably won't find it in a boring gated community, but that's because those are built to feel like the mainland (duh).
I firmly believe that when one is good at his construction related profession (like being a builder, plumber, electrician, roofer, carpenter, etc) there is a lot of ingenuity in him. That means coming in with the job on time despite unexpected circumstances, dealing with some faults of a material, not having the best tool in the right moment, last minute design changes, and so on. You can't do any crafts without being flexible, having ideas on all levels, plus coming up with unique solutions and improvements. This creativity, ingenuity can be learned and trained and should be extended to the overall look and feel of a building. Even if its as ordinary as a dog house or car port or row house.
It'll go a long way with the current customer, but also with competitors, suppliers and general word-of-mouth about your company. You'll get more jobs. If one is bored doing an uninspiring 9-4 job at an office, it's no fun and your coworkers may feel it. If you do the same as an architect, EVERYBODY sees it. You have to challenge yourself to get better in everything. Either todays Hawaiian architects get less challenged or don't challenge themselves enough?
I wonder how many current Hawaiian architects can still draw by hand? When my parents planned their house, the architect sat with them at my grandparents kitchen table. Sketching right there every room, perspectives, draperies, furniture, garden, trees, the whole bit. They kept these sketches till today.
Well, my first post ever here has been a disaster. I felt sick all day about how this has developed. I certainly wasn't trying to get a rise out of anyone. I am not trolling. Maybe I didn't phrase my question with enough sensitivity; I apologize for that. I thought it was a fairly lightweight question. I did not realize I would get slammed for it. I was careless. I did not consider the repercussions.
I have so far been told that I think of Hawaiians as "mud people,"(?) that I am a haole, that my post was bogus, that my question was "so mainland," and that I need to get over myself. Personal assumptions about me have been made without any factual basis.
"Bogus" is a bit harsh. Yes, it's not a standard thread, and I 'get' that some people are just not that interested in architecture. However, I do think that the architecture of Hawaii is worth commenting upon and studying. The U of H thinks so as well, apparently.
University of Hawaii, Manoa
School of Architecture
ARCH 577 History of Hawaiian Architecture (3) Investigation of social, cultural, political, climactic, and technological factors influencing the historical development of architecture in Hawai'i. ARCH majors only. A-F only.ARCH 515
Interesting follow-up post, since you started the thread, which seemed to imply it was bland. It's a good topic, and maybe people need to start a thread that gets people riled up.
Personally, I love all the different styles in Hawaii, even the styles that look like typical California even. I've always liked the architecture in California, Nevada, Florida and such as well. I like the unique stuff in Hawaii, and all the different Asia influenced architecture types as well. I pretty much like it all.
What I don't like, is the generic mainstream U.S. architecture that is absolutely everywhere from the 1950s up until today. I dont mind the CA, NV, FL stuff. But I really strongly dislike 95% of what I see in states like Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, North Dakota, Idaho, Tennesee, Alabama, etc.
I like most of what I see in Hawaii though, and I even like stucco and mediterranean and all that in CA, and I like the Southwest US style. I even like the old brick stuff you'd see inside the city limits of St. Louis and cities like that.
But, 90% of those ugly ranch style homes in the U.S. and that generic aluminum siding thats on everything throughout most of the heartland of the U.S. Sometimes I feel anywhere that doesn't have that in the U.S., is automically good just by not having it everywhere.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 06-29-2013 at 09:24 PM..
You are a builder. Now I get it. Nothing personal.
My question was too "mainland?" "Mainlanders" usually come here asking questions. Some are frightened by the rumor of xenophobia in Hawai'i. Your reply does nothing to relieve them of that fear.
I don't think Hawaii necessarily needs to cater to Mainlander's tastes and such though.
It's kind of like if Mexicans were trying to decide to emigrate to the U.S., and than started complaining that U.S. cities kind of suck compared to Mexican cities. The architecture is bland and boring.
Americans say that they it just the way it is. Than Mexicans say "if you want us to emigrate to your country, you should be more accomodating to our tastes"
If you think of the Hawaii/Mainlander argument you've created, and apply it in that way to yourself. That's basically what people in Hawaii are hearing. People in Hawaii aren't necessary trying to or need to accomodate mainland people. Mainlanders are just as obsessed with moving to Hawaii regardless, just as much as Mexicans are with the U.S. If anything, there is a need to curtail or slow it down.
Actually, to be honest, if Hawaii started building housing to accomodate current mainland tastes, I'd be expecting some very seriously ugly monstrosities coming down the pipeline. I'd rather just have Hawaii do whatever it is that it's already doing. Personally, I really like all the high-rises sprouting up throughout Honolulu as well. Has a nice distinct Asian flavor or even Vancouver BC flavour, somewhat.
Am I the only one that thinks there are a lot of sensitive here? You'd think the op said he was moving with $5,000, was a minimalist, wants public assistance, wants to live off grid, wants a unperturbed cabin, wants to move sight unseen - I think it was a fairly tame thread.
Asking about bland architecture is a fine topic. He could ask the same question about any city or region of the US. I guess he expected Hawaii to be unique because of the climate or history, but found too many similarities to anywhere USA.
I believe less than 3 percent of US homes are designed by architects, which leads to ignoring the terrain, climate and unique features of the sight. Falling Water was designed for its site, a tract home is not. There is an added cost to have an architect design a house and unique houses can be harder to sell. Most builders want to build a high profit quick selling house and will try to meet the market demands. My house has ridiculously small fake shutters that if they were real would not come close to covering the windows, which is the purpose of shutters. But if we did not have the small fake shutters, my wife would feel the windows were naked. This is just her expectations.
Hawaii does have kit homes which follow traditional plantation styles; they can be twice as large as the 800-1000 sq foot real plantation camp homes. The kit homes still provide the opportunity to build the house on piers and put vents in in the floors which help prevent mildew/fungus from growing in closets. And still allow good air flow and living on the lanai.
Not so. I was trying to understand why newer houses (even custom-built one off houses) in Hawai'i look just like tract houses everywhere else, and wondered why Hawaiian houses don't seem to reflect whatever "Hawaiian values" are, if they are indeed so different than "mainland values."
It's an issue of cost, plain and simple.
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It's not really important to the topic, I know, but this statement confuses me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fredesch
I believe less than 3 percent of US homes are designed by architects,
Then who draws up blueprints?
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