Gold Key – Lobby Luxury
The Highlights: Designers faced two challenges at this beloved resort. First, how to tackle the massive renovation? Second, what’s the best way to spotlight and embrace local culture to create an authentic and contemporary experience? The answer: Give it some soul. At the heart of the public space is a loggia around which the program unfolds. There, a centuries-old canoe, a remnant of the property’s previous life, highlights the base of the central stair. In the multistory atrium, the design team crafted a central hale structure, added murals by local artists, and created seating zones to control circulation.
It Came From the Ala Wai: 6 Strange Creatures That Thrive in Waikīkī’s Sewage Filled Canal
What lurks in the murk of Honolulu’s most prominent drainage ditch? Lots of things, including a fish that can literally give you nightmares.
October 23, 2017
Photos: Elyse Butler Mallams
An old film clip in the archives of the Bishop Museum shows a group of children and adults, in early 20th-century swimwear, frolicking in the waters of the Ala Wai Canal. It probably dates to the 1920s, the same decade the two-mile-long canal was dug to drain Waikiki’s wetlands and create more buildable ground there.