COTE SPEAKER SERIES (HYBRID)

COTE Speaker Series

Resources and Resourcefulness: Building in Hawaii

December 6, 2023

Local and Resilient: Earthen, Strawbale and Hemp Construction in Hawaii

The AIA Honolulu Committee on the Environment (COTE) works for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We strive to advance, involve, and educate the building community and the public on best design practices and their effects on the environment. We seek to foster community and connections among all in the building sector interested in sustainable design for a healthier more resilient Hawaii.

With our Resources and Resourcefulness: Building in Hawaii speaker series, AIA Honolulu COTE is exploring alternatives to business-as-usual building materials and systems, seeking solutions that are regenerative, healthy and carbon sequestering.  Anyone who has done the math on shipping or struggled with supply-chain problems can quickly see the many advantages of locally produced goods.  These include resilience to global shocks, opportunities for workforce development, GHG emissions reductions, healthy living environments, and more.  Yet, in this most remote place on earth known as Hawai’i, a place graced with a temperate climate, abundant sunshine and rain, so little of what we build with is truly local, let alone sustainable.  We’re asking:  What would it take?

Join us for the next AIA Honolulu COTE Resources and Resourcefulness: Building in Hawaii speaker series event:

Local and Resilient: Earthen, Strawbale and Hemp Construction in Hawaii

• Pau hana, 5pm - Join us in person to connect with friends new and old as we build our community of sustainability leaders.
• Hybrid presentation and discussion will begin at 5:30pm.

It does not get much more local than earthen construction, a collection of building strategies that use the onsite (or nearby) dirt for building. Meanwhile, our legislated requirement to increase local food production will cause more agricultural waste, the main ingredient in strawbale construction leading to a solution that neatly addresses issues of both waste and building material supply. At the same time, farmers on-island are actively expanding farms to grow and process industrial hemp, a material with a long history of many uses including as a carbon-sequestering, healthy building material.

Join us Wednesday, December 6 as David Arkin, AIA, co-founder of Arkin Tilt Architects, co-chair of AIA National’s 2030 Commitment Working Group and former director of the California Straw Building Association (CASBA) discusses earthen, strawbale and hemp construction and how these well-tested strategies may fare in our current and changing climate. After his presentation, David will be joined by Jim Nicolow, FAIA, Sustainability Director at Lord Aeck Sargent (and 2022 AIA Honolulu President) for Q&A and conversation.

FREE but please register below so we have enough food and drink.

Earn 1 AIA/CES LU!