ASLA Celebrates its 2024 Hawaii Design Awards
Posted on Nov. 15, 2024 / People in the News / Subscribe 0
By: Nancy Cassandro
The American Society of Landscape Architects, Hawaii Chapter (ASLA Hawaii), announced the winners of their 2024 Design Awards at their Awards Gala, on September 26, 2024, at the Pacific Club in Honolulu. The Triennial Awards Program recognizes excellence in Landscape Architectural design.
Figure 1. ASLA Hawaii 2024 General Design-Award of Excellence, Keahuolu Courthouse, Kona, Hawaii. Landscape architects Ki Concepts. Photo courtesy of ASLA Hawaii.
General Design Award of Excellence: Keahuolu Courthouse, Kona, Hawaii.
Client: Hawaii State Judiciary and Department of Accounting and General Services.
Architect: Architects Hawaii, ltd.
General Contractor: Nan Inc.
Landscape Contractor: Resort Management Group, LLC.
General Design Honor Award: Honouliuli Middle School, Oahu.
Landscape architect: Ki Concepts.
Client: Hawaii Department of Education.
Architect: Ferraro Choi & Assoc., LTD and Miller Hall Partnership, LLP.
General Contractor: Nan, Inc.
Landscape Contractor: Island Landscape (Phase1) Green Thumb Inc. (Phase 2 & 3).
General Design Merit Award: Manoa Marketplace Refresh, Oahu.
Landscape architect: Walters, Kimura Motoda, Inc.
Client: Alexander and Baldwin.
Architect: JPRA Architects.
Landscape Contractor: Progressive Landscaping, Inc.
Planning and Analysis Merit Award: Waikiki Resilience and Sea Level Rise Adaptation Project (WRAP).
Investigators: University of Hawaii Community Design Center.
Client: State of Hawaii Office of Planning and Sustainable Development (OPSD).
Research Merit Award: Building Urban Tree Resiliency: Below Ground Root Mitigation.
Investigator: Dr. Andrew Kaufman, ASLA, MLA, PhD., Associate Professor, University of Hawaii, TPSS & CTAHR.
Client: City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Nursery and Landscape Professionals: ASLA, AAA, LICH.
Communication Honor Award: Aala Park: Community Participatory Proof of Concept Design. Investigators: The University of Hawaii Community Design Center.
Client: The Trust for Public Land (TPL).
ASLA Hawaii Student Design Awards: A total of 4 awards were given to the students of the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the UH Manoa School of Architecture. One Student General Design Award of Excellence, One Student Honor Award and 2 Student Merit Awards were presented.
View ALL 2024 Design Awards Videos at: https://www.hawaiiasla.org/awards
The awards celebration also recognized recipients of its Hawaii Chapter Recognition Awards, which are nominated by ASLA Hawaii members and selected by its Executive Committee. There are three Awards:
The Kupukupu Award, was presented to Matthew Higa, landscape designer at Ki Concepts for his outstanding contribution in leadership as an emerging professional in landscape architecture. The Kupukupu Award, named after the native Hawaiian fern, recognizes someone new and young who is breaking through the profession as an exemplary emerging professional.
The Malama Aina Award recognizes individuals or organizations outside of the field of Landscape Architecture for distinctive efforts in promoting the preservation and enhancement of the landscape in Hawaii. This year’s Award recipient is Lea Hong of the Trust for Public Land (TPL). Lea Hong is the national Vice President and Hawaii State Director for the Trust for Public Land. Under Lea’s leadership, the Trust for Public Land established TPL’s Aloha Aina program and TPL’s Sustainable Hawaii Program, which protects food, forests, and drinking water sources. Notable land protection completed projects include Ka Iwi Coast Mauka Lands, Kahuku Kawela Forever Turtle Bay Makai), and the Lands of Lihue (the Galbraith Estate). Visit Hawaii Land Conservation: Trust for Public Land
The Po okela Award means “striving for the best, commitment to excellence, champion, or pinnacle of excellence.” This award recognizes local landscape architects who have made significant contributions to the profession and our community in Hawaii. This year’s recipient, Lester Inouye, FASLA is recognized for his over 40 years of practice and volunteer contributions to ASLA, LICH, The Outdoor Circle, and many volunteer positions. See the full article.
Figure 2. From left to right: Tomoko Naka, ASLA, Dana Anne Yee, FASLA, Lester Inouye, FASLA, Carolyn Inouye, and Brandon Au, LICH Vice President.” Photo by Aria Studios, courtesy of ASLA Hawaii.
The ASLA Hawaii Chapter recognized Lester Inouye, FASLA, as its 2024 Po okela Award recipient for his long-standing commitment to the Landscape Architecture profession and the broader landscape industry in Hawaii. His early leadership reached out to landscape contractors, Danny Nakamura and John Okamura, and Professor Fred Rauch at the University of Hawaii College of Agriculture. They sowed the seeds to bridge the profession to our related landscape industry trades, advocates, and educators. This began the foundation of the Landscape Industry Council of Hawaii. What began as a few landscape contractors meeting at Lester’s office for pau hana, is now LICH; an organization of more than 250 members including landscape architects, landscape contractors, nursery growers, academic researchers, and invasive species specialists. The purpose of LICH was the sharing of information, conflict resolution, and advocacy. The LICH magazine, CLT (Certified Landscape Technician) program, and annual trade show were born from the early leaders of LICH. Landscape architects and contractors met to revise and update planting specifications. LICH was instrumental in bringing about the invasive species coalition to join in a coordinated effort to confront the challenge of invasive species. Lester recognized early on that we all have important roles to play in the betterment of Hawaii’s landscape.
Lester also served as the first male and first Asian president of The Outdoor Circle (TOC). TOC is a 100-year-old organization, with over 3500 members and 13 branches throughout the Hawaiian Islands. As president, Lester formed a committee of architects, engineers, and landscape architects to help TOC understand and work with the design industry. Landscape architects share TOC’s common goal of advocating for trees and keeping “Hawaii Clean Green and Beautiful”. Under the umbrella of the TOC, Lester began advocating to the Governor and Hawaii state agencies the importance of tree planting and landscape in the DOT and DOE properties.
As a landscape architect, his project works include some of Hawaii’s iconic places visited by thousands of people every day including the Honolulu Zoo Entry and Children’s Zoo, Waikiki Aquarium, Kuhio Beach Park, Kalakaua Avenue Streetscape renovation, Sea Life Park and the beautiful Waimea Falls Park Restoration. Internationally, Lester has worked on projects in Tahiti, California, Vancouver BC, and Japan.
For over 40 years, Lester has been a member of ASLA Hawaii. He was elevated to the ASLA Council of Fellows in 2021. In addition to serving for LICH, TOC, and ASLA, he has served on the Hawaii State Licensing Board and the City and County of Honolulu Design Advisory Committee. Lester generously gave his time and expertise.
Po okela means to strive for the best. This award recognizes Hawai`i landscape architects who have made significant contributions to the profession and our community. Lester is interested in the landscape industry as a whole and all its moving parts. He graciously accepted the Po okela Award hoping that “it will inspire other landscape architects to get involved in the landscape industry.”
Nancy Cassandro, PLA, ASLA, CLARB,
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