ARCH 342 Housing: Orchestrating Its Components

The Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority (HCDA), through UHCDC, offers ARCH 342 students the opportunity to explore mixed-use housing development on a designated site in Kakaʻako. This initiative encourages students to engage with the real-world complexities of architecture while envisioning future housing typologies for Hawaiʻi through an imaginative and creative lens.

The Holistic Housing Toolkit, developed by the Hawaiʻi Housing Lab, serves as a framework to guide students through each component of housing design in a cohesive and integrated manner. The course begins with precedent studies that analyze residential units and their relationship to community engagement, then transitions into collaborative site research and urban analysis.

Using the Toolkit’s household and community frameworks, students define their project programs by integrating both private and public uses. As the semester progresses, they refine unit typologies, floor assemblies, vertical circulation strategies, and shared amenities. All phases emphasize a non-linear design process and hybrid representational methods.

Students are expected to incorporate zoning and code constraints, explore the relationship between form and function, and develop both conceptual and technical design skills. The studio fosters innovation, critical thinking, and contextually responsive design solutions.

Partners: Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority
Instructor: Ho Kyung Lee
Students: Reese Alipaz, Allyssa Baldoria, Michael Bautista, Xueting Chen, Zoe Huang, Justin Huynh, Karen Lee, Dobin Lim, Mark Masaoay, Allelie Mayo, Elijah Nadamoto, Ezekiel Nadamoto, Alana Nicely, Indy Rose, Kaylin Schroeder, Dannah Viernes