“We cannot continue on a path of urban sprawl. 690 Pohukaina will offer increased value because of its height and density as well as the mixed-use approach that takes advantage of its location. This project is about enhancing the way we live. Sustainable urban density is the future.”–Governor Abercrombie
My initial reaction to mixed-use urban redevelopment is generally one of excitement. In theory, it’s good for our economy, society, and environment. It can create opportunities for jobs, affordable housing, and optimizes the use of urban areas to preserve agricultural and conservation lands. I agree with the Governor’s statement that we must end sprawl in favor of mixed-use redevelopment. Sustainable urban density is indeed the future.
However, I cannot agree that 690 Pohukaina—planned to become Hawai’i’s tallest building at 650-feet—is the correct solution to sprawl, at least for Hawai‘i. Even though I commend its specification for LEED Silver green building certification, 690 Pohukaina does not fully exemplify the type of sustainable urban density necessary to safeguard Hawai’i’s future. There are better solutions to urban sprawl than simply raising Honolulu’s building heights to new extremes.
690 Pohukaina is a form of vertical sprawl and should stir up just as much anxiety as projects like Ho’opili and Koa Ridge. These projects signal an incomplete understanding of how to achieve a “sustainable urban density,” and together represent an overall lack of a cohesive, place-based vision for urban design, planning, and development in Hawai‘i.
We are caught in a disagreement to go up or go out. We fear the loss of prime agriculture lands, increased traffic, and struggle to decide if we should spend billions of dollars on rail to support such urban expansion. The solution? To raise the building heights in Honolulu, right? Yes, urban redevelopment does make sense, but only to reasonable building heights. We cannot let our fear of urban sprawl push us to the extremes of 60-story buildings like 690 Pohukaina. What kind of precedent will a 650-feet tower set for other future high-rises in Honolulu? Preserving our agricultural lands does not have to come at the cost of Honolulu’s mauka-makai vistas that so strongly define our relationships with Hawai’i’s natural environment. This depends on how well we implement urban densities that are truly sustainable.
Sustainable urban density is more than increasing the height and population density of high-rises. It’s about balancing the inputs and outputs of a system within the capacity of that given system to achieve as close to neutrality as possible. Just as good farmers replant what they harvest, so too should good buildings replenish as much of the resources—energy, water, carbon, food—its occupants consume. Jason McLennan of the Living Building Challenge—the world’s most progressive green building certification program—suggests this balance is like a bell curve, and that there is a sweet spot between building height and population density. He identifies an optimal range for a building’s height is between 4-to-8-stories with a population density of 30-100 dwelling units per building. Anything below 3 stories or over 12 stories becomes less and less efficient, which is especially tricky when considering the returns on investments necessary to finance urban redevelopment.
690 Pohukaina (60-stories) raises some fundamental questions about building for Hawai’i that everyone should consider as we strive to overcome sprawl and achieve a sustainable urban density.
Does the project achieve energy & water sustainability?
Ideally, the energy or water consumed and wastewater generated within a building is matched by the amount of energy or water the building generates, harvests, treats, and recycles. This is otherwise known as zero energy and zero water—the ultimate future of sustainable “green” building and the direction that Hawai’i needs to go as an isolated land mass rich in energy and water resources. Will the proposed height and density of the project make energy and water sustainability more difficult to achieve?Does the neighborhood’s transportation infrastructure have the capacity for increased traffic?
High-rises that increase urban density also increase the traffic within its surrounding neighborhood. Although 690 Pohukaina is being promoted as a “transit-oriented development,” it is not guaranteed that its residents will utilize the public transportation, especially considering that 690 Pohukaina is scheduled for completion in 2019 and the rail will not be in full operation until 2030. How much traffic will the project create in the meantime?Does the project block solar access to surrounding areas?
A fundamental goal of zoning and building codes is to ensure access to sunlight for both the building and its neighborhood. This requires a thoughtful design that considers different angles of the sun at different times to the year to minimize unwanted shadows on surrounding areas (also known as a solar envelope). What kind of unwanted shadows will the project cast?Does the project promote urban-agriculture?
Over 90% of Hawai‘i’s food supply is imported, a problem that is amplified by our current land-use paradigm, which promotes a physical separation between where people live and grow their food. Yet, food production is an essential component of Hawai’i’s culture and key to the future sustainability of Hawai‘i. With advancements in technology that can support aquaponics, rooftop gardens, indoor vertical farming, and on-site food cultivation, urban-agriculture is now a reality. Will the project enable residents to grow their own food, or supply on-site restaurants with fresh local produce?Does the mixed-use designations favor local business?
A key to sustainability is a thriving, local small business culture that provides a diversity of community services (i.e. cafe, grocery). Mixed-uses are key to building this culture and necessary for creating vibrant neighborhoods. Will the mixed-use spaces of the project favor local businesses over chain restaurants and national retailers?Will the project overburden existing municipal utilities infrastructure?
With a centralized utility infrastructure, increases in population density require increases to our infrastructure capacity. Honolulu’s largely centralized wastewater and sewage infrastructure is aging and already overcapacity, with toxic spills into our oceans with almost every heavy rain. A sustainable way address this is to improve the building’s independence (i.e. on-site wastewater treatment and greywater recycling), thus minimizing its impact on the municipal infrastructure. Will the project minimize its impact on the current utility infrastructure? Or will it necessitate costly municipal upgrades?Is the project within an area potentially affected by sea-level rise?
Despite pipe dreams to redevelop Kaka‘ako as Honolulu’s “third-city” with consideration to receding shorelines, climate change, sea-level rise, and long-term planning, perhaps the government should actually be redirecting development away from this area, not intensifying it. Is the project within an area that may be affected by sea-level rise over the next 50-100 years?Does the project impact views & wayfinding
Views of the natural environment are among Hawai‘i’s most treasured resources, for both residents and tourists. It influences the relationships between people and the environment, playing a large role in our culture and our mauka-makai sense of place. We must be strategic about our skyline from various vantage points (both near and afar), designed in relation to mauka-makai and in proportion to recognizable landmarks. For O‘ahu’s south shore, that landmark is Diamond Head, which has two critical heights: the crater rim, at roughly 440 feet, and the summit, at roughly 760 feet. Currently, the tallest building in Honolulu (First Hawaiian Bank) already comes close to the crater, at 429 feet. 690 Pohukaina is programmed to exceed the crater rim by 210-feet, falling just 100-feet below the crater summit. Perhaps no building should ever be taller than the crater rim of Diamond Head? The skyline already dominates the geographic feature that so many people around the world love.
Sustainable urban density is a critical issue. How we choose to develop and redevelop land in Hawai’i will shape the culture that future generations inherit tomorrow. In our quest to save our agriculture lands, we must remain aware of the delicate tipping point after which a building surpasses a sustainable urban density and becomes vertical sprawl. It’s going to be tough, but we are ready for a larger discussion to uncover the kinds of buildings and developments that will appropriately achieve sustainability for Hawai‘i, and what it will take to make it a reality.
We must establish a vision for what a sustainable island urbanism can look like. We must reevaluate our current housing typologies and land-use paradigms, and remake them in a way that is forward thinking, yet affordable and tied to the history and ecology of Hawai’i. We must look at alternatives for financing urban redevelopment to ensure the best decisions are being made for all forms of life, for future generations. In the meantime, please lower the proposed height of 690 Pohukaina.
