How a local Boy’s Dream of Drawing Houses Became a Lifelong Passion & Career

INK Architects Maurice Kondo Speaks About Hawai’i Architecture Past, Present, and Future

Maurice Kondo of INK Architects is known for his passion to combine Hawaiian influences into modern designs. Kondo was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawai’i and speaks here on his career spent shaping the spaces of Oahu over the past 50 years.

At 11 years of age, in 6th grade, Maurice Kondo born and raised on Hawaii Island stood up in front of his classmates, answering his teacher’s question, “What do you want to be?, with “I want to draw houses.”  “That person is called an architect,” informed his school teacher Mr. Kiyoshi Ide. “Maurice Kondo continues, “It was the first time I heard that term, coming from a place where most boys dreamt of becoming a fireman, policeman, or charter boat captain. So I went home and read the whole section of the encyclopedia so many times, that I actually wore out the pages. I went to the local library and borrowed from its sparse amount of books on architecture, including one about Frank Lloyd Wright.” Seeing the eagerness of their son’s desire, his parents bought him the paper, drafting tools, and a set of triangles which he tenaciously taught himself to use. In high school, he continued to nourish his passion to “draw houses” and more with mechanical drawing classes. What followed Maurice Kondo’s young thirsty ambition is a life dedicated to a distinguished 50-year career in architecture. He became the first graduate of his high school and the small community of Kona, Hawaii to become an architect. Today, he continues to define and mold the Hawaii skyline and hillsides with numerous, well-known building projects, some 9 of which have also won the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Honolulu and BIA (Building Industry Association) Hawaii design awards.

Maurice Kondo applied and was accepted to the 5-year architecture program at Kent State University, in Ohio, earning his Bachelor of Architecture degree with scholastic distinction in 1971. Returning to Hawaii, “bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and wet behind the ears,” he settled in Honolulu, which was a foreign city for him and a new place to discover, having been raised in a rural area on the Big Island. Researching the architecture environment, he ended up launching his career and working in the offices of two of Hawaii’s well-known design award-winning architects namely Frank Slavsky, FAIA responsible for numerous high rises, low rise apartments, clubhouses, and Hawaii style residences, and Jose Norman Lacayo, AIA known for his dramatic residences and sculptural like towers that stand out amongst the many banal box-shaped high rises in Honolulu. After only 2 years, Maurice Kondo attained his architectural license and at that time, he was one of the youngest licensed architects in Hawaii.

When he started his career in 1971, it was the nascent high-rise construction boom in Honolulu. “I was incredibly lucky to have been put on The Pearl One project 6 months after being hired by the Frank Slavsky Associates, where I was allowed to conceptualize the design with my colleagues. When you work at a small practice you get to dabble, observe and learn everything, the A-Z of architecture, from client relationships, concept to design and construction.” Maurice Kondo’s expertise was condominium high rises – he became the project architect or the principal architect for over a dozen high rises in Honolulu totaling 3700 plus units, including The Pearl One and Two, Craigside One and Two, Waikiki Banyan, Waikiki Sunset, Honolulu Tower, Hale Kaheka and the Queen Victoria Residences. After working for 3 major architectural firms and obtaining solid bottom-up experience, in 1986, he established his own company with two partners, INK Architects where he continues to work as Principal Emeritus – Consigliere. Among the wide range of projects he’s taken on during his career the following design award recipients are well-known – ING Townhouses at Queen Victoria, Central Oahu Aquatic and Tennis Center, Hanauma Bay Beachside Facilities, INK office, Alapai Transit Center, and most recently Kaʻiwakīloumoku – Hawaiian Cultural Center at Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus and the SALT retail project in Kaka’ako.

Architect Maurice Kondo at the SALT retail/commercial block that was designed by his firm INK Architects in Honolulu’s Kaka’ako district. (Ronen Zilberman photo HonoluluVibes.com)

Honoluluvibes caught up with Maurice Kondo, the young lad from the Big Island who stood firm by his zest, educated himself, and created a wealth of architectural achievements transforming the Hawaii landscape.

DP: What makes architecture in Hawaii unique? What made it unique in the 50s? The 60s? 70s? The 80s? The 90s, etc. When you arrived on the scene, what was the mindset for transformation?

MK: It was only after statehood in 1959, that the architectural landscape in Hawaii began its transformation evolving as it has, due to the change of building code regulations, land use, and density. I estimate 80% of the high rises in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki were built in the 1970s AND 1980s. This evolution which took off in the 70s was due in part to the passing of condominium laws in the 60s. Along with the growth of a centralized business, commercial areas, an influx of tourism, it was in the 70s that buildings started to go vertical as per the land use ordinance. It was an emulation of trends on the mainland. This and little cottages and 2 story walks-ups, some of which have remained, to what we have today, mainly condominiums and hotels. The newly adopted condominium laws allowed individual ownership of units from rentals to condominiums. This also enabled landowners to lease or sell their land to developers with larger visions

DP: Among your numerous projects, share with us the ones with which you hold close to heart.

MK: A labor of love has been the unique Kaʻiwakīloumoku Hawaiian Cultural Center located at the Kamehameha Schools campus on the slopes of Kapalama, a project 10 years in the making to complete. Kaʻiwakīloumoku means “the ʻiwa bird that hooks the islands together” and refers to the efforts of Kamehameha ʻEkahi to unify the Hawaiian Islands. Serving both as an educational facility and a cultural space, INK’S devoted design team worked diligently taking a SLOPING hilltop to create a flat field with an administration facility (Hale Mana), numerous support buildings, and welcoming ceremonial event space (Kahua) accommodating up to a thousand visitors. Kaʻiwakīloumoku with its iconic structure, the Hale Mana administration facilities won an AIA design award. It has been an honor for me and my firm to have been selected among 5 well-known architectural firms after an interview and a presentation of our qualifications in front of a 17 member jury that represented some of Hawaii’s preeminent Hawaiian cultural experts and educators.

Kaʻiwakīloumoku – the Hawaiian Cultural Center at Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus designed by INK Architects in Honolulu, HI.

The commission was coveted as I am Hawaii born with local rural experiences and had both my children graduate from Kamehameha Schools. Also, seeking to well-verse myself in Hawaiian history and tradition has been a lifetime goal. Kaʻiwakīloumoku is the respectful welcoming grounds for all Pacific visiting cultures, a long-awaited vision of Myron “Pinky” Thompson, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Bishop Estate, Kamehameha Schools, and the Hawaiian Community.

SALT in Kakaako, A Kamehameha Schools Development is the only whole block repurposed commercial-retail project in Honolulu with ties to Honolulu’s early whaling days and harbor area. Pa‘akai (‘Ōlelo in Hawai‘ian for salt) ponds once dotted the low-lying wetlands of this area and today is Honolulu’s epicenter for hip and local food, shopping, and events. Our team visited other such repurposed projects in California to get ideas of how to transform and repurpose old warehouses/brewery/lumber storage places and turn them into retail shops and food venues. We worked together listening to the younger architects on our design team to revitalize and convert what were once dilapidated relics from 7 different parcels and building types into a cohesive center. This project also garnered an AIA Honolulu Design Award. What makes being an architect so very exciting is to be working nearly simultaneously on such a variety of projects – traditional Hawaiian and contemporary new-gen hip vernacular. I must say that the design processes of Kaʻiwakīloumoku and SALT were an exciting and enriching period in our office and both are arguably the pinnacle projects of my career.

DP: How are developers taking into account the rising waters in Hawaii?

MK: Certain zoning codes already deal with this issue – flood zones and tidal wave zones exist. Flood zones are well established on the island. Since decades ago we have built behind the high tide and its vegetation mark, respecting the building code areas. We now are very conscious about taking into consideration climate change and construct to address the rising waters and possible flooded areas. For example, we have done designs in Haena with the first floor 15 feet above the ground to address tidal waves. Is that the fate of oceanfront designs in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands? We will have to seriously look at rising ocean water zones now and not later.

DP: How do you envision Hawaiian architecture in 2070?

MK: The next 50 years? A tricky question. The new buzzword is the consciousness of sustainability which is constantly evolving, even in the last 30 years. What has changed most dramatically in the Hawaii skyline is that we build up high. I recall reading of a proposed 600 feet high tower in Kakaako. Now we are starting to pause and take a look at what we are doing. Concerned citizens have started waking up and becoming very aware of the environmental issues amongst other issues. We have too many cars, traffic jams. The still unfinished rail purportedly is to provide some minor relief but at what cost to our children and theirs?

Maurice Kondo, stands inside one of the favorite architectural projects of his career, the Kaʻiwakīloumoku – Hawaiian Cultural Center at Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus in Honolulu, HI. (Ronen Zilberman photo HonoluluVibes.com)

Former Honolulu mayor and current Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association CEO, Mufi Hanneman, addressed new development issues by asking – Do we need it? Can we afford it? Can we maintain it? Note that the last leg to any new development will be how we economically and efficiently address operating it and maintaining it. Interestingly it was during Hanneman’s tenure as Mayor that the rail was proposed by the city and approved by the citizens of Honolulu.

We are being impacted by climate change. How do we correct ourselves? We are using solar and PV panels. We are driving electric cars. We are now trying to encourage local farmers – buy local, grow local — beef, fish, vegetables could be locally sourced. So many new ideas and directions abound. The land is becoming expensive and scarce. People don’t want to see so many new buildings and construction taking over Hawaii’s natural beauty and finite island land area. In the future, I envision we will have floating towns as proposed by the Seasteading Institute and wave-tide-related energy-producing systems. Note that Hawaii doesn’t have a lumber or steel industry. As such, we will see the next generation of reconstituted “manufactured wood” products such as Trex and synthetic structural materials such as CFRP (Carbon fiber reinforced polymer).

Just during my post-high school life technology has progressed so rapidly when you consider that I entered college with a slide rule, graduated with handheld calculators, started my architectural career with t-squares, triangles, pencils, in-person meetings, and typed correspondences, and am closing it out with CADD (Computer-aided design drafting) drawings, zoom meetings, and internet research and communications.

As the late former mayor of Hawaii Island, Billy Kenoi succinctly stated in local lingo, “If can – can; if no can, still can”. We have to! Evolving times are fast-forwarding, to say the least!”

by Dina Pinos

Dina Pinos is a Canadian-born Greek, former UH graduate student and EastWest Center grantee. Thriving world traveler, seeking to uncover passionate stories to share with and serve the community.